4 ms·

/me raises hand We've got some seriously great government programs. I won't stop you from criticizing the visible parts of the government (politicians can be

by munk-a 4y ago

/me raises hand We've got some seriously great government programs. I won't stop you from criticizing the visible parts of the government (politicians can be quite frustrating) but Medicaid and Medicare are both extremely efficient and Social Security is basically why we have such a high expected lifespan. Personally, I am quite thankful for the roads, rail lines, sewage and all the other things living in a modern society gives us.

exabrial 4y ago
I agree, I find all of these things quite nice. The construction of roads and rail lines though is enormously overpriced though. It's not like they'd just disappear if we stopped paying taxes. Instead why not just pay for them directly and get _a lot_ more of them? What if your AAA membership built the actual roads you're driving on and you could buy an unlimited pass, or a pass based on your actual mileage or something like that?
- munk-a 4y ago
  Does your vision involve a single large government mandated corporation (i.e. like a crown corporation up here in Canada) or by individual private companies?
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  It doesn't take much of an imagination to see how poorly such a world would end up. We don't need parallel highways built just so corporations can compete on who has the best roads. And I'm imagining a scenario where one company sells their road network to another, and the new one decides they hate SUVs and so won't allow SUVs on their network, and suddenly my neighbor can't leave the neighborhood because he drives an SUV for work. Not to mention the extreme number of tolls booths you might have to set up.
deathanatos 4y ago
But asides from all that, I mean, really, what have the Romans done for us?
- lesuorac 4y ago
  Look, Microsoft could cut out like 95% of the features and it'd be an amazing product. Everybody I talk to agrees that they only use 5% of the features so nobody would miss them!

by munk-a 4y ago

exabrial 4y ago

I agree, I find all of these things quite nice. The construction of roads and rail lines though is enormously overpriced though. It's not like they'd just disappear if we stopped paying taxes. Instead why not just pay for them directly and get _a lot_ more of them? What if your AAA membership built the actual roads you're driving on and you could buy an unlimited pass, or a pass based on your actual mileage or something like that?

munk-a 4y ago
Does your vision involve a single large government mandated corporation (i.e. like a crown corporation up here in Canada) or by individual private companies?
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
It doesn't take much of an imagination to see how poorly such a world would end up. We don't need parallel highways built just so corporations can compete on who has the best roads. And I'm imagining a scenario where one company sells their road network to another, and the new one decides they hate SUVs and so won't allow SUVs on their network, and suddenly my neighbor can't leave the neighborhood because he drives an SUV for work. Not to mention the extreme number of tolls booths you might have to set up.

deathanatos 4y ago

But asides from all that, I mean, really, what have the Romans done for us?

lesuorac 4y ago
Look, Microsoft could cut out like 95% of the features and it'd be an amazing product. Everybody I talk to agrees that they only use 5% of the features so nobody would miss them!