I'm German, and am currently on a two-month scientific exchange to Columbus. I get my regular wage - which is paid in Euros - and I also get a fairly generous stipend, which is also paid in Euros. Given the currently very favorable exchange rate for the Euro (about $1.56 for €1), I should be able to live the high life while I am here - right?

Well... yes and no.

It's true that things like clothes, books, and consumer electronics are very much a bargain for me. However, I have found that the prices of my daily groceries are actually fairly comparable to Germany - despite the significantly higher sales tax back home. Some groceries cost less, but others cost more (such as the local bread, despite the overall much lower quality... but that's a rant for another time). And, of course, the rising gas prices are the most likely culprit for this - transportation costs don't matter much for clothes or electronics, but they are much more important for food.

I think the main problem is that the whole American public infrastructure in the last six decades has been built with the assumption of cheap gasoline. That's why the population density within most American cities is very low when compared to Europe, and the suburbs sprawl out forever. That's why there are few bicycle lines (and often not even sidewalks) along the streets, and the local public transportation system is often rudimentary and only covers a small part of the cities (and Amtrack is a joke - I was really surprised that Columbus didn't have a passenger rail station despite (a) having a fairly large population and (b) an active rail line going through the city). Everything assumes that everybody is able to get anywhere with a car - and now that alternatives start making a lot more sense, such alternatives are hard to get by.

Europe managed to avoid these problems for the most part, though this was admittedly a historical accident and dumb luck more than active planning. The city cores - which were usually built in medieval times - are often unsuited to extensive car traffic, which means that public transportation never really went away. After all, without it it would often become physically impossible to get that many people to their places of work. And the high population density meant that residential areas were planned with much more stringent space restriction - by the time the sprawl of a major American city gradually peters out, one would already be in the next major metropolitan area in Germany. This meant smaller lots for the individual home owner, but had the happy result that commuting distances are much smaller - and making bicycling a real alternative (which can be seen most prominently in Copenhagen - only one-third of all people commute by car, another third commutes by public transportation, and the last third commutes by bicycle).

Now that high gas prices have arrived - and they are unlikely to go down this time - America faces a huge problem. Frankly, it seems to me that the only viable solution would be a major restructuring of the American public infrastructure so that the vast majority of Americans have real alternatives to commuting by car - but that kind of effort will likely take a decade or more. And first, most Americans would have to accept the need for such an ambitious program. And then they would have to find the funds for it, which is hard considering the amount of debt of the country.

Personally, I predict the following for the American economy: The East Coast will largely adapt well, since their cities are old and dense enough to make an adaption of European-style public infrastructure easy - if they haven't already done so already. Some West Coast communities who embraced environmentalism early also might have a good chance to adopt. But the vast regions of the Midwest will fall on very hard economic times as gas prices rise and runaway inflation causes major problems for the individual consumers...

you got it! the chinamen and punjabis are driving more and we will be riding the bikes.

that's globalization for you. and don't go acting like you krauts are devoid of the auto society. your economy depends on auto manufacturing.

another point. if columbus had a rail line running up olentangy river road, they'd have to have those things that push the farm animals off the tracks.

You're right, Jurgen. I just hope Europeans are smart enough, or dumb lucky enough, to avoid the trap that has us by the leg right now. Last time I was over there, I noticed more cars on the road, but the trains were still full. I wish we had not abandoned our passenger rail system. As you say, Amtrak is a joke, right up there with Italy for keeping a schedule, with only a fraction of the trains.

irvingchang:

you got it! the chinamen and punjabis are driving more and we will be riding the bikes.

Well, I'm not advocating that everyone should try to live without cars. For example, anyone with a family will still make his weekly grocery run with a car - and that's entirely understandable.

But if other modes of transportation are a viable alternative - especially for the daily commute - those should be taken instead. The problem is that there is no alternative in much of America at the moment...

irvingchang:

that's globalization for you. and don't go acting like you krauts are devoid of the auto society. your economy depends on auto manufacturing.

I'd say our economy mostly depends on precision manufacturing - automobiles are only the most famous part of it.

But I'm not too worried about the likes of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW - their typical customers are those who will be able to afford gas even at the higher prices (and all the Chinese around here are telling me how everyone back home wants to get a German car once they can afford it...).

irvingchang:

another point. if columbus had a rail line running up olentangy river road, they'd have to have those things that push the farm animals off the tracks.

Doesn't Columbus already have rail line west of the Olentangy River Road?

If not, I'd like to know who else makes those honking noises that wake me up at 5 am (I live in University Village)... ;)

ah! you must be on loan to batelle or chemical abstracts.

why do you krauts over engineer your cars?

i live in a midsized east coast port and i see truckload after truckload of benzes from alabama and beemers from SC being shipped down the carribean and south america and kia's being shipped in.

irvingchang:

ah! you must be on loan to batelle or chemical abstracts.

To the Material Science and Engineering department of the OSU, actually.

irvingchang:

why do you krauts over engineer your cars?

No idea - it's probably a cultural thing. Germans often tend to be over-prepared so that they won't get any major problems in emergencies, and the same methodical, careful approach was extended to building cars and other devices.

Though that doesn't mean we do well at truly revolutionary changes - the German car industry only recently started to pay attention to hybrids, and Germany only joined the dotcom boom shortly before it came crashing down the first time...

irvingchang:

i live in a midsized east coast port and i see truckload after truckload of benzes from alabama and beemers from SC being shipped down the carribean and south america and kia's being shipped in.

Well, lots of German car makers are busy expanding their factories in the USA - after all, given the current exchange rates, the overall wages there are a lot lower than back in Germany, so diversifying their production around the world makes a lot sense to protect against currency fluctuations.

I think we Americans just don't like to live in cramped quarters with our neighbors like Europeans are forced to do. Maybe you people are more considerate of others than we are here. I have two neighbors, one of which is a stone cutting shop swarming with Mexicans who play their musica latina at full volume while cutting stone day and night. I'd gladly move farther out into the boonies if it meant getting away from that, which would mean more driving, but a more peaceful existence. Plus, this is just a personal opinion, I think anyone who would willingly live in a city has to be somewhat unhinged. So I'll pay my record high gas prices and dream of punching out oil execs, but the bottom line is I'm not going to give up country living and the car it necessitates for a crowded city and a subway that smells like it was dipped in piss. I think a lot of other Americans would feel the same way.

-SL

Actually, there are coping mechanisms for having less large lots to build houses on in Germany. Fences always demarcate the boundaries of a lot, and there are almost always hedges along the border that limit visibility for neighbors and for people looking in from the street (plus it also tends to muffle the sound from outside the lot. Oh, and almost all private residences have two or three floors, plus a basement - which means that while the lots are smaller, the available floor space is comparable. And most of them have fairly thick insulation, which not only cuts down on heating costs but also muffles sounds from neighbors.

Living in a city has its advantages as well. Back in Germany, two grocery stores and two bakeries (hmmm.... German bread...) were within five minutes worth of walking. The closest public swimming pool was within a walking distance of 10 minutes. The public library was 15 minutes away - and I could walk to my office within 30 minutes. Which is about the same time many Americans take to drive to work, but I get some healthy exercise at the same time.... ;)

(Oh, and much of the way is through the beautiful Old Town of Aachen - a large pedestrians-only area with buildings dating from the 19th century or even to medieval times. Definitely worth walking.)

Aachen doesn't have a subway system - the city is too small for that - but its buses are almost always clean and well-maintained. And the same seems to be true for most of the subway systems in German cities that I have visited. Since public transportation isn't just for poor people who can't afford a car in Germany, but for many, many people who are relying it for their commute - including highly-paid professionals - the companies that run it take more care to maintain them.

To sum it up: I can certainly understand your reasons for living where you live. But there are certainly alternatives out there - and starting to experiment with them would be a good idea for many Americans. Doing the same thing over and over again probably isn't a good plan for the future...

I am impressed both by your thoughts and by your facility with expressing them in a language that is not your native tongue. Thanks for your contribution.

I hope your sojourn in the States is a pleasant one. Cheers!

deaddrift:

I am impressed both by your thoughts and by your facility with expressing them in a language that is not your native tongue. Thanks for your contribution.

Thanks! It helped that I've probably read more than a thousand English-language books by now...

My spoken English isn't as good, however - I have a thick accent and my pronunciation is often rather off. I often have to repeat myself so that others here can understand me...

deaddrift:

I hope your sojourn in the States is a pleasant one. Cheers!

Oh, it's been a lot of fun so far. The only real downside is my inability to find decent bread around here, but ultimately I can get by without it for the time I spend here... ;)

Jurgen,

I live in Columbus as well. As for decent bread, here are some suggestions.

The North Market- I believe they have a bread vendor there.

Mozart's in Clintonville- This is an Austrian restaurant that also bakes cakes. I think they may also make bread.

Whole Foods by 161 and Sawmill. They have a freshly baked bread section.

Enjoyed reading your thoughts. The electromagnetic trains sound awesome. Do they use fuel or does the magnetic force propell them forward?

Thanks for the bread suggestions. I'll try to check them out, although since I don't have a car available my options are limited (though I did walk to "Whole Foods" once).

The propulsion system of maglev trains operates through magnetic fields alone. These require electricity to generate. I don't know anything about overall power consumption of such systems, but it probably does help that the train does not touch the ground below it at all but instead levitates above it - which means that there is no friction between it and the ground.

Note that this system only exists in a small number of test locations in Germany, and large-scale commercial applications are unlikely in the near future. And the major cities of Germany are so close together that maglev trains would have a hard time reaching full speed, limiting their potential - so Germany currently focuses on "conventional" high-speed trains instead (though those still regularly exceed speeds of 125 mph).

But for the wide, open spaces between American cities, maglev trains might be an efficient alternative to flights. But that's just a suggestion from me - I have neither done nor read any studies on how plausible such a scenario would be...

'Mozart's in Clintonville- This is an Austrian restaurant that also bakes cakes. I think they may also make bread.'

indianola and weber? i used to go to a movie theater in the old days in that area. the former mayor used to hang around the crest tavern and we used to get hammered there all the time. the first home i ever owned was in that area. i'm glad i left.

"That's why the population density within most American cities is very low when compared to Europe, and the suburbs sprawl out forever." As you said Euro[e escaped a fair amount of this out of pure happenstance, likewise we in the US have just got a lot more room to sprawl out into; again an accident of history. Cities in the NE Corridor (NY, Boston, Philly) are far more compact then those out here in the west (Vegas, LA, Phoenix) which is the underlying reason why public transportation will never be a big factor here. If I recall my grammar school geography book, wouldn't all of Western Europe from Scandinavia on down through Spain fit east of the Mississippi

And, since I sued to live in Columbus, there was a bakery in Westerville that baked wonderful bread..can't recall the name of it but if you were on the main North/South surface street in Westerville, it was on the left hand side..sorry can't remember anything else about it

I remember an incident from high school German class. Our teacher, Herr Wendel, superimposed a map of Ohio on the two Germanies (obviously, long before the Wall was smashed). The two maps fit almost perfectly. This was in the sixties, and I think the population of Ohio was maybe 6 million at that time. Haven't a clue as to what the population of Germany was at that time, but talk about differences in population density.

Looking backwards, Mandarin or Arabic might have a better idea for a foreign language--except my school didn't offer choices beyond German, French, Spanish and Latin.