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Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

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Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#91

Post by nikofeyn »

snow_mac wrote: post #42

This is so true. I went to Shanghai about 3 summers ago right when Denver was finishing up the "A Line" train from Downtown to the Airport. This project cost over a billion dollars and the damn thing can't run smoothly or stay operational. Tons of issues. Meanwhile we took the Maglev train from the Pudong Airport to the Shanghai City Center. The Maglev cost $1.2 billion dollars [1]. The train can travel up to 270 MPH…

and that maglev train is basically a show piece and was considered way too expensive to develop. the high-speed trains in china aren't as fast, but they are still fast, quite cheap, as smooth as the maglev, comfortable, and most importantly, convenient in terms of their stops. so the u.s. is getting destroyed in regional travel options. it's embarassing.

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#92

Post by jaredklewis »

snow_mac wrote: post #42

This is so true. I went to Shanghai about 3 summers ago right when Denver was finishing up the "A Line" train from Downtown to the Airport. This project cost over a billion dollars and the damn thing can't run smoothly or stay operational. Tons of issues. Meanwhile we took the Maglev train from the Pudong Airport to the Shanghai City Center. The Maglev cost $1.2 billion dollars [1]. The train can travel up to 270 MPH…

And in case anyone doesn’t realize just how far behind US trains are, consider that Japan built its first bullet trains in the 1950s, when they went 130 mph. Today, Japan’s bullet trains have top speeds as high as 250 mph.

The technology to build fast trains has existed for more than 60 years.

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#93

Post by Varcht »

beamatronic wrote: post #57
snow_mac wrote: post #42

This is so true. I went to Shanghai about 3 summers ago right when Denver was finishing up the "A Line" train from Downtown to the Airport. This project cost over a billion dollars and the damn thing can't run smoothly or stay operational. Tons of issues. Meanwhile we took the Maglev train from the Pudong Airport to the Shanghai City Center. The Maglev cost $1.2 billion dollars [1]. The train can travel up to 270 MPH…

We could have that too if our government had unchecked eminent domain power. Is that what we want? Seems to be one or the other.

Helps to have millions of workers willing to work for pennies a day as well.

edit: I guess that is redundant under unchecked eminent domain power.

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#94

Post by marnett »

baby wrote: post #72

Another weird thing to me, as a foreigner in the US, is the fascination people have for the "troops".

Ensuring that the poor and impoverished (those who go into service in the U.S.) rebrand their identity to 'patriotic troop' is a very crucial function of military training and propaganda.

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#95

Post by thisisit »

Whenever people talk about failures of government to build infrastructure I can't help but look back at the brilliant Wired documentary on Shenzhen.

It depicts a boundary line between the city and urban village. And government had the power to relocate 150k in a snap to get the development going [1]

How many countries can actually do that? Sure, couple of hundreds of people can be moved but 100k people, I am sure that cause a riot of sorts and project shut down very quickly.

[1] https://youtu.be/SGJ5cZnoodY?t=3586

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#97

Post by intopieces »

baby wrote: post #72

Another weird thing to me, as a foreigner in the US, is the fascination people have for the "troops".

It is the guilt we feel for sending poor people to die for the interests of the rich, and then abandoning the ones that did survive to subpar healthcare and broken promises, only to use them as political pawns every 2-4 years.

If we all just say "Thank you!!" over and over again, we are absolved.

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#98

Post by JumpCrisscross »

aphextron wrote: post #71

>He said the U.S. has wasted over $14 trillion in fighting wars over the past 30 years rather than investing in infrastructure at home. The US spent $14 trillion upholding a world order of free trade and international maritime law which directly benefited China and was responsible for its own export based growth over the last 30 years. We're seeing that global order realign now, with things like Brexit and Trump, but…

> US spent $14 trillion upholding a world order of free trade and international maritime law

I am a huge supporter of the U.S. Navy's freedom of navigation duties. It's expensive, and it's worth it. But carpet bombing Baghdad does nothing for our trade routes.

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#99

Post by walrus01 »

snow_mac wrote: post #42

This is so true. I went to Shanghai about 3 summers ago right when Denver was finishing up the "A Line" train from Downtown to the Airport. This project cost over a billion dollars and the damn thing can't run smoothly or stay operational. Tons of issues. Meanwhile we took the Maglev train from the Pudong Airport to the Shanghai City Center. The Maglev cost $1.2 billion dollars [1]. The train can travel up to 270 MPH…

I wouldn't really say that the Shanghai transrapid maglev train is a great example to use, since it was a one-off showpiece thing. Transrapid (the german company) is now pretty much defunct and its test track is demolished. Traditional high speed rail is booming in China.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China

Re: Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure

#100

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #87
excalibur wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, completely on point regardless of source. History has proven trickle-down economics to be ineffective, and Michael Douglas' "greed is good" to be objectively false.

Attributing "greed is good" to Michael Douglas is like attributing "Soon the world will feel the loving grip of the Pax Bisonica!" to Raúl Juliá.

Comparing attributing “greed is good” to Michael Douglas to attributing “Soon the world will feel the loving grip of the Pax Bisonica!” to Raul Julia is like comparing attributing “I get no respect” to Rodney Dangerfield to attributing “git er done” to Larry the Cable Guy.
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