patrick.net

Kind of liked the guy, but this is some of the dumbest stuff I've watched in my life. Infrastructure? You have to export and import products. That's infrastructure. You're dead as a country without it. That's why Crimea is struggling so much.

WookieMan says

Kind of liked the guy, but this is some of the dumbest stuff I've watched in my life. Infrastructure? You have to export and import products. That's infrastructure. You're dead as a country without it. That's why Crimea is struggling so much.

You can build infrastructure without a dept of infrastructure, it has been done so for centuries. Get rid of the govt deadweight

Just look at the CALTRANS forever projects on short stretches of freeway. Shit has been torn up for years around 680/580 corridor. Yet, out in boondocks that they want developed, there are huge freeways on empty stretches that seemed to have popped up over night.

There is an obvious grotesque inefficiency with the Guv projects. They must be money laundering dumps. My wife and I laugh and say 'Your taxes at work buying donuts and coffee'.

Something you get from private development is goals, efficiency, economy and speed. California could never have been built with the slow, foot dragging shit you see all over these days in their construction projects.

mell says

You can build infrastructure without a dept of infrastructure, it has been done so for centuries. Get rid of the govt deadweight

Nope. Infrastructure is about the best thing government does. If it was all private with no oversight it would be chaos. I assume you don't use the interstate system? State highways?

Infrastructure and military are about the only thing government should be involved in. They're the same thing really as far as a defense network of roads. Rail is already built, so I'd agree any high speed type passenger rail should be private.

There's a lot more to roads than people know about. I like less government, but private business if left to build it on their own would be an epic failure.

WookieMan says

There's a lot more to roads than people know about.

There's less.
Nobody said you shouldn't invest in infrastructure, just that you don't need a dept of infrastructure for it. They have the biggest boondoggles out there as already mentioned by @Ceffer. Your tax dollars are certainly NOT at work lol

mell says

WookieMan says

There's a lot more to roads than people know about.

There's less.
Nobody said you shouldn't invest in infrastructure, just that you don't need a dept of infrastructure for it.

I assume Rin's comments on investing are true. I wouldn't tell him how to invest because he likely knows more than I do. I know a lot here are in tech. I'm not gonna tell you how to build a website or database or whatever.

I know roads. I know the engineers. I've studied the science of road building extensively in assistance of my wife's work. You need government or oversight or you couldn't even get to the next county where you live. Amazon couldn't deliver. You wouldn't get mail. Draconian but fact.

I know this is Obama (esk) speech. Where he was wrong is that private companies did build the roads through tax dollars they paid. Yes THEY didn't build the roads themselves, you need a central organization to do it. You need a DOT at minimum. Rail is another topic. Put this way I'd rather get rid of the department of education first. Welfare.

Put this way infrastructure and military are top 2 in whatever order you want to put them in on the federal level. Infrastructure is #1 locally for everyone on this forum.

Cases in point:
1. Sacramento Light Rail. Was supposed to connect downtown to the airport 30 years ago. Nope. Still Not done.
2. Cali High-Speed Rail: Lame elevated track sections currently going nowhere. Bakersfield to Merced, none of which are connected. From January 2015 to December 2023, a total of $11.2 billion had been spent on the IOS – 119 miles (192 km) under active construction. << -- meaning: No stations or trains yet. Current cost estimates over $30Bn.

rocketjoe79 says

Cases in point:
1. Sacramento Light Rail. Was supposed to connect downtown to the airport 30 years ago. Nope. Still Not done.
2. Cali High-Speed Rail: Lame elevated track sections currently going nowhere. Bakersfield to Merced, none of which are connected. From January 2015 to December 2023, a total of $11.2 billion had been spent on the IOS – 119 miles (192 km) under active construction. << -- meaning: No stations or trains yet. Current cost estimates over $30Bn.

Rail is different. We don't have a nation that fits rail. Air is better to move people distances. I'd also never take a train. It's like going to a Greyhound bus station.

Besides inter-airport I'll never ride a train again. I don't like the tight seats on a plane but you need at least 10 train cars to move the same amount of people for the same price and generally uncomfortable without paying an upgrade. And waaaaaaay longer trip times.

Trains don't and won't work in this country. Interstate system does. Most state roads do as well. Same with county if they're not idiots. Trains are for moving product. Coal, oil, cars, goods, etc. High speed rail will never be a thing because you'll be stopping every 5-10 minutes in a town that wants a station.

We've turned the Airlines into a Greyhound Replacement and a Rail Replacement.

Fine, but there has to be laws about seat width, overbooking, lateness, and every gate must be leased by the quarter and penalties assigned for certain ATC-overloaded timeslots (6-9AM and 3-6PM) - airports should have for-profit management trying to squeeze profit FROM the airlines.

There should be no "Hubs", but a total free market so anybody with a few planes can have a viable business.

No City should have to kiss the ass of American or Delta to get them to stay.

Live in bumblefuck? Tax yourself to bribe airlines to serve your local small airport or pay higher tickets with less choice. No more fed subsidies so residents of Buffalo Breath or Montpelier can get a cheap ticket to Cancun. Life is a series of trade off, so living in Butte means you're going to have limited choices at a high price for air travel.

The current Corporate-Socialist system works like shit. Airports are highly variable in quality, usually deteriorate rapidly, are stuffed with local political and corporate crony-buffoons who are given easy, high paying jobs. Either go back to pre 1990s tickets or let the free market bloom with quarter-leases per gate. Get rid of the TSA which is a security contractor federal boondoggle, give states the responsibility at least for domestic flights.

Fine airport operators for over half-hour delays. They can then turn around and fine the airlines for their delays.

One reason many businesses like UPS and Amazon are building out their own airbases for cargo alone is the atrocious quality of airports, which are, just like Logan during 911, run by politico-corp crony buffoons like the guy Rothstein had to hire in a hotel to please the local politicoes.

Finally, Stewardesses need to prove they have no hypertension or bodily injuries like bad knees after 35 years old as their primary purpose is safety, otherwise they must transfer to a ground-position.

That and women over 35 get uglier and grouchier. Very few 55 year olds are as attentive and active as a 25-year old in a customer service position.

Also, nobody wants to ask grandma for a pillow when she can barely hobble down the aisle herself.