[PRCo] Re: Inside PCC 1673

[Fred Schneider]

AMEN John.   Or the connection between screwing up the mortgage  
companies and how it affected overseas investments in our country and  
what that did to the value of the dollar.   That caused about a 10%  
drop in in the value of the dollar.    The dollar dropped a half  
percent against the Euro just since midnight.   It crashed 10 percent  
in the last three months ... of course that does wonders for those  
investment that I have that are in Euros.   Makes the profits  
taxable.  I would be a lot better off buying a few hundred dollars  
here and there and then selling a few hundred here and there so the  
IRS wouldn't know the difference....

How do we bring this back to trolley cars?   Hmmm.   Well, Your  
European imported LRV now costs 47 percent more than it did when the  
Euro was first created simply because of the devalued dollar.   Now  
add inflation to that because people want more money for the same  
amount of work....   Not hard to see how a $1 million LRV suddenly  
became $3 million, is it?   The difference between $2 million and $3  
million can simply be the devalued dollar.



On Nov 7, 2007, at 9:52 AM, John Swindler wrote:

>
>> fwschneider commented:
>>> Sadly most Americans haven't got a clue how much of what they buy  
>>> > comes from other countries and how much the devaluation of the  
>>> dollar > is going to push up the cost of everything they buy from  
>>> clothing > and lawn sprinkler and a snow shovel at Wal*Mart to  
>>> their next > Toyota or Volkswagen or Chevrolet. Chevrolet?  
>>> Certainly. The > auto industry buys parts world wide.
> The devaluation of the dollar is apparent in the cost of gasoline,  
> but don't expect many Americans to make a connection between  
> deficit spending and gasoline prices.  It's much easier to blame  
> the oil companies.
>
> John
>
>
>>> On Nov 7, 2007, at 9:03 AM, Barry, Matthew R wrote:> > > Well  
>>> said, Fred. Europe even retained their train systems and > >  
>>> exceeded what we have here. There was a fairly good article in >  
>>> > this past Sunday's paper, in the Parade magazine, about America  
>>> > > needing a good train system -- once again.> >> > Now question  
>>> -- what is the stick for in the back of the motorman's > > seat  
>>> in the photo?> >> >> > http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh- 
>>> railways/image001.jpg> >> > -----Original Message-----> > From:  
>>> pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org > >  
>>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf  
>>> Of > > Fred Schneider> > Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 7:08  
>>> PM> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > Subject: [PRCo] Re:  
>>> Inside PCC 1673> >> > Please don't shoot the messenger before you  
>>> read the whole message....> >> > It is the American way ... it is  
>>> not an indictment against Pittsburgh> > Railways as one of you  
>>> said but an criticism of public !
>  transportation> > in general. It goes back to Henry Ford telling  
> us that each of us> > wanted our own cars. I think I once mentioned  
> that when my mother> > and father met at Carnegie Tech in February  
> 1928, he had two> > wishes. One was a vacuum tube radio to replace  
> the crystal set.> > The other was one of those new Model A Fords.  
> He bought the Ford in> > 1930 when he graduated from CIT and he  
> built the radio.> >> > Cars came with heaters. You didn't have to  
> stand in the rain on a> > safety island in the middle of the  
> street. You didn't need to have> > the fat lady beat you to the  
> seat or sit on you. You didn't have to> > suffer the misfortune of  
> having some other son-of-a-bitch shed the> > water from his  
> umbrella onto your clothing.> >> > I suspect there are also more  
> antique automobile museums than there> > are trolley car museums,  
> if only because we love them more than the> > trolleys.> >> > The  
> other side of the coin is perhaps we've made very idiotic mistake>  
> > burning!
>   up oil like crazy. We worry about cutting trees to make> > paper  
> bags
>  but I wonder if if we have not used more non renewal> > resources  
> using the resins in oil to make plastic bags????? We've> >  
> decentralized ourselves onto 1/2 acre building lots and left our> >  
> cities as hollow shells in which the welfare recipients and drug> >  
> culture live. Those who live there, except for a few places like> >  
> New York and San Francisco cannot even shop in the cities any> >  
> longer. In many cities they need to commute to the suburbs to find  
> a> > store in which to shop (or rob).> >> > And some of you  
> probably wonder why I like the European culture ...> > maybe it is  
> because they still have cities where people live, work,> > eat,  
> shop, worship and are entertained. They don't have hollow> >  
> shells. As Josh Coran, who was with us remarked, you don't need a>  
> > shopping center in Vienna ... the whole city is a shopping  
> center.> > Right ... same applies to Munich, Graz, Linz and every  
> place else we> > were. Seems strange seeing elementary school kids  
> on the streetc!
>  ars> > by themselves. Says something about the safety in their  
> culture.> > And Munich ... the S-Bahn (commuter rail) is running at  
> capacity, not> > like ours at 50% of capacity in Philadelphia, but  
> at> > strangulation ... at the point where you really can't put  
> more people> > on it.> >> > So the messenger isn't against  
> streetcars. He is simply observing> > that many in our culture want  
> to preserve their automotive lifestyle> > come hell or high  
> water ... they want gasoline at 29.9 a gallon with> > big  
> Oldsmobile 98s and no one on the highway in front of them. I> >  
> don't think that will remain possible.> >> > fws> >> >> >> > On Nov  
> 6, 2007, at 4:19 PM, Jim Holland wrote:> >> >> This will get them  
> writing Matt~!~!~!~!> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> Barry, Matthew R wrote:>  
> >>>> >>>> >>> Here is a page out of the University of Pittsburgh's  
> 1963 Owl> >>> yearbook> >>> with a photo of inside PCC 1673, and a  
> description of riding the > >>> cars> >>> that year by, apparently  
> one of the edito!
>  rs of the yearbook.> >>> [cid:image001.jpg at 01C8208E.F3EED6A0]>  
> >>>> >>
>>>>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ 
>>>>> image001.jpg> >>> >> >> >> >> >
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