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A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

newyorker.com

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Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#51

Post by nerdponx »

gruez wrote: post #41
Analemma_ wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When pressed, most of the people who support strict means testing for welfare will eventually admit that it's not about saving the government money, and that they support it even if it ends up costing taxpayers on net (which it almost always does). They're pretty clear that this is about punishing indigence.

>They're pretty clear that this is about punishing indigence. But why? Are they doing so so they want to oppress poor people? Or are they doing so to make the welfare experience shitty so people are incentivized to seek normal employment?

> Or are they doing so to make the welfare experience shitty so people are incentivized to seek normal employment?

Yes, and to foment general distaste and dislike towards the welfare system, with the ultimate goal of ending the program. Related to "starve the beast" policy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#52

Post by Scoundreller »

gruez wrote: post #43
Scoundreller wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anyone tried and had that response?

From the article: >Doug Bereuter, then a Republican congressman, framed the [EB-5] law as a violation of American values, noting that he was saddened to learn that American citizenship was “for sale to the highest bidder.” And this is with a veneer of legitimacy by framing it as an "investment". Outright selling is sure to attract more ire.

> Outright selling is sure to attract more ire.

Or less. If you paint the program as something that reduces everyone's taxes or other gov fees.

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#53

Post by katbyte »

gruez wrote: post #40
katbyte wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet businesses still laid off people, people lost their job, homes and struggled to feed themselves. propping up failed businesses is preventing the capitalism/the market from working. Why save for a rainy day or ensure your business can weather a storm when you can just do stock buybacks abs shovel money to the shareholders and the Goverment will prop you up? It’s better to just ensure people’s needs are taken c…

> And yet businesses still laid off people, people lost their job, homes and struggled to feed themselves. The fact that people got laid off regardless shouldn't be an indictment of the program. We should instead compare to the counterfactual where the PPP program hasn't bee implemented.

i mean it sure seems like it is? if the intent was to prop up businesses that did not plan for a black swan event so people could keep their jobs.

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#54

Post by 15457345234 »

atourgates wrote: post #16
iamthepieman wrote: post #5

I live and ski in this area[0]. Have season's passes to Burke Mountain and even met Stenger and Quiros back when they were running the ski areas. On the slopes, at my coworking space, and around the campfire in the Summer, the topic of how to make this little pocket of Northeast Vermont more economically viable is a topic that comes up often. I'm starting to form an opinion that we shouldn't try to compete, at any le…

One of the things I have trouble understanding is why "rural mountain towns near large population centers" are exploding in the West, but not the East. I understand some of the issues. The mountains are smaller and the snow isn't nearly as consistent. But still. It seems like a ski resort 3.5 hours from Boston should be absolutely brimming with customers every long weekend. On the other hand, I sat in a hot tub with…

> One of the things I have trouble understanding is why "rural mountain towns near large population centers" are exploding in the West, but not the East.

West coast tech types have all gone nuts, believe they're Ernst Stavro Blofeld and think they need to build secret mountain lairs. Either that or nuclear lifeboats. (Different symptoms of the same disease.)

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#57

Post by PaulHoule »

mp05 wrote: post #30
atourgates wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the things I have trouble understanding is why "rural mountain towns near large population centers" are exploding in the West, but not the East. I understand some of the issues. The mountains are smaller and the snow isn't nearly as consistent. But still. It seems like a ski resort 3.5 hours from Boston should be absolutely brimming with customers every long weekend. On the other hand, I sat in a hot tub with…

> One of the things I have trouble understanding is why "rural mountain towns near large population centers" are exploding in the West, but not the East. The skiing sucks? Never skied out east, but I understand it's basically ice skating. But that's hearsay.

On a good day it is great to ski out east (particularly spring conditions) but it is not always a good day. An alumni club I am in is thinking about scheduling a ski trip to the local ski area in the next few weekends, it is 30 min away or so and only $65 but conditions might be terrible.

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#58

Post by mp05 »

notatoad wrote: post #48
mp05 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the things I have trouble understanding is why "rural mountain towns near large population centers" are exploding in the West, but not the East. The skiing sucks? Never skied out east, but I understand it's basically ice skating. But that's hearsay.

the skiing is fine. not great, but most of the people going out to utah for a ski weekend are on manmade snow on blue groomers, and the blue groomers out east are just as good as the blue groomers in the west.

I don't disagree with the latter part, but if I planned a weekend in the Rockies and skied groomers the whole time, something went wrong.

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#59

Post by someguydave »

ralph84 wrote: post #3

EB-5 is just a way to buy a green card. The US government should cut out all of these middlemen with dubious “investment opportunities” and just have the money go straight to the federal budget.

They should sell green cards to the highest bidder and distribute the proceeds to each american as a “america is awesome” dividend

Re: A rural ski slope caught up in an international scam

#60

Post by RandallBrown »

notatoad wrote: post #48
mp05 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the things I have trouble understanding is why "rural mountain towns near large population centers" are exploding in the West, but not the East. The skiing sucks? Never skied out east, but I understand it's basically ice skating. But that's hearsay.

the skiing is fine. not great, but most of the people going out to utah for a ski weekend are on manmade snow on blue groomers, and the blue groomers out east are just as good as the blue groomers in the west.

> the blue groomers out east are just as good as the blue groomers in the west

The blue groomers out west are about twice as long and usually a lot less icy.

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