
In Almost Every European Country, Bikes Are Outselling New Cars - antr
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/24/240493422/in-most-every-european-country-bikes-are-outselling-cars
======
frogpelt
I'm not sure that this is of much significance.

In 2009, in the US, there were 14.9 million bicycles purchased [1] vs. just
over 13 million passenger vehicles[2].

[1]: [http://nbda.com/articles/industry-
overview-2012-pg34.htm](http://nbda.com/articles/industry-
overview-2012-pg34.htm)

[2]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_vehicles_in_the_Unite...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_vehicles_in_the_United_States#Sales)

~~~
stevewilber
Unfortunately a huge number of those bikes are gathering dust in a garage.
Europeans bike 188 km/yr vs 40 km/yr for the US [1]. It would be really
interesting to see the rate of change.

[1]
[http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/jpah08.pdf](http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/jpah08.pdf)

~~~
scragg
Lets raise the gas prices to EU levels and see what happens.

~~~
ssharp
It would have little effect on bicycle use. Raising gas taxes is going to cost
people who have longer commutes substantially more than people who live within
reasonable biking distance. The average U.S. commute is around 32 miles round-
trip, which would take close to 2 hours without traffic or traffic controls.

The response to higher gas taxes would have nothing to do with bikes. We'd buy
cars with better fuel efficiency, explore alternative engines with lower
costs-per-mile, and continue to pay the tax. Until the efficiency gains match
the costs of the tax, the rest of the economy would suffer as most people
would have less discretionary spending.

You HAVE to get to work, so you're going to eat the tax. And it's regressive,
to boot.

Urban people in the U.S. complain a lot about the suburban nature of most of
the country, but there is little that can be reasonably done eliminate the
suburbs. Most people in this country simply prefer it, and will pay more for
their transportation costs to get it. Raising taxes on these people is not
going to change their behavior in any meaningful way. A few extra cents, or
even an extra half dollar is gas taxes is going to be a lower cost to them
than uprooting their life and moving within biking distance.

~~~
asperous
There's also public transportation, I've lived in Portland and LA and on
average it takes 2x-10x longer to get to where you want. I've always wondered,
especially on light rail, why can't they just go faster?

~~~
shanac
because of stopping. It takes more force to stop. Plus you would throw
everyone and their stuff on the train around the process (they have no breaks
for their forward acceleration).

You already feel a mild version of this in rush-hour on NYC subways. Your body
will move slightly as the train breaks, often causing people to lose balance
(particularly if they never experienced this previously)

~~~
eli_gottlieb
Thus leading to the well-known sport of Subway Surfing.

~~~
vinceguidry
Hah! I thought I was the only one who did that. So much fun.

------
philiphodgen
Something that you can buy for 300 Euro outsells something else that costs
30,000 Euro. The two things can be roughly used for the same purpose.

I would not be surprised to hear that more paper and pens are sold in Europe
than computers.

~~~
meerita
In Europe there are many cars for less than 500 euros. Even new ones are
something around 6k euros. Those of course aren't sedans like but they're
still cars.

In Barcelona we're suffering a process of making the whole city available for
bikes and its one of the most wonderful things you can see. Almost everyone
uses bikes to go work. It's healthy, it's confortable, and you don't need to
pay taxes or insurance. I think it's a brainless option.

BTW: I forgot to mention my city runs a public bycicle program since 8 years
and it's a total success. For 40€/year you get full access to a bicycle to
move around the city without restrictions. I think it was the smartest move
the city did.

~~~
aluhut
I don't think you can pass a technical inspection with a 500€ car. At least
not in Germany. Here the only cars you get for that price are obviously broken
cars (accident, missing major parts, etc.) or cars that did not pass the
inspection.

~~~
meerita
A Ford Fiesta 92 is around 500 euros in Spain. I don't know how is it in
Germany, but here at Spain you even can get cars for 1000 wich are pretty
decent and pass the inspection.

------
rthomas6
This is only tangentially related to the article, but I'd like to say one of
the reasons why bikes aren't more popular in many American cities is because
the road systems give no thought to bikes at all. I vacationed to the bay area
recently, where bikes seem comparatively more popular, and noted the
difference in roads between there and where I live. It wasn't so much that the
bay area was _good_ for bikes, but just kept them in mind. When there wasn't a
bike path, there was a paved shoulder. When there wasn't a paved shoulder,
there were signs and markings to help bikes and cars share the road.

Where I live, it approaches dangerous to bike on the road. When a road has a
speed limit of 45 mph, turns, and no shoulder at all, it's difficult to bike.
This is not in a rural area.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
The evidence clearly indicates that bike ridership follows continuous bike
infrastructure. When a city builds more and better bike lanes - especially
protected cycle tracks and neighbourhood greenways - the rate of cycling
shoots up.

~~~
cobrausn
I'd imagine it also has a lot to do with climate. Where I live is too hot and
humid to bike most months out of the year without having to take a shower when
I get where I was going. Not really practical.

EDIT:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Houston](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Houston)

Keep in mind that I have a 15 mile ride to work, and no, moving is not an
option.

~~~
Theodores
I don't buy that at all. I think you are making excuses. Life was feasible
before air conditioned automobiles.

If you shower before you ride then you have twelve hours or so head start on
bacteria - it takes them that long to multiply, excrete and cause a stink. So
even if you are glistening with sweat at work then you can change your
clothes, wash your hands and face, sit at desk, work, no smell needed. If you
do stink then maybe it is because you lack fitness and basic hygiene, which is
nothing to do with there not being a shower at work.

When was the last time anyone washed a seat in a car? Never! A car seat is one
of the most disgusting places to sit. Would you not change the sheets on your
bed for years? No. Yet sit in the same seat in a car, year after year, with a
greenhouse around it, sucking in carbon monoxide from the tailpipe in front -
no idea why people think that is hygienic.

You need to get practical!

~~~
cobrausn
Hah, right. I'll gloss over the number of assumptions about me that you make
and we'll just address the real crux of the issue.

Biking 15 miles to work is not practical in 100+ degree weather with humidity
averaging between 60 and 90 percent. Moving to be within biking distance of
work is not practical when jobs change every few years and there are two of us
living in the house which is fairly central to both workplaces.

And I wash the interior of my car yearly - your phobia about 'dirty car seats'
is fairly silly.

~~~
reycharles
I'm curious. Isn't the breeze you get when biking enough to cool you down? I
live in Denmark and we don't often have that kind of weather, but the breeze
that you get when riding your bicycle can be really nice in the summer.

~~~
rthomas6
I've only experienced Dallas summer heat, but no the breeze doesn't help. I
would leave work and it would be ~105 F (40.56 C). I'd get in my car and roll
down the windows until the A/C started working. The air that came in while
driving would feel like the same temperature as the air in the car, like a
hair dryer or something. It was like an omnipresent inescapable oven.
Imagining THAT with 80% humidity sounds unbearable.

------
groups
The article notes a slump in car sales, but doesn't chart historical bike
sales (it only notes that in America bike sales are "solid") It could be
coincidence: European bike might have risen, might have stayed the same.

>We decided to delve a little deeper into the figures and see which of these
countries had the highest rates of bicycle-to-car ownership.

I'm more interested in historical bike sales, historical car sales, and the
correlations and causations we could find, than which countries had the
highest rates of bike-to-car ownership.

------
transfire
Here's the problem in the States: The automobile lobbyists dominate all
transportation legislation.

So what kind of laws does that get us? In most cities electric bikes are
illegal. Sidewalks and bike lanes, more often then not, only cover partial
lengths of road. It's actually illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk, but the
bike lanes in the States are so unbelievably dangerous that no one in their
right mind would choose the bike lane over the sidewalk. You can't ride a bike
along an interstate highway --that's illegal too. Oh, some rich cities have
nice new bike paths, but they go almost no where useful and it is illegal to
ride on those at night.

And to top it all off there's a cultural stigma that if you ride a bike for
more than exercise or a leisurely peddle around the block then you are a
worthless bum.

~~~
twistedpair
I guess Boston is one of those rich cities. There are swarms of business
people commuting through the city each morning and night. I was not aware of
anyone calling them bums. All of the people that ride the bike paths at night
were unaware that it was illegal. The dedicated 10mi long bikeways like the
Minuteman Commuter Bikeway are especially useful. 5000 lumen bike lamps help
too.

Also, why would you want to bike on the shoulder of an interstate? The whole
definition of a limited access highway is that only highspeed cars, going the
same direction are on it, for safety.

~~~
lukeschlather
Laws vary significantly by state. I'm pretty sure it's legal to ride on bike
paths at night. In Washington you're required to have a forward-facing light
and a rear reflector. It's also legal to ride on the sidewalk, unless you're
in Everett.

As for biking on the shoulder of an interstate, there are areas where the only
paved road going between two points is an interstate highway.

And of course there are very common borderline cases where I want to get from
point A to point B, and the path on the interstate is 50 miles, while the path
avoiding the interstate is 150 miles. So a trip that I ordinarily need to
allot one day for becomes a 2-3 day trip unless I'm willing to pedal at top
speed or for more than 8 hours. I don't want to bicycle on the interstate, but
most infrastructure assumes your bike is a purely recreational vehicle.

------
pinaceae
Erm, just because you buy a new bike doesn't mean you stop owning and driving
a car.

When I was living in Vienna we had 2 cars and 3 bikes for the family.

Bikes were replaced more often, I needed to buy a bike twice in 5 years due to
the original ones being stolen. Kept my car the whole time.

Not exactly sure what this article is trying to show. Bad statistics?

~~~
mrweasel
Exactly. I live in Denmark and sure many of us use our bikes from
transportation, but I guess that a large portion of the newly purchased bikes
are for exercise.

Most of us can't afford a car that we drive just for fun, but most can afford
even a $4000 - $5000 bike that's just for fun. Included in these statistics
are mountain bikes and racing bikes that people ride only in the weekends.

The number of people commuting on their bikes are more interesting, but then
the US and a few other countries are screwed because of the distances between
the city and suburbs or industrial parks that are inaccessible by anything but
a car (European countries have these too).

------
teaneedz
I pedal to many meetings these days. It's fun, healthy and social. When a
stranger pedaled up to me in the bike lane a few days ago and initiated a
conversation, my day was made.

You see and experience more from a bike and it clears the mental cobwebs for
me. Maybe my bobble head Yoda on the handlebars helps too :)

Pedaling on in California.

------
VeejayRampay
We're just too broke and can't afford the cars.

~~~
clarkm
You know, recent trends in transportation are pretty weird if you think about
them. Classic science fiction always predicted a future with space ships and
interstellar travel, yet here we are discussing the most efficient ways to
pack everyone together in urban areas in order to make it easier to ride
bikes.

------
sivetic
I finally pushed myself to bike to work this year, and up until this week
managed to make my way to work 4-5 times a week using the bike. Living a 10-15
minute bike ride away from work really encouraged me to try this year, and I'm
glad I did. I found it considerably more relaxing, even when riding in
traffic, when compared to driving. Unfortunately, living in the Great White
North, it has gotten too cold in the morning to bike (or at least it has for
me). Temperatures are dipping below 0C, and I'm sure we will see snow soon
enough. Bike is on standby mode now until next April or May when the snow is
finally gone.

~~~
spion
Its still doable even at those temperatures - here is what I do (though I
don't use the bike when its snowing, yet):

1\. Dress well. Its _especially_ important to _fully_ cover your face (except
eyes), ears and hands. Winter hat, scarf, gloves are always mandatory.

Legs may also need good (multi-layered) coverage but its not that critical.
The number of layers for the rest of the body varies with the temperature

2\. Don't overexert yourself. Avoid getting to a point where you're breathing
too quickly or too deeply - this can be painful and can trigger breathing
problems. If your breathing starts getting deeper and faster, slow down.

Basically, its _much_ better to overdress and go slower than to under-dress
and try to go fast to compensate with body-heat. Most cyclists will claim the
contrary, but the contrary only applies after having some experience (or for
people who just can't bear to go slow).

3\. Carry extra layers of clothes with you. You never know if the layers you
need in the morning will be the same as the layers you need in the afternoon.

~~~
sivetic
We have people here that bike year round, even though our temperatures dip
_well_ below 0C (we get -25 to -30C on a regular basis, with windchill being
-35C to -40C). That is far more effort than I'm willing to put in.

Once it snows, I consider it far too dangerous (though again, there are a few
people here that bike in snow w/ studded tires). I only have a bike lane for a
short part of my ride, the rest being on 50, 60, and 80kmh roads with no paved
shoulder. I don't want to find out what happens if I hit a deep patch of snow,
ice, or some cross-winds while a semi is passing me doing 80kmh.

As for your 2nd point, I made that mistake the first time it got close to
freezing. By the time I made it to work, I had a tough time breathing.

~~~
bct
I'm in Edmonton, which sounds pretty similar to your climate. Except for those
few -40 days I've found winter biking to be fairly comfortable once you get
moving.

In my experience you don't want to be using a bike lane after heavy snow
anyhow; they often don't get plowed. If you can take residential roads you're
pretty safe (and studded tires really do make a HUGE difference).

But yeah, you don't want to be on the road with cars going 80km/h - I wouldn't
be comfortable doing that every day in the summer, either.

~~~
sivetic
Ah yeah, I'm in Winnipeg. You guys are getting the nice weather this week,
while we get around 0C :(

------
CrankyPants
• As a point of reference, the average price of a new car in August was
$31,252. (That's a US statistic, but all I found.) The average cost of a
bicycle is probably three-figures.

• Ownership of the two is not mutually exclusive.

• Usage habits of the two vary wildly, probably mostly favoring cars, not only
because keeping an unused car is far more expensive and complicated than
keeping an unused bicycle is, and because people don't tend to buy cars the
first week of January to work off those holiday pounds.

I'm not sure why this article matters much.

------
qwerta
Not just cars, but also locomotives and even boats! It is just pity that socks
outsell the bikes.

------
euphemize
I wish I could use my bike all year long but the truth is that for someone
living in Canada (I'm guessing it's similar for some northern states too),
it's impossible to bike half the year. Some brave folks do it but it's quite
dangerous. For someone who has lived in Amsterdam many years it's a sad
realization that my city will never become a bike haven.

------
ojbyrne
If you're a family of four, you might have four bikes, and one car. Even 2
cars and you've still bought more bikes than cars.

~~~
drblast
And my kids have owned more bikes between them than I've bought cars in my
life. They outgrow them quickly.

------
soundwave
In almost every European country, shoes are outselling bikes!

------
drofmij
Smaller countries / cities with better public transit make it viable to own
bike instead of car. Not the case in most of US.

~~~
mjn
Whether roads are designed with bikes in mind impacts it as well. NYC is dense
enough for bikes, but much more dangerous to ride one in than most northern
European cities.

~~~
kbenson
I'm sure the weather has a lot to do with it as well. If it's icy/snowy a
significant portion of the year, that makes it from uncomfortable to dangerous
to ride during that time.

~~~
mjn
NYC might get more snow than Copenhagen, but there is definitely snow here as
well, and it doesn't heavily impact bike commuting. The solution is just to
clear the bike lanes of snow, and salt to keep them from icing. They have
these little machines with rotating brooms that drive down the lanes
regularly: [http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/12/ultimate-bike-lane-
snow...](http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/12/ultimate-bike-lane-snow-
clearance.html)

~~~
meerita
Correct. In Barcelona, Spain, when there's risk of snow they use salt. I think
the ice isn't the problem, it's the lack of lines who is it. But people is
finding that in the end, there's many at least, in Barcelona, to use and they
stop using their cars in favor of bikes.

------
utnick
In Belgium , there are some tax rules that subsidize companies that give
employees company cars. So its very common for a white collar worker to have a
company car.

I wonder if thats why Belgium is the only country where this isnt true ( well
besides luxembourg )

~~~
pjmlp
It is to be true in Portugal when you reached a certain company level.

Now with the crisis and since I am living abroad for many years, I cannot tell
if it still holds.

------
langer
More interesting will be to see stats on car purchase rates in Uber and Lyft's
top cities over the coming years. In SF, car ownership is becoming a luxury
amongst people I know - they either have a sports car, or no car and use
Uber/Lyft/Zipcar for transportation everywhere.

A recent David Sacks tweet claiming this got a lot of attention: "Why
Uber/Lyft market is so much bigger than people think: it's not a substitute
for cabs, it's a substitute for driving."
[https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/378305832602980353](https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/378305832602980353)

------
codegeek
I once carpooled with a very nice lady from Netherlands. She would not stop
talking about how she was amazed to see very little bikes in the US while back
home, she grew up with bikes being part of a daily routine.

~~~
tommypalm
If you've ever been to Amsterdam, it's amazing to see how the people move
around that city. Bikes everywhere and they have the right of way. Not cars.

~~~
Someone
In many cases, that is _take_ the right of way. Cars and bikes (mostly?) have
equal footing. That sometimes means the car has right of way, sometimes it's
reversed.

------
tehwalrus
I wonder how much the 'cycle to work' scheme in the UK has affected our
numbers. (It means a lot of middle class white collar workers buy a new high-
end bike every year, before income-tax.)

------
mactitan
What's so surprising? Clearly there's a limit on the growth of auto
infrastructure. I like to think that bikes offer a path out of the rat race
being that transportation is 2nd in cost of living expenses. (however, a 60+
cyclist I know bikes 15 miles on grueling hills to his low end job, disputes
this dream??) And so does the tech world where there are still massive profits
to be made on sustaining the auto culture (gps, hybrids, ev's,google
navigation, etc.) (And I don't necessarily think that's bad)

------
programminggeek
One thing that also tips this figure is the fact that bikes can be used by any
age group, cars cant. How many thousands or millions of bikes for kids are
sold every year?

~~~
Theodores
Interesting point. Kids typically go through several bikes as they get older,
moving between the wheel sizes - 12.5" with stabilisers, then the stabilisers
come off and the next bike comes along - 20" wheels, then there is the 24"
wheel size and then something with the adult wheel size but still a kids bike.

This is what the bicycle trade want, however, it does not always work out that
way. Families will hand bicycles down from big kid to little kid, on to
neighbours or sell them on as second hand. That cuts a lot of sales potential
out. Also some parents will insist on getting 'value for money' and have the
child ride a bike that is too large for them so they can grow into it.

Roads are full of these killing machines called cars, because of this only a
minority of kids are allowed bikes. Cycling is more of an adult thing, or
adult with small children, whereas it used to be more for older children,
giving them freedom and independence. Young adults also want to go by car, so
sales could be improved in that demographic.

I would actually argue that kids result in more sales of cars than bicycles. A
family will need to go through a few cars, one for him and one for her, to do
all those family things like shopping, school drop-offs and whatever else
comes along. Come 17 another car will be needed because child will have passed
his/her driving test and must therefore drive everywhere from that moment
onwards.

------
ffrryuu
That's what an economic collapse does to your population.

------
fpp
Does this include bikes for children as well - if yes, please subtract the
number of people below 16 living in each of the countries for a more useful
comparison.

~~~
rplnt
Why 16?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_dr...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_driving_age#Europe)

~~~
luchs
Children younger than 16 usually need new bikes quite often.

~~~
homeomorphic
Why 16?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_d...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_driving_age#Europe)

~~~
maxerickson
They stop growing so fast.

------
shmerl
I wish US roads would become more bicycles friendly.

------
aleprok
This past summer I biked about 10 kilometers a day over 45 days. This is
around 450 kilometers and I know I biked even more, but did not count how much
after those first 45 days as biking was not daily routine anymore. Last Friday
I put my bike into storage as it is so damn cold here in Finland already. Next
summer I will probably try to get 1,000 kilometers.

------
bmj
Please remember that for a serious recreational cyclist, the correct answer to
"how many bikes should I own" is:

$num_bikes_owned++

From my experience in the local road racing scene, a majority of the 200 or so
cyclists that participate in the weekly training racing have at least four
different bikes. I suspect that the percentage that only owns one bike is
very, very small.

~~~
pessimizer
From my experience away from the local road racing scene, I'd venture that
serious recreational cyclists represent up to .1% of cyclists.

------
pallandt
I'd so wish this caught on in my country, not just because of costs, I happen
to find biking really enjoyful and relaxing. Unfortunately, what you end up
with is being made fun of for choosing such a method of transport or even
harassed, especially if you end up being a young professional or not a burly
male.

------
TeeWEE
In the netherlands there are almost too many bikes. Look at the roads for
bikes:
[http://www.politiekdelft.nl/oostsingel_000_fietspad_2010_04_...](http://www.politiekdelft.nl/oostsingel_000_fietspad_2010_04_13_15_49_a.jpg)

~~~
estebank
There are 1.11 bikes per person in The Netherlands, but I don't see why that's
too many. I've lived in Amsterdam and it's an absolute joy to move around.

Anecdotally, I've been told that people that live in a different town than
where they live have:

* a bike to go to the train station * a bike to go from the train station to work * a nice bike for weekends

------
pdelbarba
Could there be a climate connection here as well? A cursory inspection of some
weather stations scattered across europe[1] indicate a slight warm trend over
the past two winters, especially 2011 (disregarding 2013 data as its not yet
complete).

[1]: weatherspark.com

------
dllthomas
Is this new bikes or all bikes? Headline, charts, and article all seem
unclear. Obviously, if used bike sales are included and used car sales are not
this observation is completely meaningless, instead of just not terribly
significant...

------
panzi
So what? Everyone in a family has a bike (even the kids), but there are
usually one one or two cars. Also bikes are cheaper and usually have a shorter
lifetime. If cars would outsell bikes, THAT would be a headline.

------
robomartin
Ridiculous comparison.

This is not a displacement market. Few people chose bike OR car. It's more
like car AND a few bikes. A family of four can do with one car yet needs four
bikes.

As others pointed out, the case is the same in the US.

------
Mikeb85
Why is this a surprise? Most families have 1-2 cars, if a family of 4 wants to
go on a bike ride together, they're going to need 4 bikes...

Furthermore, bikes are easier to break, get stolen, and are much cheaper...

------
mhamel
Looks like this could maybe be an influencing factor to Tesla's success there,
after a German magazine doubts its potential in Europe
([http://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-magazines-story-
teslas-...](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-magazines-story-teslas-
prospects-163225464.html)).

Teslas are the ultimate commuter car - great for short distance, back and
forth, stop and go. If Europeans are already doing these sorts of commutes on
bicycles, what is the point of a Tesla? If what they really need cars for in
Europe is long-distance travel, a Tesla probably isn't the right match.

------
eliben
You mean, $100-200 items (of which most kids have one or three during their
childhood) are outselling $10,000 items (though more like $30,000 in Europe)?

------
jchrisa
I'm car free in Portland Oregon. So far so good. Ask me how I'm feeling about
it in January. :)

------
dschiptsov
Being of the same price?)

In Almost Every European Country, Apples Are Outselling Oranges

------
patrickg_zill
"In Europe, pads of paper are outselling iPads"

------
martin1b
How many of them come with training wheels and ribbons?

------
cjdrake
And, in other news, cars are out-selling airplanes.

------
yason
I could bet a whole lot of money that shoes are outselling both bikes _and_
cars in every European country.

------
macspoofing
Slow news day at NPR.

------
LekkoscPiwa
Wasn't that Alan Gore who started this drama with CO2 emissions so his company
makes big $$$ trading CO2 "packages" or however they're called while he is
enjoying a few of his mansion houses while telling the rest of us to cut on
electricity and ride on bikes?

Dear Westerners suffering from Stockholm Syndrome: Stalin called people like
you "useful idiots".

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Let me guess: you also think global warming is a hoax, evolution is fake, and
vaccines are a scam.

~~~
LekkoscPiwa
Let me guess: you still think that we all are going to die of skin cancer
because of the whole in the ozone layer?

What happened to that thing? Got old? I'll tell you what. New taxes were
imposed world-wide and the problem disappeared over night.

Coldest winters in living memory and these clowns still push "global warming"
propaganda. Why don't you turn off the TV and open the eyes, huh?

~~~
PhasmaFelis
> _Let me guess: you still think that we all are going to die of skin cancer
> because of the whole in the ozone layer? What happened to that thing? Got
> old? I 'll tell you what. New taxes were imposed world-wide and the problem
> disappeared over night._

"One time my toaster caught fire, and I poured a bucket of water over it and
put it out. Therefore I conclude that putting out fires is easy, and I don't
see why people keep moaning about forest fires."

> _Coldest winters in living memory_

Where? It's been balmy as hell here in Kentucky these past two or three
winters. Fleas and ticks are getting really bad without a long, hard freeze to
kill them all off.

The world's pretty big, you know. Just 'cause it was cold in your neck of the
woods doesn't mean the planet's not getting hotter. You can find the global
average numbers as well as I can; they speak for themselves.

~~~
im3w1l
Sidenote: Might be a bad idea to pour water over a toaster.

