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> bureaucracies in East Asia and Continental Europe tend to be better-staffed and more empowered to make professional decisions The key word here is "more empo

> bureaucracies in East Asia and Continental Europe tend to be better-staffed and more empowered to make professional decisions The key word here is "more empowered." If the state could just say "okay we're transplanting all of the people that live here out of the way so that we can put up a hyperloop, and these are the people who are going to do it, and we'll pay them this much..." infrastructure would move a lot faster, for much less money. Because the US government tends to have far less authority over its citizens than Europe, and especially Asia, it has many free-marketish half measures that create the worst of all possible outcomes. Because the US has to pretend to be market-driven, by allowing private companies and unions to bid on projects, as well as offer people fair market values for their properties in the way of infrastructure, you get all sorts of problems. The main one is that the government is not a normal buyer, and completely throws most markets out of whack. Just look at the "cost plus" sort of funding schemes that have existed in aerospace contracts for decades, a concept that would never in a million years have existed in the free market. I'm not saying that the European or Asian models are better, there are definite benefits to the liberties afforded to Americans...but it is without question far worse if the objective is timely and affordable infrastructure.

ghaff 6y ago
>If the state could just say "okay we're transplanting all of the people that live here out of the way so that we can put up a hyperloop, and these are the people who are going to do it, and we'll pay them this much..." That is particular is definitely a tradeoff. The US did do it with things like the Interstate Highway System but I'm actually OK with Eminent Domain being difficult to exercise today.
- Anechoic 6y ago
  The US did do it with things like the Interstate Highway System Which in part resulted in the passage of NEPA and our current morass.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    Of course, even the Interstate Highway System followed existing railroad right of ways a lot of the time. Although exit ramps and feeder roads still required a lot of eminent domain exercise. (The house I grew up in lost a bunch of property to eminent domain for this reason.)
markus_zhang 6y ago
US elites have managed to cut a deep gap between themselves and the ordinary American people, so that they are protected well enough to NOT worry about the reaction of middle-low class people.
oblio 6y ago
> I'm not saying that the European or Asian models are better, there are definite benefits to the liberties afforded to Americans I'm curious, what liberties do Americans have compared to Europeans? The only thing that comes to mind is owning guns, and I'm quite convinced that's a net negative, a tragedy of the commons (everyone gets theirs and the community suffers for it, as a whole).
- zhdc1 6y ago
  Europe is more heterogeneous than the states, so it's not a fair comparison. However, if it's worth anything, there are no capital requirements for starting a company with liability protection, which isn't the case in several European countries. Americans also aren't required to register or deregister themselves with the local government whenever they move. I can think of other examples (the lack of television taxes, religious taxes, &c). Again though, these examples depend a lot on each country, so I'm sure you can find exceptions for each of these depending on the European country you look at.
- watwut 6y ago
  It is easier to become prisoner in America.
- ralusek 6y ago
  Freedom of speech is the most notable. In general, lower taxes, fewer regulations regarding building, starting businesses, more checks and balances to government. Again, I'm not saying it's better or worse, the United States government is just more restricted in its capacity to impede individual liberties than European states, and far more so than Asian states. The rise of automation and increasing wealth inequality is putting the American model through the ringer, so we have yet to see if there's a place for it in the future. Unfortunately, it looks like what was perhaps in need of a correction is being leveraged by the sort of authoritarian overcorrection that has been the downfall of more modern states than any other philosophy.
  - oblio 6y ago
    You do know that there is freedom of speech in Europe, right? European tax rates are comparable with American ones, out of the rest only the bureaucracy aspect seems valid.
zhdc1 6y ago
> bureaucracies in East Asia and Continental Europe tend to be better-staffed and more empowered to make professional decisions Not from what I've seen. The highway I drive every day is in the middle of an extensive refurbishment. The local government (I currently live in Europe) was given the option of shutting it down for a month, which was completely untenable, but in line with what I think the author was trying to get at. They were also given the option of keeping it running at full capacity and doing the construction work over a several year period. They chose the latter, for obvious reasons, at a significantly higher cost, since the highway has to be rebuilt and demolished several times over to keep all lanes of traffic moving at all times. The difference between here and the states is not the level of empowerment or the level of staff competence. They simply have a lot more money to work with, which lets them build to a higher standard of quality, do preventative maintenance on time, and refurbish or outright rebuild when it becomes necessary to do so.
Aunche 6y ago
I think the problem is too much pathos is used in political debate. It's easy for the opposition of emanate domain to point to an old lady being forced out of their home as an example of government overreach. Meanwhile, for every one of those out there, there are a dozen more people stuck in poverty because they have no means of commuting to a better paying job. This doesn't make for as compelling of a story though.

ghaff 6y ago

>If the state could just say "okay we're transplanting all of the people that live here out of the way so that we can put up a hyperloop, and these are the people who are going to do it, and we'll pay them this much..." That is particular is definitely a tradeoff. The US did do it with things like the Interstate Highway System but I'm actually OK with Eminent Domain being difficult to exercise today.

Anechoic 6y ago
The US did do it with things like the Interstate Highway System Which in part resulted in the passage of NEPA and our current morass.
- ghaff 6y ago
  Of course, even the Interstate Highway System followed existing railroad right of ways a lot of the time. Although exit ramps and feeder roads still required a lot of eminent domain exercise. (The house I grew up in lost a bunch of property to eminent domain for this reason.)

markus_zhang 6y ago

US elites have managed to cut a deep gap between themselves and the ordinary American people, so that they are protected well enough to NOT worry about the reaction of middle-low class people.

oblio 6y ago

> I'm not saying that the European or Asian models are better, there are definite benefits to the liberties afforded to Americans I'm curious, what liberties do Americans have compared to Europeans? The only thing that comes to mind is owning guns, and I'm quite convinced that's a net negative, a tragedy of the commons (everyone gets theirs and the community suffers for it, as a whole).

zhdc1 6y ago
Europe is more heterogeneous than the states, so it's not a fair comparison. However, if it's worth anything, there are no capital requirements for starting a company with liability protection, which isn't the case in several European countries. Americans also aren't required to register or deregister themselves with the local government whenever they move. I can think of other examples (the lack of television taxes, religious taxes, &c). Again though, these examples depend a lot on each country, so I'm sure you can find exceptions for each of these depending on the European country you look at.
watwut 6y ago
It is easier to become prisoner in America.
ralusek 6y ago
Freedom of speech is the most notable. In general, lower taxes, fewer regulations regarding building, starting businesses, more checks and balances to government. Again, I'm not saying it's better or worse, the United States government is just more restricted in its capacity to impede individual liberties than European states, and far more so than Asian states. The rise of automation and increasing wealth inequality is putting the American model through the ringer, so we have yet to see if there's a place for it in the future. Unfortunately, it looks like what was perhaps in need of a correction is being leveraged by the sort of authoritarian overcorrection that has been the downfall of more modern states than any other philosophy.
- oblio 6y ago
  You do know that there is freedom of speech in Europe, right? European tax rates are comparable with American ones, out of the rest only the bureaucracy aspect seems valid.

zhdc1 6y ago

> bureaucracies in East Asia and Continental Europe tend to be better-staffed and more empowered to make professional decisions Not from what I've seen. The highway I drive every day is in the middle of an extensive refurbishment. The local government (I currently live in Europe) was given the option of shutting it down for a month, which was completely untenable, but in line with what I think the author was trying to get at. They were also given the option of keeping it running at full capacity and doing the construction work over a several year period. They chose the latter, for obvious reasons, at a significantly higher cost, since the highway has to be rebuilt and demolished several times over to keep all lanes of traffic moving at all times. The difference between here and the states is not the level of empowerment or the level of staff competence. They simply have a lot more money to work with, which lets them build to a higher standard of quality, do preventative maintenance on time, and refurbish or outright rebuild when it becomes necessary to do so.

Aunche 6y ago

I think the problem is too much pathos is used in political debate. It's easy for the opposition of emanate domain to point to an old lady being forced out of their home as an example of government overreach. Meanwhile, for every one of those out there, there are a dozen more people stuck in poverty because they have no means of commuting to a better paying job. This doesn't make for as compelling of a story though.