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Autobahns and private offices ::
Visiting another country offers perspective on one’s own.
I drove 150 km/h on the Autobahn yesterday (while keeping more carefully to the right than one does in the U.S., and an eye on the rearview mirror—for Porsches travelling at 200). Why are such speeds illegal in the U.S. on roads where conditions permit? The implicit message is that the government is paternalistic and thinks it is smarter than its citizens.
How enormously expensive it must be to maintain these roads on which such speeds are safe. I shouldn’t have been surprised that it cost almost $40 to fill the tank of a compact car. I wonder what the U.S. would be like if we taxed gasoline so heavily. We’d have much better public transportation (the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority might not be facing insolvency in 2 years). I would probably take a bus to work, travelling directly 5 miles south from my apartment, instead of driving 8 miles at 65 mph, making a big circle on 4 freeways. Goods transported by truck would become much more expensive (and that’s probably the reason why it hasn’t happened). But then rail might make much more economic sense. If our economy didn’t depend on cheap oil, our entire foreign policy might be quite different. One of the problems with free-market economics is that future generations don’t get to bid on the limited resources we’re consuming now.
There are very few private offices in the German workplaces I’ve visited. Even highly-paid engineers share rooms with two or more others. There are no cubicles creating the illusion of privacy where there is none. In Germany, you’re never alone, your coworkers know what you’re doing, and you know what they’re doing. I worked alone in a basement for 10 years and got sick of it. Now I have the luxury of a private office. I do like to be able to close out distractions sometimes, but occasionally my office feels like my old basement! In Germany people seem highly focused on their work when at their desks, and don’t seem to socialize while at their desks (it would distract others). That seems to happen away from their desks, during breaks and lunch.
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