Gas Prices

[Xrati]

I always knew that there was something about watching those horse drawn Amish carts that made me wonder if they had a better idea of what life should be!

Now that prices are going down again, it only took a 5% reduction in usage to get them sliding. Just think of what would happen if everyone just stopped for a week or two and didn't fill up. I wonder how far the price would slide?

[Baron Munchausen]

Xrati said:
I always knew that there was something about watching those horse drawn Amish carts that made me wonder if they had a better idea of what life should be!

Now that prices are going down again, it only took a 5% reduction in usage to get them sliding. Just think of what would happen if everyone just stopped for a week or two and didn't fill up. I wonder how far the price would slide?

Yeah, they have the right idea. Horse are not only 'organicly' fueled and so easy to maintain, they make their own replacements!
And they have more uses than just transportation:


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...e/farm_scene_1

Horse-and-Plow Farming Making a Comeback

Ron VanGrunsven farms about 50 acres with horses near Council, Idaho, and has used horses for years there and in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

"They're more economical," he said. "They raise their own replacements, you can train them yourself and raise their feed."

A mare can produce a foal every year or so, and Miller says that, if properly trained, one can bring about $2,000 after two years.

A plow horse usually lasts 16 or 18 years, Miller said. He said he looks after his stable of nine carefully and veterinarian bills rarely total $200 a year.

VanGrunsven said a two-horse team and a farmer can plow about an acre and a half a day if the ground is right and that an acre usually produces more than enough hay to feed a horse for a year.

[Xrati]

Seems like the page is gone, went there and got this message.
The story or page you were trying to access may have expired.

I always figured that society would end up going backwards to be able to move forward once again.

[El_Phil]

Doesn't scale up though does it? You only get cheap food from Agri-biz scale farming. And as we've established Americans get very upset and whine if prices for anything go up even a little bit.

[Phoenix-D]

It doesn't even scale -down-. Using a horse to get to work will cost you significantly more than a car.

[Baron Munchausen]

Ok, here's the original source:

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2.../outwest01.txt

[Baron Munchausen]

Phoenix-D said:
It doesn't even scale -down-. Using a horse to get to work will cost you significantly more than a car.

Gack! Have you bought a car in the last 20 years? Paid insurance? Paid for maintenance (like replacing tires, shock-absorbers, etc.)? Bought gas in the last year?

Cars are very expensive to own. The only thing that can be said in favor of them over horses is that they don't use 'fuel' when they're not actually in use -- horses must be fed every day of course, and their routine 'waste' doesn't clutter the road -- horses do add a 'road maintenance' problem (although the 'corpses' of cars are much harder to dispose of than horses).

[Phoenix-D]

Yes, I've done all that. Let me see if I can find that age that actually did the math..

[Xrati]

Thanks Baron, that was an interesting article. I believe that all corporations, including agro-business are going to price themselves out of the market. As they become larger they keep adding on more office jobs and lose the extra profit they may have gained from growth. They keep blaming THE WORKERS while most big companies are so top heavy they can no longer profit until they reduce the non-product related jobs. This article confirms it on these farms that use horses. They are tripling their profits (far better then corporate farms) by getting away from mechanization of their farm equipment which is reducing their maint. bills and no overhead.

Just a note on the last post. Can you say "A breath of fresh air?" BUT even that pollution is better then what we are currently doing!

[Kamog]

Horses are smart. I've only ridden a horse once so far but it was fun. I just sat on it and didn't have to do anything. If the road turned to the left, the horse automatically turned and I was so impressed that I didn't have to steer, and the horse didn't crash into the wall! Up until then, I've never driven something that has its own AI autopilot!