Earlier quoted context omitted.
SFO is in San Mateo County.
San Francisco International Airport is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco and policed by San Francisco Police Department.
Surely the airport turns a profit?
San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
61–70 of 129 posts
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, this place is a fake think tank that pretends to be neutral but is in fact an arm of ALEC and largely funded by the Koch's: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/California_Policy_Cent... Don't fall for easy bullshit and let it lead you to making "dunk" comments that don't actually engage the problems and instead act as thought ending cliches. That's their entire goal.
Sounds like conspiracy theories. No dunking, just saying. SF is far left just like Oakland and they both seem to have unique problems other cities aren't experiencing. I could be wrong, but so far I've predicted the downturn and I think it won't get any better unless people start holding the decision-makers accountable (which sounds like it's not going to happen).
They're most severe in SF but all major west coast cities are experiencing the same issues. Saying it's a result of "liberalism" is simply empty reflexive rhetoric. What's happening is a complex set of intersecting problems. If you'd like to talk about those I'm interested. If you just want to punch at what you see as "far left" I am not inclined to waste my time.
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, this place is a fake think tank that pretends to be neutral but is in fact an arm of ALEC and largely funded by the Koch's: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/California_Policy_Cent... Don't fall for easy bullshit and let it lead you to making "dunk" comments that don't actually engage the problems and instead act as thought ending cliches. That's their entire goal.
Only one Koch left.
Yeah, I keep forgetting that, somewhat hilariously as I'm at radius 2 to the family. My dad's best friend worked for Koch industries and described his job as "keeping the brothers from killing each other." They are extremely unpleasant people based on all the stories I heard growing up.
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#64Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
Whats up with the "$5M per black resident" quip?
They were probably referring to this: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/14/san-francisc...
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#66I think they surely can get rid of a lot of city personal. I've moved to a different state and just being in contact with government officials to get things done is just... easier. Something not right? Let's fix it. Let's do this first and then that. General California feeling: you're missing form 5858b. Can't help you. Come back later. Next available appointment: 3 months. Half of their jobs could be filled by using…
You don’t understand. The incentives are all wrong. There is absolutely zero benefit for a bureaucracy to make itself more efficient and require less money each year. No one is incentivized to ensure money is being spent well. The biggest incentive for a lifelong bureaucrat is to increase budget and headcount - the more money and headcount you have, the more important you are. There is never a time when you aren’t re…
The US seems especially bad, though. Do other countries do things differently in terms of incentives?
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it's about incentives. Or, alternatively, if it's about incentives, then you have already failed. For a long time, the US tried to export democracy and capitalism around the world. Sometimes it worked, but it was more common that the attempt failed. It failed, because the culture, the values, and the institutions needed to support a Western-style society were not there. There are countries where the bur…
I could not disagree more. In the countries where the bureacracy is considered "efficient", it's because in that time and place the best jobs for the most talented were in the government. In the US context that was 1930 to 1970, when the Great Depression, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, and the aftermath made stable government employment attractive. Once the situation tilts back to the private sector, which IMO is the nat…
A concrete example: In many countries, most taxpayers don't have to file taxes. Those countries have taken many steps over the decades to make the tax bureaucracy more efficient. The US could try to do the same, but the existing institutions make it difficult.
Another example: Many countries have a system of administrative courts. If someone challenges a decision made by a public official, the case goes there. The process is reasonably cost-effective and predictable, as the judge usually considers only whether the decision was made according to the correct processes. Determining whether the decision was good is left to elected representatives. If a similar case goes to a civil court, the process tends to be more expensive and less predictable, as the judge is more likely to consider the substance of the argument.
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#68If employee wages are a large part of the rising costs, then perhaps the cost of living for living in SF is too high. The cost of living is too high because rent is too high. Since there is so much political contention to building more housing, there is no chance that housing prices will decrease (nobody wants to see their property lose value). Now they are complaining about the problem they caused?!? I don't know if…
They're a group of right-wing policy consultancy grifters, of course they'd complain.
They are a right wing group of policy grifters and they would have been making similar arguments even if SF was running billion dollar surpluses and had 0 homeless, no crime, etc. in fact, then and their likes have indeed been making similar arguments for decades.
The problem is that their arguments are now getting purchase because SF is indeed facing problems. Since this grift site doesn’t actually prescribe any solutions it’s hard to say how right or wrong they are, but there’s definitely a need for SF, and more broadly expensive cities across the U.S., to take a hard look at how they’re operating.
The fact that we are allowing the US’s great cities to crumble because people are forced to move to suburbs in the middle of the desert since housing is so expensive is an absolute tragedy for everyone.
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#691. Destroy your tax base by turning your city into a lawless hell hole / homeless paradise. 2. ??? 3. Profit.
4. Let people flee to other cities, vote based on identity/emotion and then be genuinely surprised why it's doing downhill the same way.
Re: San Francisco’s Financial Crisis
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I could not disagree more. In the countries where the bureacracy is considered "efficient", it's because in that time and place the best jobs for the most talented were in the government. In the US context that was 1930 to 1970, when the Great Depression, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, and the aftermath made stable government employment attractive. Once the situation tilts back to the private sector, which IMO is the nat…
A concrete example: In many countries, most taxpayers don't have to file taxes. Those countries have taken many steps over the decades to make the tax bureaucracy more efficient. The US could try to do the same, but the existing institutions make it difficult. Another example: Many countries have a system of administrative courts. If someone challenges a decision made by a public official, the case goes there. The pr…
I am a "tax return should fit on a postcard" type of guy so we have no argument there. However I don't think you will find many in the center or right political axis that thinks we don't want to streamline tax filing and make the whole thing more efficient.
The reason in the US that things aren't easier is endless lobbying. Literally every sector that makes a few million bucks hires a state lobbyist to ensure no one local fucks them.