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The Japanese government is doing exactly literally what the parent comment describes - paying people to dig up and break apart rocks: http://www.japantimes.co.j

by sedachv 10y ago

The Japanese government is doing exactly literally what the parent comment describes - paying people to dig up and break apart rocks: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/05/19/environment/the-other-costs-of-concrete/ http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/05/19/environment/the-... This has been extremely destructive to the environment and has not done anything for the Japanese economy for the last 20 years. It has been effective as a way of transferring taxpayer money to construction company presidents' pockets.

yummyfajitas 10y ago
Perhaps Japan provides all possible government services and there is literally nothing more it could possibly do of any value. Is the same true of the US? Are those anti-government republicans right? Will it be actively harmful if the US government does even one more thing?
DashRattlesnake 10y ago
> The Japanese government is doing exactly literally what the parent comment describes - paying people to dig up and break apart rocks That's actually not the same thing. The parent comment's "have them go break large rocks into smaller rocks" carried the connotation of useless make-work. Your link describes a facet of concrete production, which is hardly useless.
- sedachv 10y ago
  > Your link describes a facet of concrete production, which is hardly useless. Here is the key part of the article: "critics claim this is merely a reversion to the LDP’s traditional policy of pork-barrel spending on concrete structures" Concrete itself has no inherent value. In Japan concrete is being used to ruin the natural environment as part of government make-work schemes, with very little discernible material benefit: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320645-500-forum-land-of-the-rising-concrete-the-concrete-pourers-of-japan-are-going-berserk-says-fred-pearce/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320645-500-forum-la... https://welovecarbondioxide.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/japans-great-wall-and-the-renamed-liberal-democratic-party-to-the-liberal-concrete-party/ https://welovecarbondioxide.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/japans-... http://joshnjaxnjapan.blogspot.com/2010/03/concrete-rivers-of-japan.html http://joshnjaxnjapan.blogspot.com/2010/03/concrete-rivers-o...

by sedachv 10y ago

yummyfajitas 10y ago

Perhaps Japan provides all possible government services and there is literally nothing more it could possibly do of any value. Is the same true of the US? Are those anti-government republicans right? Will it be actively harmful if the US government does even one more thing?

DashRattlesnake 10y ago

> The Japanese government is doing exactly literally what the parent comment describes - paying people to dig up and break apart rocks That's actually not the same thing. The parent comment's "have them go break large rocks into smaller rocks" carried the connotation of useless make-work. Your link describes a facet of concrete production, which is hardly useless.

sedachv 10y ago
> Your link describes a facet of concrete production, which is hardly useless. Here is the key part of the article: "critics claim this is merely a reversion to the LDP’s traditional policy of pork-barrel spending on concrete structures" Concrete itself has no inherent value. In Japan concrete is being used to ruin the natural environment as part of government make-work schemes, with very little discernible material benefit: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320645-500-forum-land-of-the-rising-concrete-the-concrete-pourers-of-japan-are-going-berserk-says-fred-pearce/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320645-500-forum-la... https://welovecarbondioxide.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/japans-great-wall-and-the-renamed-liberal-democratic-party-to-the-liberal-concrete-party/ https://welovecarbondioxide.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/japans-... http://joshnjaxnjapan.blogspot.com/2010/03/concrete-rivers-of-japan.html http://joshnjaxnjapan.blogspot.com/2010/03/concrete-rivers-o...