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I feel like a nontrivial root cause of cost disease is USian land use restrictions that make real estate pathologically expensive. The devastating effects of ba
by zkms 10y ago
I feel like a nontrivial root cause of cost disease is USian land use restrictions that make real estate pathologically expensive. The devastating effects of bad zoning policies end up severely driving the cost of real estate -- and real estate prices, both for housing and business/industry, end up affecting a whole lot of operational expenses for both employees and corporations (which then in turn affects prices).
(It's not just simply "regulatory burden" in general (except maybe healthcare) as explained in http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-... -- there's hella many industries and services and goods affected by cost disease, and the regulatory burdens too much to be a root cause -- real estate / housing costs is a more likely common cause)
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago> USian Is this a regional thing (Assuming it's a synonym for American. Google tries to correct me to Usain Bolt, then brings up a page of Usian Bolt typos.)
- CalRobert 10y agoUSian is a term adopted by English speakers who wish to more clearly distinguish between things related to the United States (the political entity), and things related to the Americas (the geographical entity(ies)). Motivations can range from a desire for precision in speech to a recognition that claiming the term "America" for one country, when in fact it is two continents with dozens of countries, isn't terribly considerate. People from Canada, Mexico, and Chile can all legitimately say they are "American", just like both Germans and Spaniards are "European", but using the term extensively to mean "people or matters related to the US" makes this less viable. Note that in Spanish the term Estadounidense (note the similarity to "Estados Unidos") exists, though I don't know how much it's used. Of course, it's an uphill battle, especially when you consider that the official name for Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Symmetry 10y agoI sort of like Frank Lloyd Wright's coinage of Usonian which makes the same distinction but is much nicer to say.
- aninhumer 10y agoI'm not really sure I see the point. If you want to refer to the two continents, you can say "The Americas".
- CalRobert 10y agoThe point is that saying someone or something is "American" shouldn't cause one to assume it's from or of the US.
- aninhumer 10y agoI think that's a perfectly reasonable assumption, since it's by far the most common usage of the term. If someone uses the term "American" to mean "person from the Americas" they are being needlessly obtuse. And I don't think this usage is particularly "inconsiderate", it's just a quirk of language.
- zeveb 10y ago> The point is that saying someone or something is "American" shouldn't cause one to assume it's from or of the US. That's seems like it's a pretty silly sentiment, since in common English speech that's exactly what 'American' implies. As you yourself note, USian could just as easily refer to someone from the United States of Mexico. I personally think it'd be salutary for our republic if my fellow Americans would refer to themselves as New Yorkers, Californians, Georgians, Texans &c. rather than as Americans (just as Germans, French, Dutch, Danish refer to themselves), but that's a different discussion altogether.
- 10y ago