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In Arkansas, our roads are nothing but potholes. As soon as they are patched it rains (or as we say in the South, torrential downpours) and the entire road is a

In Arkansas, our roads are nothing but potholes. As soon as they are patched it rains (or as we say in the South, torrential downpours) and the entire road is a pothole again. Very annoying. It's always wet here and humid, btw. At least not as humid as Louisiana though.

noobermin 8y ago
I guess the difference is Palau has year round rain, not seasonal rains, so it's more akin to say Singapore than parts of the US, although may be LA or FL might be close, I don't know. Another confounding problem with Palau it's an island in the Pacific. In the US, if you need to patch the road, you just send a couple of catepillar machines in an oversized truck down the interstate along with tar and whatever else to your small town. I mean, of course someone has the catepillars and tar lying around, but that's at least how it got there. For Palau, you need to get the tar, caterpillars, and fuel and everything else and send it on a cargo ship, whilst burning more fuel and putting it into the air. Just the sheer distance and isolation adds a huge cost to repair for everything that sort stretches the analogy with small town America for example.
- jcranmer 8y ago
  The closest analogue in the US would be Hawaii, which is basically the Pacific island problem compounded by sheer remoteness (just about the only things more remote are French Polynesia, Easter Island, and random subantarctic islands, although I'm anchoring much of the South Pacific on places like Auckland, Brisbane, and Port Moresby). And as I've pointed out in the past, Hawaii is even higher cost of living than California, largely as a result of this middle-of-nowhere location.
  - noobermin 8y ago
    I guess I'm curious how Polynesian islands manage it, but one thing about Hawaii has a robust economy while Palau does not unfortunately. Palau is heavily reliant of foreign aid, although it does have a tourism industry, it has faced some struggles. In a curious contradiction, HI is a US state, so federal funds being spent there are not really considered "aid" since they pay federal taxes, while Palau does not pay taxes to the US. Also, scale is different, Palau has less than 30K people, which makes it much smaller Hawaii and even many other Polynesian islands. The curious thing is the cost of living isn't that terrible for things like land and food (which can be grown on the island). Of course, anything else including gas is expensive.

noobermin 8y ago

I guess the difference is Palau has year round rain, not seasonal rains, so it's more akin to say Singapore than parts of the US, although may be LA or FL might be close, I don't know. Another confounding problem with Palau it's an island in the Pacific. In the US, if you need to patch the road, you just send a couple of catepillar machines in an oversized truck down the interstate along with tar and whatever else to your small town. I mean, of course someone has the catepillars and tar lying around, but that's at least how it got there. For Palau, you need to get the tar, caterpillars, and fuel and everything else and send it on a cargo ship, whilst burning more fuel and putting it into the air. Just the sheer distance and isolation adds a huge cost to repair for everything that sort stretches the analogy with small town America for example.

jcranmer 8y ago
The closest analogue in the US would be Hawaii, which is basically the Pacific island problem compounded by sheer remoteness (just about the only things more remote are French Polynesia, Easter Island, and random subantarctic islands, although I'm anchoring much of the South Pacific on places like Auckland, Brisbane, and Port Moresby). And as I've pointed out in the past, Hawaii is even higher cost of living than California, largely as a result of this middle-of-nowhere location.
- noobermin 8y ago
  I guess I'm curious how Polynesian islands manage it, but one thing about Hawaii has a robust economy while Palau does not unfortunately. Palau is heavily reliant of foreign aid, although it does have a tourism industry, it has faced some struggles. In a curious contradiction, HI is a US state, so federal funds being spent there are not really considered "aid" since they pay federal taxes, while Palau does not pay taxes to the US. Also, scale is different, Palau has less than 30K people, which makes it much smaller Hawaii and even many other Polynesian islands. The curious thing is the cost of living isn't that terrible for things like land and food (which can be grown on the island). Of course, anything else including gas is expensive.