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Some hypnotized people think that a Hyperloop in tunnel under the Baltic sea between Stockholm and Helsinki is a good idea - two sparsely populated capital citi

by kpil 9y ago

Some hypnotized people think that a Hyperloop in tunnel under the Baltic sea between Stockholm and Helsinki is a good idea - two sparsely populated capital cities of two small countries. http://nordic.businessinsider.com/stockholm-helsinki-hyperloop-is-a-step-closer----test-section--getting-started-in-finland-2017-3/ http://nordic.businessinsider.com/stockholm-helsinki-hyperlo... Even if it's only there to siphon of some taxpayer's money to someone or another, I just can't fathom how things like this can be allowed to go on. Even if the entire population will spend half of their income on tickets, it will not be economically viable.

paulcole 9y ago
> it will not be economically viable Government projects don't (and shouldn't) have to be "economically viable." They can be services to the citizens with no hope of profitability.
- ethn 9y ago
  This is largely a fallacy in the understanding of economics. Profitable, at least shouldn't, mean profitable to the government but to the shareholders of the government, its citizens. Costly government projects on large-scale speculative technology detracts from budgets of other presently needed services. There is not one existing branch of government that can't definitively improve its services to the benefit of its citizens and therefore the entire system.
- fiatjaf 9y ago
  "services to the citizens" that no one wishes, no one would pay for if had a chance (considering the actual prices), but still somehow paid by the citizens.
  - isostatic 9y ago
    City parks wouldn't be economically beneficial, who would pay to go to a city park? Could that really justify the land use. However the fact those parks are there does make life better. Measuring that though is tricky. How much is a child's laugh worth?
    - fiatjaf 9y ago
      You've never lived in a place without city parks.
      - isostatic 9y ago
        I can't think of any city or even town without a park. The hamlet my sister lives in doesn't have a shop, but it does have a park. The village my children go to school in has a population of about 300, no park, but it does have common open ground.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Economically viable doesn't necessarily imply profit. It just means that the benefits of the project (including stuff like making people happy) are at least reasonably comparable to the costs. I would suggest that for many countries, even 1:1 is a poor standard, simply because there are many ways to spend that are obviously better than that.
mcguire 9y ago
As an aside, how many people use the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line every day?

by kpil 9y ago

paulcole 9y ago

> it will not be economically viable Government projects don't (and shouldn't) have to be "economically viable." They can be services to the citizens with no hope of profitability.

ethn 9y ago
This is largely a fallacy in the understanding of economics. Profitable, at least shouldn't, mean profitable to the government but to the shareholders of the government, its citizens. Costly government projects on large-scale speculative technology detracts from budgets of other presently needed services. There is not one existing branch of government that can't definitively improve its services to the benefit of its citizens and therefore the entire system.
fiatjaf 9y ago
"services to the citizens" that no one wishes, no one would pay for if had a chance (considering the actual prices), but still somehow paid by the citizens.
- isostatic 9y ago
  City parks wouldn't be economically beneficial, who would pay to go to a city park? Could that really justify the land use. However the fact those parks are there does make life better. Measuring that though is tricky. How much is a child's laugh worth?
  - fiatjaf 9y ago
    You've never lived in a place without city parks.
    - isostatic 9y ago
      I can't think of any city or even town without a park. The hamlet my sister lives in doesn't have a shop, but it does have a park. The village my children go to school in has a population of about 300, no park, but it does have common open ground.
maxerickson 9y ago
Economically viable doesn't necessarily imply profit. It just means that the benefits of the project (including stuff like making people happy) are at least reasonably comparable to the costs. I would suggest that for many countries, even 1:1 is a poor standard, simply because there are many ways to spend that are obviously better than that.

mcguire 9y ago

As an aside, how many people use the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line every day?