4 ms·

America: The Build-Nothing Country

16 points by jseliger 4y ago

32gbsd 4y ago
Is this one of those "why dont you let us build a windfarm in your state so we can power new york" articles? Because farmers dont want them, they see them as a waste of land.
- downrightmike 4y ago
  No. Actually for many decades they've existed, it has never been that way in reality. Wind farms use up little land and net a consistent profit for farmers, which is why there are more wind farms in red states. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/22/politics/wind-energy-oklahoma-republican-states-climate/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/22/politics/wind-energy-oklahoma...
  - 32gbsd 4y ago
    Did you read the article? It talks about over riding local bodies for the greater benefit the "nation".
  - 32gbsd 4y ago
    That cnn article is doing a reverse sales pitch. look at these people they are making money you can too!
downrightmike 4y ago
We make more things than we ever have, just not end user items.
- 32gbsd 4y ago
  Arms, ammunition, tanks?
  - downrightmike 4y ago
    Regulatory capture by the military industrial complex
  - donw 4y ago
    Not even those. Replenishment for what we've expended in Ukraine is on a 5-10 year timeframe at present.
tharne 4y ago
Can you really blame people? As a country, we still remember all the horrible crap that was built in the 1950's and 60's in the name of the "greater good". Neighborhoods bulldozed to build highways, downtowns hollowed out to build malls and parking lots, and strip mall after strip mall. Practically everything built in this country after World War II looks ugly and cheap. It's not that Americans don't want new things to be built, it's that we don't trust the government and the real estate developers not to fuck it up. As they say, "trust is earned".
- whitemary 4y ago
  > As a country, we still remember all the horrible crap that was built in the 1950's and 60's Nonsense. As a country, Americans know practically nothing about our history at all. Furthermore, Americans know practically nothing about the alternatives that exist elsewhere. This is glaringly obvious to virtually everyone who interacts with even small aggregate samples of average Americans. I wish you were right, but I'm afraid your thesis just falls flat on its' face. I will gladly get in line to trash talk American post-war urban development, but even if average Americans shared our disposition, it's pretty naive to think average Americans' opinions would have any meaningful influence politically.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    Exactly. The Americans who trash-talk American post-war urban development are not normal Americans; they're well-educated and well-traveled Americans. Most Americans actually like things that way and can't really imagine living any other way. Things aren't the way they are because of a few "evil developers"; it's because that's how most Americans really want things, and they vote for it.
    - quadrangle 4y ago
      > Most Americans actually like things that way and can't really imagine living any other way. If people cannot imagine anything but one way of living, then it isn't really reasonable to describe whether they like it or at least to use the supposed liking as evidence of anything. Having people imagine alternatives is a prerequisite to evaluating anything meaningful about what people like.
whitemary 4y ago
What country? All I see is different capitalist interests competing with each other for various opportunities to exploit working people for a profit. If these whiners are serious about wanting to build something, they should start with a society.
quags 4y ago
Today I read how in a section of Philadelphia chemicals have been spilled into part of the water and there is an alert that the water may be unsafe to drink for some time. The question that came up why how are there not regulations to prevent this. Utahs Great salt Lake is drying up possibly due to over building. Yet every article I see come up about housing frames it as we don’t build enough and nimby people being over protective and in the wrong trying to protect their assets. I live in an area with well and septic and a massive over build tainting the water table is a serious risk that should not be so easily over ridden by a builder lawsuit who will build with out a thought for the local area and it’s available resources while the people who live their have the consequences of those actions.

16 points by jseliger 4y ago

Is this one of those "why dont you let us build a windfarm in your state so we can power new york" articles? Because farmers dont want them, they see them as a waste of land.

downrightmike 4y ago
No. Actually for many decades they've existed, it has never been that way in reality. Wind farms use up little land and net a consistent profit for farmers, which is why there are more wind farms in red states. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/22/politics/wind-energy-oklahoma-republican-states-climate/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/22/politics/wind-energy-oklahoma...
- 32gbsd 4y ago
  Did you read the article? It talks about over riding local bodies for the greater benefit the "nation".
- 32gbsd 4y ago
  That cnn article is doing a reverse sales pitch. look at these people they are making money you can too!

downrightmike 4y ago

We make more things than we ever have, just not end user items.

32gbsd 4y ago
Arms, ammunition, tanks?
- downrightmike 4y ago
  Regulatory capture by the military industrial complex
- donw 4y ago
  Not even those. Replenishment for what we've expended in Ukraine is on a 5-10 year timeframe at present.

tharne 4y ago

Can you really blame people? As a country, we still remember all the horrible crap that was built in the 1950's and 60's in the name of the "greater good". Neighborhoods bulldozed to build highways, downtowns hollowed out to build malls and parking lots, and strip mall after strip mall. Practically everything built in this country after World War II looks ugly and cheap. It's not that Americans don't want new things to be built, it's that we don't trust the government and the real estate developers not to fuck it up. As they say, "trust is earned".

whitemary 4y ago
> As a country, we still remember all the horrible crap that was built in the 1950's and 60's Nonsense. As a country, Americans know practically nothing about our history at all. Furthermore, Americans know practically nothing about the alternatives that exist elsewhere. This is glaringly obvious to virtually everyone who interacts with even small aggregate samples of average Americans. I wish you were right, but I'm afraid your thesis just falls flat on its' face. I will gladly get in line to trash talk American post-war urban development, but even if average Americans shared our disposition, it's pretty naive to think average Americans' opinions would have any meaningful influence politically.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  Exactly. The Americans who trash-talk American post-war urban development are not normal Americans; they're well-educated and well-traveled Americans. Most Americans actually like things that way and can't really imagine living any other way. Things aren't the way they are because of a few "evil developers"; it's because that's how most Americans really want things, and they vote for it.
  - quadrangle 4y ago
    > Most Americans actually like things that way and can't really imagine living any other way. If people cannot imagine anything but one way of living, then it isn't really reasonable to describe whether they like it or at least to use the supposed liking as evidence of anything. Having people imagine alternatives is a prerequisite to evaluating anything meaningful about what people like.

whitemary 4y ago

What country? All I see is different capitalist interests competing with each other for various opportunities to exploit working people for a profit. If these whiners are serious about wanting to build something, they should start with a society.

quags 4y ago

Today I read how in a section of Philadelphia chemicals have been spilled into part of the water and there is an alert that the water may be unsafe to drink for some time. The question that came up why how are there not regulations to prevent this. Utahs Great salt Lake is drying up possibly due to over building. Yet every article I see come up about housing frames it as we don’t build enough and nimby people being over protective and in the wrong trying to protect their assets. I live in an area with well and septic and a massive over build tainting the water table is a serious risk that should not be so easily over ridden by a builder lawsuit who will build with out a thought for the local area and it’s available resources while the people who live their have the consequences of those actions.