> Or, you could just argue that the German system is more successful
> than the American from the customer's point of view, since it provid=
es
> them with a much better product, which is just as widely available
> within its country. (Diamond freely admits his own preference for t=
he
> German stuff).
Fresh milk is better than canned. Your local microbrewery is tastier
than bottles from Wisconsin. Which is why foodstuffs shouldn't cross
borders. Foodstuffs should be grown/raised within a day's walk from
where it's consumed. You want bananas in New York or wine in Oslo?
Sorry sir, you'll have to GM your own variant. Meanwhile, have some
apple cider.
While travelling in Bolivia, I went through great efforts to cross
mountains and deserts in a car. Terrible roads, not much traffic. When
arriving in towns at night, however, there were abundent fresh
supplies of food. A community of, say, 50.000 people were
self-sufficient as far as food goes. Meanwhile, the European Union was
working hard to make European contries dependent on each other for
food. Britain imports milk from France. In Spain, you find Greek
olives on the shelves. In between Spain and Greece you find lots of
trucks.
-h&kon
H=E5kon Wium Lie http://www.opera.com/people/howcom=
e
howcome@opera.com gets you there faster