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The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

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Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#231

Post by davidw »

goodcanadian wrote: post #187
davidw wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> mostly privatized Where's that?

Switzerland might be a good example ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland ): Healthcare in Switzerland is universal and is regulated by the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance. There are no free state-provided health services, but private health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in Switzerland (within three months of taking up residence or being born in the country).

Interesting - the article doesn't seem to mention what happens if you're indigent. Also looks like it is highly regulated, between required coverage, not discriminating against existing conditions, and the "copay" (US term):

> and by a charge of 10% of the costs over and above the excess. This is known as the retention, and is up to a maximum of 700CHF (PPP-adjusted $429) per year.

That is absolute peanuts in terms of costs in the US.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#232

Post by Mz »

sanderjd wrote: post #217
Mz wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a developer. You can have an HN account without being a developer.

But you're also not working at a Starbucks or a Chipotle. This is what your parent was talking about: a lot of the jobs in our economy require physically being where your customers are.

I am aware that many jobs require physically being there. That is not at all what the reply to me said.

I am a writer. I am quite poor. In fact, I am currently homeless. I have been bitching via blog here recently about my frustrations with the widespread attitudes that writers don't deserve to be paid dirt, never mind that people online expect good quality writing to be readily available on the internet. Somehow, that high quality writing should magically appear without paying anyone for it in any way.

I don't make much money. I wish I had a better income.

I am really glad I can make money online at all, but, no, I am not part of some privileged elite with money, power, mobility, etc. I do have mobility. I do cherish it and it enormously enhances my life.

But life is a great deal more complicated than those who have ALL the bennies and those who are nothing but crapped on in every way imaginable. This isn't even a case of shades of grey. Life is incredibly Technicolor and varied.

I think it is completely legitimate to give some push back against the enormous amount of assumption in both that reply and yours.

I would like to see us come up with better solutions than we currently have. That will not happen if we blithely tolerate what amounts to classist assumptions dominating any and every supposed intelligent discussion.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#233

Post by mason240 »

Mz wrote: post #201
mason240 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have right to choose to limit their standard of living, as you have done, and move to an urban core and be completely dependent on transit for transportation. Only one of us wants to "change this substantially."

Many people are genuinely trapped. Just because I have been able to pull this off does not mean other people are simply free to choose. Urban cores are often insanely expensive and not necessarily where someone wants to live just because they don't want a car. I am wholly unimpressed with your hypocritical comments here that boil down to "Don't tread on ME or interfere with my right to own a car and drive all over th…

You're replying to a comment where I made clear that I want you to be able to make your own lifestyle preferences.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#234

Post by edmccard »

mason240 wrote: post #199
Mz wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how that in any way suggests what you are saying. There are a lot of people who currently feel forced into long commutes who hate them. There are a lot of people who are trapped in the situation of they need a car to get to work, they need a job to afford a car because a car is often the second biggest household expense after housing itself. I am talking about opening up options, not putting a gun to anyo…

They have right to choose to limit their standard of living, as you have done, and move to an urban core and be completely dependent on transit for transportation. Only one of us wants to "change this substantially."

>They have right to choose to limit their standard of living, as you have done, and move to an urban core and be completely dependent on transit for transportation.

As opposed to being completely dependent on public roads for transportation? Or out away from the "urban core" do you just get around on four-wheelers and snowmobiles? If so, maybe we can stop spending so much of our taxes building roads out to wherever you want to live.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#235

Post by erentz »

Bulkington wrote: post #85
maxxxxx wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the one off nature of projects is the problem. There is no coherent long term plan.

More broadly, systemically, the states still manage highway projects, for instance. The US federal government just funds them--although post-earmark programs (TIGER grants, federal freight projects legislation) have tried to address this. But, yes, there is no long-term plan because the federal funding system isn't set up that way. {Supply chain guy pet peeve; see also 'cooruption' comment below}. A certain portmante…

Oh yeah, you're right about the federal funding screwing things up. Again this gets turned into a political tool used by the federal government. Witness the issues with this current administration screwing with funding for mass transit in Seattle and Caltrain in the Bay Area. Things that have been planned for a long time being thrown off the rails due to politics.

The obvious solution here is for the federal government to have less of a role in infrastructure spending. It should only be infrastructure that is nationally or regionally strategic. The rest should be handled by the states. In turn the budget (and thus federal tax) should be reduced by this amount for the states to pick up with their own taxes. (Don't get me wrong I'm not a full libertarian states rights type person but in this case it's pretty cut and dry situation where states should handle their own infrastructure planning.)

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#236

Post by dTal »

noonespecial wrote: post #124
pilom wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#1 reason we wouldn't do things like that today: 112-154 people died during construction (number depends on if you believe that carbon monoxide poisioning during construction was purposely mis-diagnosed in order for the company to skip on paying death benefits).

This is a huge reason the Apollo program succeeded as well. Everyone accepted the fact that the astronauts might not be coming back.

That's quite different. The astronauts were small in number and accepted the risks for themselves. It's not as if hundreds of contractors died building the Saturn V itself.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#237

Post by Mz »

blakes wrote: post #218
Mz wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a developer. You can have an HN account without being a developer.

What do you do for work online, out of curiosity? I know there are a lot of options for basic online work that isn't developer based, but I'm not sure what is available that truly pays a decent living wage.

I'm a writer. I do freelance writing for an online service, I sometimes edit resumes and I blog.

I can make better than minimum wage in fits and spurts, but I currently don't have much earned income. A large part of this is rooted in my medical situation. The details probably aren't really of interest to you.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#238

Post by TillE »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #222
tannerc wrote: post #100

Related to what we might label "modern" infrastructure, I just got back from a trip visiting the outskirts of Illinois. The towns there are small, but full of people hungry for opportunities and good work. Yet everywhere you go there is no work to be done. Businesses—even big box stores like Walmart or Target—are closed down. Homes lay vacant despite their reasonably cheap (at least for someone living in Silicon Vall…

I think what's really interesting is that the US seems to have so many of these economically broken places, and yet GDP per capita in the US is the highest of any large country (and higher than all but a handful of small countries). I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think it's interesting that we can have these obvious large problems and still be economically successful in spite of that.

That's just a description of huge inequality, though. The "economic success" is largely concentrated in a tiny pool of the extremely rich.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#239

Post by snowwindwaves »

tmh79 wrote: post #26

It seems to me like the biggest things that have changed are the safety regulations on the construction process itself and the finished product. The golden gate bridge was built in a few years, but with a few worker deaths. Building a new bridge like the golden gate today would likely be illegal, and take ~25 years.

The Port Mann bridge outside of vancouver was replaced in 6 years from the first twinkle in a politician's eye to the completion of the project

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#240

Post by dukoid »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #204
lghh wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And America's love affair with the automobile is a well-known abusive relationship that America will never have the courage to leave. It's pretty much impossible to leave this relationship unless you live in one of the larger US cities. If you live in a suburb, rural area, or city that's not in the top 10-15 in terms of size there's literally no other option that exists or that could easily exist.

That's a self-inflicted problem though. Nobody put a gun to America's head and forced us to make our cities sprawl out. We collectively decided to do it that way because we thought it was better. And for a few things it IS better. But there are a whole lotta costs, too, with the top 3 being being actual financial cost, grinding on the faces of the poor, and making us fat.

Not a gun but nuclear missiles: https://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/why-sprawl-was-cause...
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