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But we live in a free market of ideas. No reason to have one state operate it’s utilities like every other, except to satisfy social memes. We’ve done the priv
by gjouft55 7y ago
But we live in a free market of ideas. No reason to have one state operate it’s utilities like every other, except to satisfy social memes.
We’ve done the privatize it all experiment even given evidence that services like Medicare can be run pretty cheaply, and, well, Kansas and Oklahoma.
I’d be curious to see if California could save rate payers money. My guess is the conventional finance wisdom about big government spending is more like fear mongering to protect special interests.
- rayiner 7y agoGiven how California’s HSR project recently exploded due to run away costs, calling the concern about the state take over more things “fear mongering” is pretty dense.
- inferiorhuman 7y agoCAHSR died the death of a thousand paper cuts (e.g. SF and south bay routing, grade separation, signalling, trump). All of that created an untenable situation. The closest equivalent with municipal power is the gobs of money PG&E has spent trying to kill local and statewide public power legislation.
- dragonwriter 7y ago> CAHSR died the death of a thousand paper cuts CAHSR is surprisingly alive and active for something that died.
- selectodude 7y agoIt exists, and they’re building, but it’s only linking the powerhouse cities of Merced, Fresno and Bakersfield. So I’m sure it’ll be packed 7 days per week.
- rayiner 7y agoIt’ll remain a hilarious monument to the state government’s incompetence, right in the heart of a region that “voted for the other guy.”
- masonic 7y agoIn one comment chain, we have Regan (sic) blamed for "privatizing" CA utilities and Trump blamed for CAHSR.
- inferiorhuman 7y agoIn one comment chain, we have Regan (sic) blamed for "privatizing" CA utilities and Trump blamed for CAHSR. Whether or not you agree with his actions Trump absolutely tried to kill CAHSR. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-high-speed-rail-20190219-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-high-speed-rail-20...
- rayiner 7y agoTrump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable.
- inferiorhuman 7y agoTrump didn’t derail the project as originally envisioned. He tried to kill it after the governor declared that the project that had originally been pitched to the federal government had become infeasable. So what you're saying is that trump is trying to kill CAHSR? Got it.
- masonic 7y agotrump is trying to kill CAHSR? No. CAHSR is probably dying but due to CA's own lies and ineptitude. All the Trump administration did is say, "you were promised funding conditional on it being spent on X, Y, and Z. Instead, CA spent that money on the infrastructure equivalent of hookers and blow[0]. Therefore, we are simply cancelling the funding per the agreement and the law because essentially none went to X, Y, or Z." CAHSR is free to proceed (as far as the Administration is concerned) however they want with their own funds and the promised investor funds. In other words, pay for your own hookers and blow. [0] 'In one especially egregious case, in 2017, the CHSRA hired an external consultant to check the work of Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP USA), which had been paid $666 million for engineering consulting. The external consultant found that the CHSRA had not received finished work for 145 of 184 tasks that Parsons Brinckerhoff had called “complete.”' https://www.city-journal.org/californias-high-speed-rail-project https://www.city-journal.org/californias-high-speed-rail-pro...
- rayiner 7y agoRouting, grade separation, and signaling are things any train system must deal with. The lesson from CAHSR is that the California government was too incompetent to be able to handle something that many governments around the world handle just fine. As to Trump—CAHSR had already failed by the time Trump took office. He simply demanded the federal government’s money back.
- inferiorhuman 7y agoThe lesson from CAHSR is that the California government was too incompetent to be able to handle something that many governments around the world handle just fine. How do you get incompetence from being sued at every turn by people trying to micromanage the CAHSR project? The trump approach of ruling by fiat doesn't work in the real world.
- gjouft55 7y ago“Given my cherry picked anecdote, gfy.” says yet another random fart of the universe no one will remember.
- selimthegrim 7y agoGiven that clinic in Oklahoma that posts prices methinks you made a Freudian slip there