Stop idling, fight ‘banksters’
I am finding it hard to have sympathy for the toll collectors who were displaced by the electronic pay-as-you-go toll collection program, which rightly punishes drivers for polluting.
They knew about this situation years in advance, but apparently, few prepared for the transition. Also, their skill set seems limited to wearing gloves, taking tickets and giving change. What financial motivation does the new toll collection overseer have for hiring these folks to do unproductive jobs?
Moving on, the new plan to rename all the Taipei MRT system’s lines as numbers is the most stupid thing the incompetent clowns in charge have come up with yet. Why not name the lines after their colors for English-speaking commuters, like the orange line, the blue line and so forth?
The chime at Yongan Market Station is much more friendly and peaceful for people to hear while running for the train and it should be adopted throughout the MRT system — These ideas are low-hanging fruit.
Regarding the tainted oil scandal, I am shocked that Taiwan’s state-owned petro-oligopoly is only now starting to figure out how to recycle cooking oil to power electrical generation. I wish I were kidding.
That there is no waste-free cradle-to-cradle plan for the import and eventual disposal of lard and cooking oil points to a glaring lack of leadership at both Taiwan Power Co and the Environmental Protection Administration. The agency should be called the “Environmental Pollution Assistants,” for their long string of failures.
The reason the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal is a scam is that it would enable global corporations to override local laws and sue Taiwan’s government in opaque courts overseen by “banksters.” Taiwan should stop spending money hunting this shrike, enhance trade with New Zealand under their bilateral agreement and use its existing WTO agreements to expand trade.
The WTO agreements are outdated and require tweaking to reflect the nation’s economic clout and evolving differences in comparative advantage. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council should load a container ship-full of solar panels and hot-water heaters and do a road show around New Zealand. Is it possible that I am the first person to have thought of this?
Several small factories in Taiwan sell parts to Tesla Inc, the US’ most impressive electric car maker. Did you know that Tesla CEO Elon Musk took all the company’s patents off his office wall and released them to the public?
Given the nation’s disgusting air and noise pollution, along with scooter drivers’ apathy to idling at stoplights despite Idle-Free Taipei’s attempts to change them, one would think that any high-school or college science teacher reading the news would run to their classrooms and shout: “Tesla released all their patents” and start an electric car revolution in Taiwan, where it is most needed.
Climate change is real and it is here. Oil prices might have decreased amid weaker demand, but this is also destroying productive capacity. Down with the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, up with solar energy and “Made in Taiwan.”
Torch Pratt
New Taipei City
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