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Japan's government seems so functional compared to what I'm used to in the US, that I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Their governments are bui

by Meekro 3y ago

Japan's government seems so functional compared to what I'm used to in the US, that I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Their governments are building all sorts of things every year while we can't seem to build a railroad track between LA and San Francisco in 20 years. Whatever they're doing over there is clearly working, and we in the US should be focusing on the plank of wood in our own eye and not the speck of sawdust in theirs. I'll admit that this "hometown tax" system has a certain amount of silliness, but wealth redistribution schemes often do. We're torn between "the weak should perish" and "some help wouldn't be so bad" and twist ourselves into pretzels trying to reconcile between these ideas. Plans like this hometown tax are the result of that, and some of our wealth redistribution efforts in the US probably seem no less strange to outsiders.

rtpg 3y ago
if it makes you feel better, major construction projects in Japan can also take years and years and years. The difference being that you don't have federalism throwing a wrench in projects halfway through. It's hard to look at America and not draw the conclusion that federalism is a major mistake. So many problems downstream from fickle localities.
- gottorf 3y ago
  > It's hard to look at America and not draw the conclusion that federalism is a major mistake. So many problems downstream from fickle localities. The "fickle localities" that share sovereignty with the federal government is a tradeoff between efficiency and resilience. Totalitarian places can ignore localities and push huge national projects. China now has the world's longest high-speed rail system; but the same country lost 40-80 million people not even a century ago due to huge national projects that didn't pan out so well, under Mao. The US has one of the highest median incomes in the world; among the top 5, by any measure. It's hard to understand why anyone would look at the system of governance in the US and call it a major mistake.
  - shortrounddev2 3y ago
    The difference between the US and China is not a central government which is empowered to make projects and a federalist system which gives undue influence to small interests. The difference is that the US is a democracy and China is a communist dictatorship. Tens of millions didn't die in china because a huge national projects; they died because they were ruled by a totalitarian dictator who had no regard whatsoever for the value of human life, and who was empowered purely by the threat (or the guarantee) of violence and not by the consent of the governed. There is an ocean of difference between western democracies and communist dictatorships, and it's not how we allocate authority to public works projects
    - kelipso 3y ago
      Reductive arguments like this only encourages people to ignore you and whatever point you want to make.
      - shortrounddev2 3y ago
        It's reductive to point out that the US has democracy and China does not? These are fundamental differences between the two. The argument the OP posted is like saying that Iran executes gays and apostates because of where power sits in their government and not because that power (regardless of how centralized it is) is wielded by religious extremists
        kelipso 3y ago
        Besides the fact that democracy and dictatorship having become meaningless keywords for good and evil, the difference in governance between US and China is a lot more complicated that democracy and dictatorship. It's an incredibly simplistic way to compare the two countries.
        shortrounddev2 3y ago
        Democracy is only meaningless to those who don't appreciate the privilege of living in one
- gmarx 3y ago
  Hard to blame this on Federalism when states had more relative power in the first half of the 20th century and we were able to complete amazing public works projects on reasonable schedules
  - mbg721 3y ago
    Our tolerance for deaths during construction was higher, though.
    - gmarx 3y ago
      I haven't researched it in depth but I gather a much larger issue is the use and abuse of environmental law by the minority who don't want the projects done
      - themacguffinman 3y ago
        There's a book review about this that suggests it is exactly this abuse of the courts to block governments https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-public-citizens https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-public-cit...
zeroCalories 3y ago
The Japanese government is not a golden beacon of success and efficiency. Their economic stagnation is arguably from their over investment in useless projects, and archaic regulations, leading to the employment ice age. That's ignoring anything about their social policy. They are not so good that they don't deserve criticism.

by Meekro 3y ago

rtpg 3y ago

if it makes you feel better, major construction projects in Japan can also take years and years and years. The difference being that you don't have federalism throwing a wrench in projects halfway through. It's hard to look at America and not draw the conclusion that federalism is a major mistake. So many problems downstream from fickle localities.

gottorf 3y ago
> It's hard to look at America and not draw the conclusion that federalism is a major mistake. So many problems downstream from fickle localities. The "fickle localities" that share sovereignty with the federal government is a tradeoff between efficiency and resilience. Totalitarian places can ignore localities and push huge national projects. China now has the world's longest high-speed rail system; but the same country lost 40-80 million people not even a century ago due to huge national projects that didn't pan out so well, under Mao. The US has one of the highest median incomes in the world; among the top 5, by any measure. It's hard to understand why anyone would look at the system of governance in the US and call it a major mistake.
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  The difference between the US and China is not a central government which is empowered to make projects and a federalist system which gives undue influence to small interests. The difference is that the US is a democracy and China is a communist dictatorship. Tens of millions didn't die in china because a huge national projects; they died because they were ruled by a totalitarian dictator who had no regard whatsoever for the value of human life, and who was empowered purely by the threat (or the guarantee) of violence and not by the consent of the governed. There is an ocean of difference between western democracies and communist dictatorships, and it's not how we allocate authority to public works projects
  - kelipso 3y ago
    Reductive arguments like this only encourages people to ignore you and whatever point you want to make.
    - shortrounddev2 3y ago
      It's reductive to point out that the US has democracy and China does not? These are fundamental differences between the two. The argument the OP posted is like saying that Iran executes gays and apostates because of where power sits in their government and not because that power (regardless of how centralized it is) is wielded by religious extremists
      - kelipso 3y ago
        Besides the fact that democracy and dictatorship having become meaningless keywords for good and evil, the difference in governance between US and China is a lot more complicated that democracy and dictatorship. It's an incredibly simplistic way to compare the two countries.
        shortrounddev2 3y ago
        Democracy is only meaningless to those who don't appreciate the privilege of living in one
gmarx 3y ago
Hard to blame this on Federalism when states had more relative power in the first half of the 20th century and we were able to complete amazing public works projects on reasonable schedules
- mbg721 3y ago
  Our tolerance for deaths during construction was higher, though.
  - gmarx 3y ago
    I haven't researched it in depth but I gather a much larger issue is the use and abuse of environmental law by the minority who don't want the projects done
    - themacguffinman 3y ago
      There's a book review about this that suggests it is exactly this abuse of the courts to block governments https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-public-citizens https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-public-cit...

zeroCalories 3y ago

The Japanese government is not a golden beacon of success and efficiency. Their economic stagnation is arguably from their over investment in useless projects, and archaic regulations, leading to the employment ice age. That's ignoring anything about their social policy. They are not so good that they don't deserve criticism.