361–370 of 784 posts
And then goes on to immediately point out what I would expect to be the most obvious cause.
> Real wages have barely grown for 16 years.
Why would the general populous care to be more productive when they aren't going to see the profits?
My own [local government] is so stupid its own massive 7-figure park project got blocked by [local government] planning halfway through. For about a year instead of a park we’ve had two massive holes surrounded by fences. Too many taxes, too much nimbyism. This one really is that simple.
This happens everywhere in enterprise and government because policies and processes are designed to avoid mistakes or embarassment at any cost (because those risks are internalised by the bureacracy and therefore "real") but do not account for the cost of not being able to get anything done, because those are externalised and everyone involved in the various committees and review processes gets paid regardless. I wis…
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Are you referring to the libertarians who like to see government fail so they have a reason to dismantle it?
These libertarians are mostly an American phenomenon. In Europe it’s “small-government” conservatives who do this. (They are not really about small government, though, and they never reduce deficits; they are just for upwards wealth redistribution).
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I don't know why you think the north and Scotland would be better off together. The south east would only get richer under such a scenario. Taxes-too-high is a common refrain but income tax + national insurance takes 26% of my 95th-percentile income. Is that so bad?
You forgot employers NI (for the unfamiliar - the employER has to pay 15% from April - not a typo - of part of your salary in taxes to the government and this is hidden from your payroll taxes as an employee) What's the % if you include those deductions? In my case my tax rate is 29% but employers NI is 13% so 42%, going up to 44/45% in April
Employee NI went down by 2pts last year, employer NI is going up by 1.2pts this year.
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I don’t need to ask grok. Here are high-ball numbers for going off the grid; 2000 sf house in California: - 30 panels ~ 10kw: $20K - batteries ~ 10kwh: $8K. - permits + labor: $20K (California...) - 100+kwh EV with v2h bidirectional charging: $50K - comparable ICE car (offset): -$40K - heat pump water heater $1.5K - heat pump furnace: $15K - induction range: $2K That adds to: $76.5K. Typical PG&E bills are $500-1000…
This article is severely tilted nonsense with a weird ideological bent. The author sneers against regulatory rules to limit suburban sprawl but really none of that has anything to do with a housing shortage. It is entirely possible to denser and taller buildings, having both compact communities, green space, farms and forest and also addressing housing needs. UK hinders its economy by declining to do so (as do so man…
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I think those are intentionally misleading numbers. The UK is a finance power house, not a manufacturing one, so of course it derives a larger share of GDP from less energy. Italy has a higher % of GDP from manufacturing but way more expensive energy.
Germany and the Netherlands bled off more than half of London's finance industry since Brexit if you look at recent numbers. They still have a finance industry but powerhouse might be a stretch these days.
I'd be interested to know about specific numbers you're thinking of, if you can share a link or two.
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I googled the transportation privatization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail So the UK rail network was privatized in the 1990s with tracks and stations remaining under government control and private companies bid for a 'franchise' running train services for whole regions. So basically franchises operate as regional monopolies and meaning passengers don't have any real choice of providers? T…
You can't have competing companies on rails. Each companies having their own networks would be prohibitively expensive, or they have to share rails between each other which poses significant issues. You're also left with the issue of unprofitable stations, which is a lot of them. If you want an example of what a really privatized, deregulated rail system would look like, read about France in the early 20th century. B…