RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] computer and car prices (was Re: [MLUG])

["Brent Deterding" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

What of comparative advantage and competition? What would make a Chevy
different from a Ford? One manufacturer (or all manufacturers using the same
parts) does not foster competition. No competition fosters stagnation and
inefficiency and lack of innovation.

Now some standards based on safety would be good. But wait - there's a ton
of those.

Since everyting tends to work closely with one another virtually everything
would have to be identical. I mean - what if Chevy's alternator for the
cavalier is slightly larger and shaped differently that the alternator from
a Ford escort?

See - we have PCI slots. Automakers don't have that. Standardizing on a
block doesn't exactly work or scale well and again, back to a lack of
competition. Anyway . . . there's my econ kicking in.

-- Brent

-----Original Message-----
From: EMAIL:PROTECTED
[mailto:EMAIL:PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Michael
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 1:25 AM
To: EMAIL:PROTECTED
Subject: Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] computer and car prices (was Re:
[MLUG])


> Here's a really brilliant idea:  Make car bumpers of a uniform height so
> that whenever cars bump, their bumpers do the bumping.  The government
> could mandate a standard.
>
> Good idea?  It's at least 25 years old.  I remember seeing a rerun of a
> part of an old "60 Minutes" episode where they advocated for a standard
> bumper height.  The evidence was overwhelming that it was a good idea.
> Our government has been totally unable to make any progress on this issue,
> as far as I can tell.

The really sad thing is that car makers couldn't agree on this sort of
thing themselves? It'd save lives and be quite simple to implement in new
cars but it hasn't been done. Sure the government could force them to do
it but they shouldn't have to. We really need a sort of standard car.
Standard parts, standard saftey features, etc. Sort of what PC-compatible
is to computers. Isn't the point of mass-production to use the most
standard parts you can so they'll be cheap?

--
To unsubscribe, go to http://mlug.missouri.edu/members/edit.php

Archives are available at http://mlug.missouri.edu/list-archives/

--
To unsubscribe, go to http://mlug.missouri.edu/members/edit.php

Archives are available at http://mlug.missouri.edu/list-archives/