Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="Paul Milenkovic"]Whereas Germany and other European countries practiced Mercantalism,[/quote] There is Germany or EU first. Mercantilism is a thing of the past. As an export country we can't afford it. Me comment about fuel prices is to show that even with a much higher diesel price in Germany transportation works. [quote user="Paul Milenkovic"]On the other hand, European countries have long had considerably more lax standards for emissions[/quote] That is still true and even worse we don't have an agency like EPA to enforce the regulations. We had our share of smog in Germany. In the Ruhr Area we had bans on driving because of high NOx in the 1980s. Stuttgart has announced bans on diesel passenger cars in special weather situation for 2018. The smog was attributed to heavy industries and coal power plants so in the beginning the emphasis lay on regulations to make the industries cleaner. Exhaust catalysts got mandatory for new cars in 1989. As you said because of the German goals to cut down on greenhouse gases the main focus was on CO2. As diesel cars need less fuel and thus produce less CO2 diesel got a tax deduction. The health risks of particulate matter and NOx were overlooked, ignored whatever. [quote user="Paul Milenkovic"]why were those truck drivers in Germany planning a strike when every driver will pay the same higher tax and everyone in Germanys is so practical and sensible, at least in comparison to Americans?[/quote] 1. I talked about higher diesel costs for trucking companies 2. I don't know of any announced strike of German truck drivers. I didn't find anything on the unions website. German workers are allowed to strike for better work conditions (Wage etc,) but not for political reasons (lower taxes). In other European country this is different. Strike announcements of German truck drivers often came with the same picture a few times. These were qualified on facebook as fake. 3. There were truck driver strikes in southern Europe after the 2008 bank crash when fuel prices rose about 35% in a very short time while the wages dropped because of the commercial crisis. As each EU country still has its own fuel tax system I can only speak for Germany. Here the reduced tax was introduced to assist the agriculural and trucking industry in the 1980s (?). At  that time already a lot of foreign trucks were on German roads. They were able to transit Germany without refueling and thus  profiting from much lower fuel costs in their home county. There were no strikes involved as far as I know. The reduction was kept because of the lower CO2 emissions when the private diesel car sector took of . When I see fuel milage development over an unknown time span I ask myself what has perhaps happened beside EPA regulations with influence on fuel efficiency. It is the same wiith price rises. How much is inflation. I have been in the L.A. smog in the late 1970s. After that experience I avoided L.A. whenever possible. For work safety reasons the EU banned a number of solvents. IIRC there evaporation limits for Formaldehyde in wood products for interior use. There might be others. For exterior products I don't know. We have more problems with enviromental associations who can stop infrastructure projects for many years. The deepining of the river Elbe is pending for more than ten years. The Port of Hamburg depends on the river Elbe. Regards, Volker (Germany)
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag