3 ms·
Disclaimer: I dislike the Econo-Mist. (Reading link: https://archive.is/Txnc4 https://archive.is/Txnc4 ; thanks to user neonate.) There is more than one "gene
by heresie-dabord 6y ago
Disclaimer: I dislike the Econo-Mist.
(Reading link: https://archive.is/Txnc4 https://archive.is/Txnc4 ; thanks to user neonate.)
There is more than one "generation of people who question capitalism". Why reduce the critique to a single generation?
> A trillion dollars of dud mortgages blew up the financial system in 2007-08.
How about the bad banking system that enabled this rottenness? Even I understand that "corrections" happen.
> America’s GDP could be 4% higher. That is an enormous prize.
It is not the only "prize". Cities have been vibrant because they have been liveable. Quality of life is a benefit of a healthy community. I want to live somewhere in peace with clean resources and necessary services, without the threat of eviction. I like having a good job but I would not trade my health or the health of family and friends just for a job.
The hollowing of communities for the "prize" of a wealthy elite's profit is a threat to Democracy. Not all NIMBYism is to be deplored -- some of it is lucid resistance.
Is the argument then that "cities" are more "vibrant economic units" than they are communities? I don't agree. Quality of life has a cost.
Some of the things that needs to happen: investment in public transportation, incentives for distributing employment geographically (telework and distributed spaces), policies to protect quality of life, and taxes that distribute fairly the cost of maintaining community and services.