The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s • Hacker News Board

Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s

#51

Post by tptacek » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 2:20 AM UTC

asveikau wrote: post #47

tptacek wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all very off-topic, but if it clarifies: libertarian-conservatives (the kind this publication caters to) prefer local control over centralized control, and also prefer less regulation to more regulation. So a libertarian-conservative would rather Arizona control beautician licensing standards than the federal government, but would also prefer the abolition of beautician licensing altogether. It's a coherent w…

I don't see it as very coherent, because if you favor local control you should favor a local community reflecting its own priorities, deciding to regulate more or less. Obviously there are abundant places that decide to regulate less. Throw in a zealous belief in free market principles (which these types tend to claim) and then I would say: a diverse set of regulatory environments should help markets find the best.

I don’t agree with libertarian conservatives, I’m just relating the perspective.

Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s

#52

Post by mark_l_watson » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 2:27 AM UTC

Ha! I live a half mile from the Sedona McDonald’s in the article’s first picture. My grandchildren love junk food, so I have been in there more than a few times when they visit. I have lived in Sedona for about twenty years and I don’t know any locals who dislike the architecture.

Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s

#53

Post by perl4ever » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 2:44 AM UTC

kazen44 wrote: post #24

egypturnash wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here, have a look at a representative sample of images: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=new+orleans+french+quarter&bext=ms... Just look at any of those wrought iron railings. From a purely functional viewpoint they could do their job of being a railing to stop you from falling off the balcony with a series of plain vertical bars. But they are these elaborate concoctions of decoration and detail that someone had to cast, be…

One of the supposed reasons for this is the relation between labour and product prices. Before WW2, labour was far cheaper then materials, especially in Europe.

I've often thought that a lot of the problems with modern society people complain about could be solved, and can only be solved, by making "stuff" much more expensive relative to labor. And the straightforward way to do that (not "simple") would be to put a huge universal tax on energy.

A day's labor is about 600 watt hours, and let's say it is (or should be) 8 hours at $15/hr plus benefits, so a reasonable cost is $180. That means human power costs about $300/kwh. By comparison, electricity is maybe $0.12/kwh.

My modest proposal is that we should tax energy (maybe exempting renewables) so that it's only, I dunno, 20 times cheaper than human power. This would make an enormous reduction in the amount of materials disposed, in the durability of machinery, and so on.

Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s

#54

Post by CountSessine » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 2:58 AM UTC

rdiddly wrote: post #50

esoterica wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the local property owners get higher prices which is a win Preventing people from being able to afford a place to live so entrenched interests can accrue hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment appreciation is not a “win”. Even if you think that the interests of long term “locals” should be privileged (which I disagree with, all men are created equal yada yada), rising property prices don’t benefit all local…

In other words it's a win for the winners, just like capitalism as usual. I can't fix capitalism. The people making these laws are the same ones benefiting, was my point. They win because they hold all the cards. We can talk all day about whether they should win. On the "they shouldn't" side, you can make a "free enterprise" argument like this article seems to, or an "equity" argument like you seem to be doing. They'…

What on earth does gaming the housing market through government regulations have to do with “free enterprise”? Using regulations to distort markets is the very opposite of free enterprise.

Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s

#55

Post by rdiddly » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 4:17 PM UTC

CountSessine wrote: post #54

rdiddly wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words it's a win for the winners, just like capitalism as usual. I can't fix capitalism. The people making these laws are the same ones benefiting, was my point. They win because they hold all the cards. We can talk all day about whether they should win. On the "they shouldn't" side, you can make a "free enterprise" argument like this article seems to, or an "equity" argument like you seem to be doing. They'…

What on earth does gaming the housing market through government regulations have to do with “free enterprise”? Using regulations to distort markets is the very opposite of free enterprise.

You answered your own question; they're related by opposition. As I said.

Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s

#56

Post by CountSessine » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 7:19 PM UTC

rdiddly wrote: post #55

CountSessine wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What on earth does gaming the housing market through government regulations have to do with “free enterprise”? Using regulations to distort markets is the very opposite of free enterprise.

You answered your own question; they're related by opposition. As I said.

Your answer suggested that you consider restrictive land zoning regulations to be consistent with free enterprise and efficient pricing, which of course it is not.