Comments on: The consequences of a half century of burdensome government regulation https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/#comment-37515 ER Tue, 27 Sep 2016 23:59:25 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=59891#comment-37515 My wife was born in Pittsburgh in 1942, and lived through the clean-up era. She mentions how a white shirt could be ruined by simply walking around downtown, and how laundry drying on a clothesline could be covered in soot before it had a chance to dry. A lot of Pittsburgh public and commercial buildings were made from a gray sandstone quarried in the area. While I lived there, some of these old landmarks were still being steam cleaned. I remember being amazed at what beautiful stone was revealed after a century of grime was finally removed. This is what we have to look forward to from Trump and Clean Coal. My wife was born in Pittsburgh in 1942, and lived through the clean-up era. She mentions how a white shirt could be ruined by simply walking around downtown, and how laundry drying on a clothesline could be covered in soot before it had a chance to dry.

A lot of Pittsburgh public and commercial buildings were made from a gray sandstone quarried in the area. While I lived there, some of these old landmarks were still being steam cleaned. I remember being amazed at what beautiful stone was revealed after a century of grime was finally removed.

This is what we have to look forward to from Trump and Clean Coal.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/#comment-37514 ER Tue, 27 Sep 2016 23:33:03 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=59891#comment-37514 The air had been cleaned up pretty well by then and it was safe to go water skiing on the Allegheny River. Again, thanks to EPA. I dated a girl back then who worked for Allegheny Ludlum, a specialty steel company in Ben Avon, in the upper Ohio Valley. They had a rule that anyone who owned a foreign car had to park at the far end of the employee parking lot, which for her, meant a long walk in high heels through the snow just to get to her desk in the morning. I made a decision right then that I would never buy a Detroit car until Detroit started buying Pittsburgh steel. Freedom of choice is a two-edged sword. It cuts both ways. Believe me. I got no problem with regulating the hell out of these hypocrites. Somebody needs to teach these suits a lesson. The air had been cleaned up pretty well by then and it was safe to go water skiing on the Allegheny River. Again, thanks to EPA.

I dated a girl back then who worked for Allegheny Ludlum, a specialty steel company in Ben Avon, in the upper Ohio Valley. They had a rule that anyone who owned a foreign car had to park at the far end of the employee parking lot, which for her, meant a long walk in high heels through the snow just to get to her desk in the morning. I made a decision right then that I would never buy a Detroit car until Detroit started buying Pittsburgh steel. Freedom of choice is a two-edged sword. It cuts both ways.

Believe me. I got no problem with regulating the hell out of these hypocrites. Somebody needs to teach these suits a lesson.

]]> By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/#comment-37513 mcfly Tue, 27 Sep 2016 22:49:03 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=59891#comment-37513 Make America Gray Again! Make America Gray Again!

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/#comment-37512 RL Tue, 27 Sep 2016 22:26:56 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=59891#comment-37512 But it was regulation that cleaned up our cities, and the EPA played a big role in cleaning up the air in our cities... and also the water- for instance the Charles river in Boston... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5apEctKwiD8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> But it was regulation that cleaned up our cities, and the EPA played a big role in cleaning up the air in our cities… and also the water- for instance the Charles river in Boston…

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/#comment-37511 RL Tue, 27 Sep 2016 21:56:12 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=59891#comment-37511 Pittsburgh at noon, 1944 <img src="http://crossroads.newsworks.org/images/stories/flexicontent/l_pittsburgh_1944_air_quality.jpg"> More stunning images here: <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/stunning-photos-of-pittsburghs-air-pollution-in-the-1940s?utm_term=.rbjP0vg16#.irGqK8M14" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/stunning-photos-of-pittsburghs-air-pollution-in-the-1940s?utm_term=.rbjP0vg16#.irGqK8M14 </a> Pittsburgh at noon, 1944

More stunning images here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/stunning-photos-of-pittsburghs-air-pollution-in-the-1940s?utm_term=.rbjP0vg16#.irGqK8M14

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/09/27/the-consequences-of-a-half-century-of-burdensome-government-regulation/#comment-37510 ER Tue, 27 Sep 2016 20:59:47 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=59891#comment-37510 In the early 1960s, when consumers first started buying more fuel-efficient foreign cars and when smog-shrouded American cities started demanding that something had to be done about automobile emissions, Detroit automakers resisted government regulations for cleaner, high mileage cars. The reasons given were the usual, "it would be too expensive", "we would lose our competitive edge", or, my favorite, "it was an unwarranted intrusion into our constitutional rights and freedoms". Have you noticed how every time the Young Republicans slip their hand in your pocket they first distract you by waving a flag in your face? It would seem that making smaller cars that required less fuel could go a long way to simultaneously solving both of these problem, (not to mention a host of others, like endless Middle East wars) and indeed, that is exactly what Volkswagen and other foreign car makers were doing, and quite profitably as well, thank you. But the American auto industry lobbied instead for expensive pollution control devices of dubious effectiveness retrofitted to their existing fuel hogs. Even the pioneering VW beetle was banned because its air-cooled 1200cc engine was too "dirty". Instead, the industry and its lobbyists foisted catalytically converted 4 and 5 liter muscle cars (and the marketing program to convince the adolescent American penis it couldn't get laid without one) on us. They told us it was too expensive to retool the plants to build cleaner, more efficient engines and to market them to American consumers, and they knew the little foreign engines could not handle the additional load of catalytic converters and other technological stopgaps. Our big cars could easily absorb the loss of fuel efficiency and power due to pollution controls without notice, while the Big Three's market competitiveness would not be affected by a technical add-on all three had to adopt simultaneously, by law. Heaven forbid they might actually have to compete. They could continue to sell luxury, size, power and styling--everything except quality. Meanwhile, the foreign automakers, particularly the Japanese, went back to the drawing board and started designing small, efficient vehicles that could meet the challenge of the new American market regulations with more-than-acceptable performance and styling, and making them more cost-effective and reliable than the Belchfires and Behemoths coming out of the Motor City. The American auto industry never could meet that challenge, and never fully recovered. It was a success story for the Free Market, but not for American Capitalism. Our businesses, and especially our businessmen, were just too lazy, greedy, stupid--and corrupt. In the early 1960s, when consumers first started buying more fuel-efficient foreign cars and when smog-shrouded American cities started demanding that something had to be done about automobile emissions, Detroit automakers resisted government regulations for cleaner, high mileage cars. The reasons given were the usual, “it would be too expensive”, “we would lose our competitive edge”, or, my favorite, “it was an unwarranted intrusion into our constitutional rights and freedoms”. Have you noticed how every time the Young Republicans slip their hand in your pocket they first distract you by waving a flag in your face?

It would seem that making smaller cars that required less fuel could go a long way to simultaneously solving both of these problem, (not to mention a host of others, like endless Middle East wars) and indeed, that is exactly what Volkswagen and other foreign car makers were doing, and quite profitably as well, thank you.

But the American auto industry lobbied instead for expensive pollution control devices of dubious effectiveness retrofitted to their existing fuel hogs. Even the pioneering VW beetle was banned because its air-cooled 1200cc engine was too “dirty”. Instead, the industry and its lobbyists foisted catalytically converted 4 and 5 liter muscle cars (and the marketing program to convince the adolescent American penis it couldn’t get laid without one) on us. They told us it was too expensive to retool the plants to build cleaner, more efficient engines and to market them to American consumers, and they knew the little foreign engines could not handle the additional load of catalytic converters and other technological stopgaps. Our big cars could easily absorb the loss of fuel efficiency and power due to pollution controls without notice, while the Big Three’s market competitiveness would not be affected by a technical add-on all three had to adopt simultaneously, by law. Heaven forbid they might actually have to compete. They could continue to sell luxury, size, power and styling–everything except quality.

Meanwhile, the foreign automakers, particularly the Japanese, went back to the drawing board and started designing small, efficient vehicles that could meet the challenge of the new American market regulations with more-than-acceptable performance and styling, and making them more cost-effective and reliable than the Belchfires and Behemoths coming out of the Motor City. The American auto industry never could meet that challenge, and never fully recovered.

It was a success story for the Free Market, but not for American Capitalism. Our businesses, and especially our businessmen, were just too lazy, greedy, stupid–and corrupt.

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