11–20 of 190 posts
We used to have rent subsidies, mental hospitals, all night movie theaters. All gone.
We used to have rent subsidies, mental hospitals, all night movie theaters. All gone.
Something I’ve always noticed across the US political landscape: people really don’t like spending money to directly help people (mental health care, institutions, public housing, addiction recovery programs) but are fine with wasting money in weird ways like having this non profit travel the world to learn how to put up a sun shade. It’s like the thing Americans dislike isn’t spending the money but the idea of helpi…
For example, Istanbul is flourishing because it's the Turkish capital, so it necessarily is the most dense and rich city in the country. The high trust is a positive factor, but plenty of more rural cities and towns in Turkey look quite dumpy (perhaps not as bad a Philly, though)
The pictures don't really support that either. They depict a fairly average state of urban infrastructure, nothing particularly inviting or welcoming. The people look friendly though, as the culture actively discourages drug use and vice.
Ah yes, the American way. The same justification I have heard as to why bathroom stalls need to have gaps and be unpleasant, "What if someone were to have sex and/or do drugs in there?!" Let them do it, just let me have a minor moment of privacy while I am pooping.
We used to have rent subsidies, mental hospitals, all night movie theaters. All gone.
Here’s a data-driven argument that homelessness is a problem with lack of homes, more so than mental health or drugs or whatever else: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/everything-you-think-you-know-...
Fixing housing will have a lot of great downstream effects.
Something I’ve always noticed across the US political landscape: people really don’t like spending money to directly help people (mental health care, institutions, public housing, addiction recovery programs) but are fine with wasting money in weird ways like having this non profit travel the world to learn how to put up a sun shade. It’s like the thing Americans dislike isn’t spending the money but the idea of helpi…
My write-up on the recent LA bus stop fiasco
Anyway it'd be great to read more posts on this topic, and see examples of cultures you consider low trust/low regulation.
We used to have rent subsidies, mental hospitals, all night movie theaters. All gone.
I live in an apartment with neighbors who are subsidized, there’s a psychiatric hospital in every major city, and all night movie theaters would exist if there was a market for them. If you think there’s a market and money to be made - start your own
I'm genuinely unsure if this is a parody of the American Way here. "There's no problem here, but if there was, the free market will solve it!"