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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

#481

Post by bzbarsky »

int_19h wrote: post #472
jimmyk wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your alternative to the Citizens United ruling?

The exact opposite of it: money isn't speech, so restrictions on campaign financing aren't infringements on your free speech rights. Not letting you spend millions on campaign ads is not an equivalent of silencing your political opinion - you can still speak, write etc as a private individual, same as any other citizen.

Can I create a video and post it on my private youtube channel, as a private individual?

Can I spend $10 million creating the youtube video, if I have that much money as a private individual?

Can I organize a group of 10 friends to each spend $1 million on the youtube video?

Can I organize 1 million people to spend $10 each on said video?

Note that under McCain-Feingold (which is the law that was at issue in Citizens United) the answer to the second question is "yes", as far as I can tell: the law instituted restrictions on corporations and unions, not on rich individuals.

Whether the answer is "yes" for the second and third question would have depended on whether youtube counts as "broadcast, cable, or satellite communication" as well as whether a gofundme campaign should fund under the law, and so forth. So it's really not that hard to come up with loopholes around this stuff, if you want to allow spontaneous grassroots production of political youtube videos.

(Also, one person's "political ad" is another person's "documentary", often enough; this goes in both directions.)

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#482

Post by ironchief »

to3m wrote: post #439
gozur88 wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It turns out that Millennial behavior during the recession—living in the basement rather than driving to work, and biking and sharing rides elsewhere—did not reflect a preferred lifestyle so much as an accommodation to the longest recession and slowest recovery in modern U.S. history. >By year-end 2016 road travel had hit an all-time high, north of 3.2 trillion vehicle-miles. Gasoline demand has followed apace, also…

That's an interesting article. It didn't gel with my experience of people's motivations for buying cars in the UK, so I had a skim anyway, because what the fuck do I know about America (answer: I went there on holiday once), and ended up clicking on the link about how millenials prefer SUVs: http://fortune.com/2015/09/09/10-used-cars-millennials-buy/ and finding a list of the top 10 used cars that millenials buy. Now…

That list is misleading. Yes "young people buy stupid stuff" but the list is describing "cars with highest RATES of millennial buyers" not "most popular cars millennials buy". If I sold 10 used Deloreans and millennials bought 5, it would be at the top of this list.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#483

Post by int_19h »

defined wrote: post #140
jk2323 wrote: post #135

An African government official visits Europe. There, a European government official invites him to his luxury home. The African is shocked. He asks "How can you afford such a house if you a just a government official?" The European says: "Look out of the window. can you see the bridge?" The African: "Yes" The European: "See, the government paid for two train tracks but the bridge has only one." The African says: "I u…

Lmao. To one who was born and raised in Africa, this is both funny and, too often, lamentably accurate.

I've seen this joke before, but it wasn't about Africa. In Russia, a similar one was told in the 90s, except it went like so:

Yeltsin visits US on an official trip; Clinton is hosting. The banquet is lavish, and after gorging himself on delicacies, Yeltsin asks Clinton where the money for all that came from. Clinton gestures him to the window, and points at river, with bridge in the distance.

"See that bridge?"

"Yep."

"We budgeted 100 million dollars for it, but our innovative construction companies managed to complete it for 50 million. The rest of it went into our reception fund".

Next year, Clinton visits Russia. The banquet is even more lavish. Clinton asks Yeltsin the same question. They walk to the window, and Yeltsin gestures at the river.

"See that bridge?"

"Um... no?..."

"But we budgeted 100 million dollars for it. So..."

Which, I guess, also tells you a lot both about how US was perceived in Russia back then (I'm sure the notion that American contractors could do the work under budget is utterly unbelievable to most Americans; yet its believability is at the heart of this joke).

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#484

Post by int_19h »

bzbarsky wrote: post #481
int_19h wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The exact opposite of it: money isn't speech, so restrictions on campaign financing aren't infringements on your free speech rights. Not letting you spend millions on campaign ads is not an equivalent of silencing your political opinion - you can still speak, write etc as a private individual, same as any other citizen.

Can I create a video and post it on my private youtube channel, as a private individual? Can I spend $10 million creating the youtube video, if I have that much money as a private individual? Can I organize a group of 10 friends to each spend $1 million on the youtube video? Can I organize 1 million people to spend $10 each on said video? Note that under McCain-Feingold (which is the law that was at issue in Citizens…

Most laws have loopholes, just as most software has bugs. You try to anticipate them when you write the law, and you keep an eye on them and amend the law as necessary.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#485

Post by sanderjd »

Mz wrote: post #438
sanderjd wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is from the comment you were replying to when I originally replied to you.

I know exactly where you got it. But you referred to the comment as "your" parent comment. Perhaps you meant something different by that from what that sounds like to me.

Sorry, you're right, that was confusingly worded, I meant "the parent of your comment".

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#486

Post by everybodyknows »

rrauenza wrote: post #32
bkjelden wrote: post #13

I have been wondering lately if we have become so dependent on certain sectors of the US economy (housing, infrastructure, healthcare, education) that risk aversion is suffocating innovation. No one wants to send their kid to an unproven, experimental university. No city wants to beta test a new style of road building. No patient wants to be the first to try a new treatment. We are so dependent on these things that t…

Your question reminded me of the resistance of PEX adoption in California, even though it has been widely accepted in Canada. http://www.remodeling.hw.net/products/house-systems/californ... I was surprised the article didn't address regulation much nor the fear of litigation (when I googled for canada pex legal, I found class action suits...)

California plumber's union officials are busy folks -- their other pissing match:

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/ff_waterless_urinal/

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#487

Post by puranjay »

Mz wrote: post #287
puranjay wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I woke up to a flat tire about two months ago. Don't know why, but that was the breaking point for me. Since then, I haven't driven a single day. I walk, take the metro or get an Uber. I haven't been happier. Driving was easily the worst part of my day.

I have two sons. At the time that we chose to go carless, we were living in an apartment complex with endless speed bumps. Driving over the speed bumps into and out of the complex daily was about 3 minutes of torture that we were completely thrilled to give up. Humorously, we have had occasion to put me on a bus for some reason while they walked to the destination in question. I would get ahead of them, then the bus…

> Unless you are driving quite a long distance and/or on the open highway, car travel is not as much faster than foot travel as some people seem to believe.

I actually got to test this. My office was about 8km from my house. If I was to leave around my usual time, it would take me about 55-65 mins minimum to reach home.

One day I hadn't taken my car and couldn't find a cab. So I said screw it and decided to walk home.

Reached home in flat 71 minutes. Would have been faster had I taken detours that cut the distance by a kilometer or so.

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#489

Post by Decade »

sharemywin wrote: post #28
aaronarduino wrote: post #21

It's not that we have forgotten. It's the fact that regulation, time to get approval, and other red tape make the timeline longer. Gone are the days when things just get done.

But, from what the article was pointing out we're comparing place like france and japan which have as many if not more regulations.

Really shallow analysis. A lot of the US regulations are just really bad. Does France have labor unions who force employers to hire people to stand around not doing anything useful? Is Japan’s environmental quality law so open-ended that it’s hardly ever actually used for the environment? http://www.planningreport.com/2015/12/21/new-ceqa-study-reve...

Just recently, I was watching a housing development in San Francisco, and the neighborhood merchants’ association filed a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) appeal to the Board of Supervisors claiming the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) was inadequate. Strangely, the Board of Supervisors refused to consider the merits of this claim, but kept delaying the hearing to talk about it.

After 6 months, the merchants’ association withdrew their complaint. Was it because the EIR was fine after all? No. It was because the local area’s supervisor, the merchants’ association, and the developer did backroom negotiations until the developer gave enough concessions that the merchants’ association was satisfied. These concessions will inevitably come out as higher prices for housing. https://missionlocal.org/2017/05/deal-approved-to-green-ligh...

Re: The US has forgotten how to do infrastructure

#490

Post by Decade »

cletus wrote: post #71

The US hasn't forgotten. Nor is this unique to the US. It seems to be a widespread issue in the developed world. The problem is that labour is simply too expensive now. And, to a lesser, extent, so is real estate. In the 2000s Australia experienced an unprecedented resources boom fuelled by China's growth. This especially impacted Western Australia and Queensland. WA in particular is rich in iron ore, oil and gas and…

Increasing costs would not be terrible if access to money increases at least as much. The problem we have is that the haves are walling themselves off from the have-nots, in the name of preserving quality of life. The cost of the materials and labor are actually a tiny fraction of the cost of building anything in the US.

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/31/530843665/blame-the-top-20-per...

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