I bet I would become depressed.
Nooooo, surely not.
I don’t think thats even a conspiracy theory, i think its just what happened (i could be wrong)
However, I have my OWN CUSTOM INSANE conspiracy theory about my little european country! You see, we use trains a lot here, they are pretty well connected, so unless you live in a small village, and I mean REALLY small village that is not connected, you can use the trains. And till recently, the trains were okay. They werent like japan or something, there were delays, but when you took one, you were confident that you would usually arrive on time
It all changed when, for some reason, the entire system changed, not only the timetable but what kind of train stops where. It became incredibly fucking nonsensical, trains can be late for HOURS, or not come at all, old trains are used for fast tracks, new trains used for old tracks… I am not some kind of train expert, but I can assure you I could get fucking wasted and still I would have made a better system than this.
My conspiracy theory is, that whoever made this change got paid by big auto to fuck up trains so more people use cars. I have no supporting evidence of that theory and my sources were revealed to me in my dreams
flat earthers and illuminati bros really have ruined the word conspiracy. the gm streetcar conspiracy is not really a conspiracy theory, in that it’s a very probable explanation for events that did happen.
so while we can’t of course be 100% certain of any obfuscated historic motive, this explanation lines up perfectly with other known examples of corporations acting in a similar fashion. see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel
The weird thing about the Phoebus cartel is that it wasn’t actually evil. It was bulb manufacturers agreeing not to trick the public on longer life bulbs (that due to the technology wasted all the potential light as heat) in order to keep electricity cheap for everyone. That is they could sell a longer life bulbs but the electricity use would be much higher making it not an actual savings and making everyone pay more for electricity because you were wasting it with long life bulbs.
It wasn’t until halogen, then compact fluorescent and now led that a longer life bulb was possible without being grossly wasteful of electricity.
nope not really
Nevertheless, both internal comments from cartel executives[6] and later findings by a US court [10] suggest that the direct motive of the cartel in decreasing bulb lifespan was to increase profits by forcing customers to buy bulbs more frequently. -Wikipedia
my understanding as a layperson is that the heat thing was simply a cover story—as often happens with these large companies. in the 21st century i’d compare it to oil companies and their “carbon footprint” bs; not false outright but certainly messging designed to pull eyes away from the real issue. i welcome resources that contradict this, tho
my understanding as a layperson is that the heat thing was simply a cover story
A thicker filament lasts longer but radiates more heat into the infra red. There was no compact fluorescents or LED’s. By not undercutting each other, the cartel profited more but this also benefitted the consumers. If the cartel hadn’t done it, the government should have.
It would be the same if a cartel formed a few years ago to only sell LED bulbs instead of incandescent. Then a bunch of yokels with their “Don’t take my incandescent light bulbs and my gas stoves!” got their representatives to investigate. A congressional record of manufactures conspiring to switch to more efficient (but also more expensive) LED lighting would then exist for future generations to think there was an evil conspiracy. When really it was something the government should have regulated.
- so why keep it a secret?
- by what dollar amount did this benefit consumers (saved cost of energy minus cost of new bulbs)?
- what about the environmental costs of making the product disposable? are they negligible?
not disagreeing with you i am just looking for specifics that i wasn’t able to find. again, from an outside perspective, all the excellent information you provided looks like a “plausible enough” cover story for upping profits without actually holding real water.
Wikipedia doesn’t have specific numbers but says this:
"The initial cost of an incandescent bulb is small compared to the cost of the energy it uses over its lifetime. "
“Because of this, the lifetime of a filament lamp is a trade-off between efficiency and longevity. The trade-off is typically set to provide a lifetime of 1,000 to 2,000 hours for lamps used for general illumination.”
I don’t have exact numbers but my best evidence is that there is no Phoebus cartel today yet incandescent bulbs are still designed to last the same as they did 100 years ago. This is most likely because of the physical limitations that Wikipedia claims.
!delta since i now more accurately understand the engineering and costs behind the situation. i still think it’s hella suspicious that they kept this a secret and in no way do i think this was all done out of pure good will lol
Wonder which country you are talking about
Sounds kinda like the situation in the Czech Republic, but I wouldn’t say that trains are very widespread here. I’m sure it’s similar in a lot of eastern European countries.
I am from there and I have to agree with him on the dot, every bigger (like 250 residents min) random village has a train station here
Belgium has always had a lot of delays, so couldn’t be us.
This is in fact why I refuse to purchase GM products. I also lived in LA for 6 years a while ago, and the transit options are an absolute travesty in pretty much all cases if you need to go more than a few blocks (I.e. beyond walking distance) and you don’t have a car.
Certified fuckcars moment
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what did they mean by this 🧍
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That sounds like some US public transit, lol.
this is a violently ignorant joke and i encourage you to take time to reflect on what you’ve said holey fuck.
Have you experienced this? Or have you never been on public transit before
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p-I8GDklsN4
Taken for a Ride is a documentary film by Martha Olson and Jim Klein about the Great American Streetcar Scandal. The 55-minute film was first broadcast on August 6, 1996 on the PBS television series POV.
