And laziness is not due to autos. US has had autos for a hundred years, and only became lazy in the 1980s-90s. American laziness and obesity is a creation of US capital - an outgrowth of the need to replace home consumption with a new fast food industry, and to create a new beverage industry out of nothing (the two leading causes of obesity). And the need to destroy basic (and even light) industry (where people used to do physical labor) - and the need to automate everywhere for productivity - the other causes of obesity. And, oh yeah, the replacement of raw produce in supermarkets (and restaurants) with processed food, which has a far higher rate of profit, the need for ADM to sell corn syrup, etc., etc. There is not a scintilla of American laziness/obesity that is due to anything other than American capital's needs.
On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Alan Rudy <alan.rudy at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 9:58 AM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > [WS:] Actually, the "unconventional" oil reserves are much larger than
> > a conventional ones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
> > At $100+ per barrel for WTI (or $115+ for Brent) the prospect of
> > extracting these unconventional resources looks 'economical." So from
> > that standpoint, the oil reserves are not likely to "peak" any time
> > soon.
> >
> > Otoh, extracting "unconventional" oil is a far dirtier than the
> > conventional one - so the prospect of trashing the planet is far
> > greater. However, that has never been a consideration if the money
> > is to be made or if the Americans will have to move their lazy asses
> > out of their cars.
> >
> > Wojtek
>
>
> Worthwhile, until the end. The voluntarism of laziness is sociologically
> and politically problematic. Car culture, at this point, is utterly and
> completely embedded in the built environment of the US just as mass transit
> was built out of it and bike/walking routes were never built in.
> Furthermore, the laziness argument suggests that, somehow, all those folks
> taking mass transit around the world are less lazy. Living in and around
> DC
> you are surely aware that where there is good mass transit in the US people
> almost everywhere use it very intensively... often to the point of
> degrading
> the experience if not the public resource itself. And yet neither urban or
> regional development plans usually include aggressive expansion of mass
> transit through existing development or as a component of urban renewal or
> new development. Last, I know any number of people who use their cars all
> the time and work out, whether running or biking on the roads or on hills
> or
> in gyms, pools, fields or court complexes (public or private) like fiends -
> they work hard and play hard, its not about laziness its about regional
> growth machines and national power relations.
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-- Peter Fay http://theclearview.wordpress.com