Four Items in this Friday Digest
NOTE: This is a short digest because the  
Centre shall also distribute two special items, an Op. Ed. on "Dealing with Depression"  
and a longer essay "Double-Bubble, the Oil and Trouble."

This Digest is also attached as a pdf file.

Items.
Item 1: How are Drivers Actually Responding to High Gas Prices in the US?
Item 2: The American Experience of Privatisation and Public Private Partnerships.
Item 3: Dealing with Earthquakes – Could this be Wellington's next Tourist Attraction?
Item 4: Basil Walker Files Injunction to prevent the Labour MPs Passing the ETS into Law.

Item One: How Are Drivers Actually Responding to High Gas Prices in

the US?

Robert Poole's August issue of the Reason Foundation's excellent  
"Surface Transportation Innovations", contains a useful short essay  
which begins by reminding us that "the plural of anecdote is data" and  
continues:

"Nearly all the media coverage of how drivers are responding to $4 per
gallon gasoline has been of that nature—and therefore hardly
representative of any real trends.

But we now have at least one statistical look at how drivers in three
metro areas—Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and El Paso—are coping.

NuStats, a respected survey research firm based in Austin, did a
telephone survey of 500 households in those three metro areas during
the week of July 21, 2008 (results at www.nustats.com). Researchers
asked them two open-ended questions: what changes in driving have they
done in the last 12 months, and what do they plan to do that they
haven’t done yet? I’m naturally skeptical of the latter, since people
are inclined to tell pollsters politically correct things on that kind
of question, but are more likely to accurately report what they have
actually done. So I will focus on the actual changes in this summary.

As you might expect, two-thirds reported some reduction in the amount
they drive. The most common means of doing this (66%) was to combine
multiple trips into a single trip. Some 39% said they have eliminated
some trips, while a surprising 21% said they had downsized to a more
fuel-efficient vehicle (3% switched to a hybrid). But where it really
gets interesting is in the alternatives to driving to and from work.
The most popular of these was telecommuting (12%), followed by joining
a carpool (9%), walking (9%), bicycling (4%) and using public transit
(4%).

That last point squares pretty well with my own and several other
analysts’ number-crunching to estimate what portion of reported
decreases in VMT might equate to reported increases in transit
boardings. And overall, the results demonstrate people’s continued
preference for automobile travel, thanks to its convenience and
flexibility, despite higher gas prices.

To be sure, these results come only from Texas, and a similar survey
in other metro areas might produce different results. But I suspect
they’d be broadly similar in most large metro areas, where suburb-to-
suburb commuting is the dominant pattern."

ENDS

Notice that the "alternative means of commuting" put telecommuting at  
the top of the list.  Now you would think that the Greens would be  
promoting telecommuting from the rooftops because it is surely the  
most Green response of all.

Whats more it makes it easier for single mothers on the DPB to train  
and work from home without having to leave their children or carry out  
their multi-tasking responsibilities. And yet they are silent.

I can only conclude that the Greens really do regard riding on public  
transport as a moral virtue in its own right, and that telecommuting  
is actually a means of avoiding one's personal obligation to provide  
fare-paying customers for public transport operators in the region. In  
other words they don't like the competition.

Item Two: The American Experience of Privatisation and Public Private

Partnerships.

Anyone interested in public private partnerships and funding of  
infrastructure should take the time to visit the Reason Foundation  
site and read the Reason Foundation's 22nd Annual Privatization Report

A few of the Annual Privatization Report’s notable points are:
- Today, there are over 70 public-private partnership infrastructure  
projects worth $104 billion at various stages of development in the  
United States.
- In the 2007-08 school year, 347 new charter schools opened in 40  
different states.
- The five states with the largest school choice programs are Florida  
(39,000 students), Pennsylvania (38,000 students), Arizona (28,000  
students), Wisconsin (19,000 students) and Ohio (14,000 students).
Other topics explored in the report include toll roads, airports,  
airport security, telecommunications, municipal broadband, water  
systems, and prisons.

Item Three: Dealing with Earthquakes – Could this be Wellington's next

Tourist Attraction?

As an architect I could not resist spreading this around. This is an  
excellent reminder that in all structural problems there are two  
classes of solution – the static and the dynamic. While most of us  
would like to see one of these dynamic systems dealing with an  
earthquake we would rather not be on the spot.
Some cool customer was and captured this amazing video. It is still  
something I would rather watch from the desk. That ball is 728 tonnes,  
and it really moves, and yet this building in Taipeh was responding to  
the great earthquake in the Sichuan province of China. The shocks in  
Sichuan must have been horrendous.

Item Four: Basil Walker Files Injunction to prevent the Government

Passing "Emission Trading Scheme" into Law.

As well as being a retired property developer, Basil Walker was a  
chemical engineer with the industrial research division of the DSIR.
The mainstream media have largely ignored this rather remarkable legal  
action, presumably because it goes against the notion of the  
"scientific consensus". The Christchurch Press has issued a short  
report which concludes "It will not work."

It will be interesting to see how the news media report the story in  
the event that Walker does succeed in injuncting "All New Zealand  
Labour Party Elected Members of Parliament", given that most of their  
readers will not be aware that the injunction has even been filed.

The Court has issued a notice of a date of hearing set for Monday,  
22nd September, "For Mention Only". This presumably gives time for a  
mediated settlement if possible.

The question is whether this prevents Labour passing the Bill while  
this matter is before the Courts. The 22nd September leaves little time.
The Centre has a copy of the injunction if anyone wants to read it in  
full. I am rather hoping it will be up on some web page shortly so we  
can just link to that, because a multitude of attachments causes many  
problems for some readers.



Funding.
It's that time of year again. Never has the Centre been asked by so  
many to do so much. And we try to oblige. However, everything costs  
money and the Government is remorseless in its demands for provisional  
taxes and GST. Many of our normal sponsors are seriously hurting from  
the downturn in property and development. We really don't want to fold  
our tent and creep away so your donations are essential to our ongoing  
efforts. The Centre donation form is attached.
Remember – even a dollar helps!