Metrication
One of the largest arguments against switching to the SI across America centers on the immense costs and amount of time the switch will require. Despite this claim showing up again and again, switching to the SI will actually benefit America financially more than it will harm it. Though there are initial costs to be considered, over time, simply switching to the SI will begin making profit for America‘s economy. In his article, “What is the Cost of Not Going Metric?”, Pat Naughtin quotes Jos. V Collins: “...a 'Total annual loss of $315 000 000' could be attributed per year to non-metrication in the USA at that time” (qtd par 6). Naughtin immediately follows this by clarifying that Collins wrote his article in 1915, which would effectively raise that total annual loss to a hefty “$6 100 000 000 per year in 2005” (par 6). Considering the six billion dollars every year America would save by switching to the SI (and that’s not even all of the costs affiliated with not switching to the SI), any initial costs would be easily forgotten in a matter of a few years. However, that leaves the time factor to deal with. Even a well executed program would take years to complete, and most people are hesitant to begin such a large undertaking. This doesn’t mean that America can’t make such a large change, though. E. Lewis Frasier makes mention of the British’s process of switching to the SI in his article, “Improving an Imperfect Metric System”: “Several segments of British industry have already converted, and the entire economy will also convert, as outlined in their 10-year plan” (par 6). This ten-year plan, if perhaps a little lengthy, is still great evidence that America can create a similar plan and switch to the SI itself.
