Subject:
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Re: Don Quixote puts away his lance
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 29 Sep 1999 01:11:11 GMT
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Reply-To:
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lpieniazek@novera/nospam/.com
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Viewed:
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1389 times
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Josh Spaulding wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
>
> > The market is not competing on who
> > has the least, but rather on who can come closest to the standard.
> > Vigorous competition often produces better products in the absence of
> > any specific standard to serve as a shield to hide behind.
>
> I think competitive improvement requires the postulate of an informed, active
> consumer base, which does not seem descriptive of America today.
Granted. No one said it would be easy to move in the direction I'd like
to see us move in. But in turn I'm sure you'd admit that the potential
is there for the regeneration of such a base.
> Are you speaking strictly theoretically, or are there real examples of
> deregulation leading to safer, more effective products? I don't mean to make
> you
> delve into research, as I have no intent of doing so myself; I just want to
> know
> how many grains of salt I should take with your statement.
I'll claim that there are some examples but not actually dig them up
unless it becomes a bone of contention. Telephony is rather a muddy
example but I'm much more pleased with the phones I have now than back
prior to 1976.
> Although there's a lot about Libertarianism that I don't agree with, I like the
> "stop whining and start providing effective feedback" attitude; and I like the
> idea of working a system to try to achieve one's goals, as opposed to
> immediately using reactionary rhetoric to denounce the system itself.
We do that too, mind you. :-)
> But when public safety is at stake, I think it's important to have a system
> more
> pre-emptive than market feedback (or even than anticipated market feedback).
> Federal standards serve this purpose. And I'm not sure why you suggest that
> they
> stifle improvement; I frequently see car ads which boast their products'
> excellent safety records or superior fuel efficiency.
Time to trot out the hoary example about what if cars were like
computers? LOL... While some
level of adverts do occur I posit that we really WOULD be driving 100
mpg cars by now if that's what people really wanted.
Carmakers now play games with the regs (for example, Chrysler is
stumping to have the PT Cruiser, a neon based retro station wagon with a
rump trunk, classified as a truck so that they can meet their truck CAFE
standards, just barely) instead of really innovating. So does everyone
else, wherever there is a reg.
--
Larry Pieniazek larryp@novera.com http://my.voyager.net/lar
- - - Web Application Integration! http://www.novera.com
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ Member ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to
lugnet.
NOTE: I have left CTP, effective 18 June 99, and my CTP email
will not work after then. Please switch to my Novera ID.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Don Quixote puts away his lance
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| (...) Of course there's a potential, but such a regeneration would not be in the interest of manufacturers, so I wouldn't count on them to foster it by providing the public with balanced information unless required by law. This is part of my problem (...) (25 years ago, 29-Sep-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Don Quixote puts away his lance
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| (...) I think competitive improvement requires the postulate of an informed, active consumer base, which does not seem descriptive of America today. Frankly, when I see ads for "Pumpernickel limestone shampoo - the tingle tells you it's better than (...) (25 years ago, 28-Sep-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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