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Old 08-30-2007, 04:59 PM   #11
JohnM
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Joke?
I might have considered it a joke if Dean Kamen hadn't already been to Congress looking for a government handout.

http://www.affbrainwash.com/archives/007539.php

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Wrong way on the Segway

by James N. Markels
Mar 9, 2003

Every once in a while there will be a news story--usually an innocuous one that nobody pays attention to--that makes me think, "That's it, that's the paradigm for trouble." Today's paradigm comes as a two-wheeled gyroscope-balanced invention for humans of the future: The Segway Human Transporter.
The Segway was making headlines long before the public even got a glimpse of it. "[The Segway] surpasses my wildest dreams," gushed one Fortune writer, and a venture capitalist asserted that the Segway would be "bigger than the Internet." The Segway's inventor himself, Dean Kamen, boasted that his invention would "be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy." Electric powered, top speed of around twelve miles per hour, the Segway was purported to be the next revolution in transportation technology.
Problem is, the Segway just doesn't sell, being priced at a whisker under $5,000 (the cost of a decent used car). It probably also doesn't help that the thing is generally seen as a danger on sidewalks populated by the rest of us walking stiffs (San Francisco has explicitly banned them from its sidewalks), and it isn't handy for transporting multiple people or significant loads.
So what did Kamen do about this? Did he start a massive ad campaign to spark consumer interest in the Segway? Did he cut prices to boost sales? Did he tinker with his invention to better meet the needs of consumers? No.
Instead, Kamen went to Congress for federal help. He wants tax credits so the price can be lowered, and he'd also like some federal projects to build Segway-friendly paths throughout major cities.
This is the paradigm of corporate welfare. In effect, you have an enterprise that is losing in the market, but instead of striving to make the business more competitive or bowing out like they should, the business runs to Congress and asks that the government give them breaks so that they can make their profit without having to change their practices or their product.
What's worse is that once Congress decides to save a particular business from going under, it sends a message to all the other businesses out there: Why bother working to be profitable when you can just get the government to make you profitable? The federal government is already doling out almost $87 billion to American businesses this year--and that's not counting tax breaks, rebates, barriers to market entry, increased taxes on imports from foreign competitors, and other gimmicks the government uses to favor businesses that would otherwise have to cut costs or improve their products to survive.
What happens once Segway gets government backing? Don't you think potential competitors, like bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers, might get a little distressed that the government is giving Segway an unfair advantage? After all, those inventions had the good sense to be cheaper and more adapted to the society that was purchasing them: Motorcycles do just fine sharing the roads with cars, and bike trails weren't built to sell more bikes--it was because bikes were already in widespread use by society that local governments built trails for them. And aren't bikes even more eco-friendly than the Segway?
But it doesn't stop there. Maybe SUV manufacturers should propose that if the government were willing to pay off the initial investment plus the expected profits from making SUVs, the manufacturers would willingly stop making SUVs altogether and focus on smaller cars, thereby promoting cleaner air in a roundabout way. Sound farfetched? It's not. The government already pays farmers, particularly tobacco farmers, to not grow anything. One third of the $1.5 billion Conservation Reserve Program goes to retired farmers to make sure they don't plant new crops, keeping food prices high by cutting potential supply. So why not pay SUV manufacturers to not produce SUVs? Indeed, where does it end?
With Congress having so much power to make or break companies or even whole industries, need we even ask why corporations bother donating to politicians? Free money beats working. If Congress didn't bother giving out corporate welfare, corporations wouldn't bother lobbying for more.
Of course, Kamen sees his invention as a "huge, huge solution to the congestion and pollution and energy demand problems the world is facing today." Every inventor sees their new gadget as The Answer to some problem. But there are inventors churning out ideas that people want and that improve our world without needing help from the government. Why should the government be taxing the rest of us to make Kamen, already a multi-millionaire, more successful? And what if the Segway, after all the help, is still a bust?
"Innovation is much more about changing people and their perceptions and their attitudes and their willingness to accept change than it is about physics and engineering," Kamen told Harvard Business School last year. He's right. But he forgot that any old invention will change society if the government forces it on us--real innovation doesn't need the help.
It was discussed in SC at the time.
http://forums.segwaychat.com/showthread.php?t=1319
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Old 08-30-2007, 06:34 PM   #12
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All I hoped for was some kind of tax break for us seniors over 65. In my lifetime, I already helped pay for the roads and sidewalks. Now I want to use them ecologically. Even though I'm into my senior years, I still willingly paid full price for an i2, but SENIOR BURGER KING COFFEE and a SENIOR PACIFIC THEATER TICKET helps a bit for the poor elder folks trying to get by on SS. How about a little incentive for them to get aboard an i2 by granting a few bucks transferred from a few of the pork barrels? RAY-NER
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Old 08-30-2007, 06:58 PM   #13
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All I hoped for was some kind of tax break for us seniors over 65. In my lifetime, I already helped pay for the roads and sidewalks. Now I want to use them ecologically. Even though I'm into my senior years, I still willingly paid full price for an i2, but SENIOR BURGER KING COFFEE and a SENIOR PACIFIC THEATER TICKET helps a bit for the poor elder folks trying to get by on SS. How about a little incentive for them to get aboard an i2 by granting a few bucks transferred from a few of the pork barrels? RAY-NER
So, you're saying you actually ARE serious about this.

Hmm, no. I don't think I can agree with your line of reasoning.

If a private company wants to cut you a deal, fine, but keep the government the hell out of it.
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Old 08-30-2007, 07:53 PM   #14
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If you really want it screwed up...

Or better yet - if you are a defense contractor and want to make a lot of money!

There is a reason they call federal contractors - BELTWAY BANDITS!

What do lobbists get Paid?

What does it cost to fund a war?

How many bake sales does it take to fund a aircraft carrier?

Back on the orginal subject of this post...

We have a good number of legislators on Segways - Jesse Jackson Jr. was recently in the news for riding his! Bush - W (God forgive me for mentioning his name) gives them as gifts - his dad loves his, and his puppet master rides his alot as well!
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Old 08-30-2007, 08:13 PM   #15
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Bush - W (God forgive me for mentioning his name) gives them as gifts...
holy cow - has he given alot of them as gifts? can you imagine expecting a towel and geting an i2? Gotta get me some of that oil money.
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Old 08-30-2007, 08:26 PM   #16
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Gotta get me some of that oil money.
Blood Money

Defense spending (aka Haliburton) pays a heck of a lot better.

Better yet, come out to a DRAFT training session - and you will see what that defense spending gets us!
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Old 08-31-2007, 09:25 AM   #17
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Blood Money

Defense spending (aka Haliburton) pays a heck of a lot better.

Better yet, come out to a DRAFT training session - and you will see what that defense spending gets us!
don't get me started (previous comment was sarcasm, hope you realized it) on defense spending or health care for that matter...BTW it cost me the same to buy my MB C230 after the lease as to buy my civic hybrid - it was a tough choice but gas was the #1 factor in my purchase
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Old 08-31-2007, 10:03 AM   #18
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BTW it cost me the same to buy my MB C230 after the lease as to buy my civic hybrid - it was a tough choice but gas was the #1 factor in my purchase
A few years ago, they could not give civic hybrids away, Prius's batteries were dying right and left, and today, you stand inline for them...

Fuel cost is something everyone is finally looking at. Let's see in 1973 we had gas lines, cars got smaller, then in 1979 gas lines again, cars started to be more efficent, and the 90's everyone was driving big SUV's with 1970's fuel effeciency, and today we still drive more and use more fuel. And everyone complains how expensive it is...

One of these days finding ways to get single occupants around without burning a tank full of fossil fuel will be the way to go... Oh hey we already have that! Not everyone uses bikes, and not everyone will use the Segway, but at least there are alternatives.

p.s. how many 1980's Hondas do you see on the road, compared to '80's M-B's? And they sold more Honda's than M-B's back then! ;-) Remember how hot the VW Rabbit Diesel was in 1978, and the FIRST Honda Accord 4 door Sedanin '79? The 1977 Honda Accords were one of the first cars that people paid more than the sticker just to get on the list to buy them! - That shook up the auto world! Market Demand at it's best!

BTW - I will take the I2 over the towel ;-) Actually on the streets of DC you can buy towels (and just about everything else) with the White House Seal... Now to come up with a Presidential edition I-2 - White with gold logos, lots of eagles and flags!
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Old 02-12-2008, 04:48 AM   #19
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WWHOPPER of Washington D.C. trains Barack Obama to ride one of his i2 Segways into the VICTORY PARTY following his winning of the Virginia primary Feb. 12! The TV audience nationwide gets to see a winning candidate making CHANGE that he espouses so often. The event will be talked about in every paper in the world on Wednesday. Film appears on Youtube within 10 minutes, ultimately viewed by 23 million people! (How's that, Dean Kamen?) RAY-NER
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Old 02-12-2008, 08:49 AM   #20
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Default You never know what will happen around here

I take folks who come to DC by Hillary and Bills new house, as well as the old place all the time.
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