6 ms·

The US doesn't want new domestic anything. We have made it nearly impossible to build housing, transmission lines, power plants, factories, etc. It seems like t

The US doesn't want new domestic anything. We have made it nearly impossible to build housing, transmission lines, power plants, factories, etc. It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads. And military equipment.
- selectodude 3y ago
  We can’t even make enough shells for Ukraine.
  - supertrope 3y ago
    Because NATO war plans depend on air power instead of getting bogged down in artillery duels.
    - thereisnospork 3y ago
      Boy is NATO going to have egg of their face then if they can't secure air superiority. Something something no plan survives contact with the enemy.
      - noitpmeder 3y ago
        It's my belief NATO could easily secure air superiority in any conflict where they commit forces entirely. Instead in Ukraine we have a proxy war where NATO countries are hesitant and reluctant to over commit.
        thereisnospork 3y ago
        If the 'meta' stays the same, so to speak, I would agree. But that said it's hardly unfathomable that there is a step change in the effectiveness of AA weapons in the near future. Drones, missiles, and sensors are all getting better and better and so far there hasn't been a real hard need to push for anti air drones in active conflicts (vs. anti tank and anti human).
    - riku_iki 3y ago
      NATO countries excluding US depleted air munitions within month in Libya: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nato-runs-short-on-some-munitions-in-libya/2011/04/15/AF3O7ElD_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nato-runs-short-on-some... Also, artillery shells is much cheaper way to deliver precise and fast strikes in urban environment compared to running aircrafts, so maybe such plans are not effective if this is really the plans.
  - 15155 3y ago
    Take a look at the invasion of Iraq during Desert Storm and realize this isn't as big of a deal as one might think.
    - HideousKojima 3y ago
      NATO doctrine assumes we will have air superiority and has very few considerations for scenarios where that isn't the case.
  - khokhol 3y ago
    "Can't", no. It all hangs on the U.S. at the moment, which could absolutely make enough shells for Ukraine if the funding authorization comes through. What's holding that up is politics, not limits in productive capacity.
    - rainworld 3y ago
      https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Gun-Barrel https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Gun-Barrel Sorry, khikhil, zrada was baked in from the start. Link related.
  - EasyMark 3y ago
    We absolutely can if the government allocates the funds to help Ukraine which is cheap as hell compared to 10s of trillions of dollar for WW3 in Europe in a few years as we neglect NATO but are finally forced to. when Putin inevitably overplays his hand and attacks a NATO country because we will be ramping up for real.
unglaublich 3y ago
A direct consequence of how the West treats real estate as an investment. People bet 10 x their yearly income on a property, and then they will do anything in their power to make that value rise, or at least not fall: NIMBYism. They will block any effort that potentially lowers the value of their property. And I don't think you can blame them, as we can't expect them to voluntarily lose a lot of money.
- givemeethekeys 3y ago
  People bet a much bigger multiple in Asian countries. US real estate is cheap. Not to mention, the incredible 30 year fixed mortgage.
  - yowzadave 3y ago
    I don't think this is true in Japan? https://cheaphousesjapan.com/house-prices-in-japan/ https://cheaphousesjapan.com/house-prices-in-japan/
  - bugglebeetle 3y ago
    Not in Japan they don’t. Housing, outside of central Tokyo, is a depreciating asset (and even sometimes is there). Japan also has fixed rate mortgages that are currently offered at a lower interest rate than in the US.
    - tonyarkles 3y ago
      I'm not sure if this is still the case but for quite a while house prices in Japan seemed to be basically just the land value. It was expected that the first thing you'd do after buying a 20-30 year old house was to demolish it and build your own. And since population growth in Japan has flatlined and gone negative it's not a big surprise to me that they don't have a ton of demand for new land/housing.
      - bugglebeetle 3y ago
        This is still mostly the case for single family homes. There is some uptick in resale of “used” homes built since the 2000s, as construction standards have improved dramatically since then, relative to prior years. For additional context, there is very lax enforcement of home building standards for anything single family, both to encourage new construction and because the general principle is it will be torn down in 20-30 years, so why bother. This is of course also leads to a bit of a vicious cycle (which some see as wasteful) where it’s safer to tear down and build new because who knows how whatever you’re buying was built.
CoachRufus87 3y ago
And weapons.
mportela 3y ago
> It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads Except it's usually done in a more expensive and slower way than in other advanced economies
giantg2 3y ago
We can't pump out lawyers and laws like we do and expect regulatory related delays/costs to actually decrease.
Lazonedo 3y ago
>It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads. And maybe not. >But the Texas Department of Transportation says converting paved roads to gravel is the only safe plan it can afford. https://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/19/conversion-of-roads-to-gravel-met-with-concern/ https://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/19/conversion-of-roads-... > Omaha’s Answer to Costly Potholes? Go Back to Gravel Roads https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/omahas-answer-to-costly-potholes-go-back-to-gravel-roads.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/omahas-answer-to-costl... A pretty sad trend that keeps on growing. America has lost the ability to build and maintain. It's slowly deconstructing and dismantling itself.
- throwup238 3y ago
  That's not a problem with building, tons of people in the US know how to lay down asphalt and make concrete because its a very local industry (the materials are too heavy to be economical long distance). It's a problem with white flight and the post-war suburban expansion that way overbuilt the supporting road system without considering how much it would cost to maintain in the future. Now as more and more of the deferred maintenance bills come due, they have to make the hard decisions they should have made a long time ago.
  - pixl97 3y ago
    People have been warning for decades that a multi-trillion dollar bill will come due for aggressive suburban expansion into SFH neighborhoods and car based policies. And now that we see that bill showing up it seems that many want to blame the wrong thing so they can maintain their current lifestyle at a low tax rate.
- downrightmike 3y ago
  USA has never been able to maintain, we rely on constant expansion to increase taxes and then the Federal Gov't comes out and pays for the road repairs because the states would need to charge at least twice as much tax as they currently do.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads. And military equipment.

selectodude 3y ago
We can’t even make enough shells for Ukraine.
- supertrope 3y ago
  Because NATO war plans depend on air power instead of getting bogged down in artillery duels.
  - thereisnospork 3y ago
    Boy is NATO going to have egg of their face then if they can't secure air superiority. Something something no plan survives contact with the enemy.
    - noitpmeder 3y ago
      It's my belief NATO could easily secure air superiority in any conflict where they commit forces entirely. Instead in Ukraine we have a proxy war where NATO countries are hesitant and reluctant to over commit.
      - thereisnospork 3y ago
        If the 'meta' stays the same, so to speak, I would agree. But that said it's hardly unfathomable that there is a step change in the effectiveness of AA weapons in the near future. Drones, missiles, and sensors are all getting better and better and so far there hasn't been a real hard need to push for anti air drones in active conflicts (vs. anti tank and anti human).
  - riku_iki 3y ago
    NATO countries excluding US depleted air munitions within month in Libya: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nato-runs-short-on-some-munitions-in-libya/2011/04/15/AF3O7ElD_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nato-runs-short-on-some... Also, artillery shells is much cheaper way to deliver precise and fast strikes in urban environment compared to running aircrafts, so maybe such plans are not effective if this is really the plans.
- 15155 3y ago
  Take a look at the invasion of Iraq during Desert Storm and realize this isn't as big of a deal as one might think.
  - HideousKojima 3y ago
    NATO doctrine assumes we will have air superiority and has very few considerations for scenarios where that isn't the case.
- khokhol 3y ago
  "Can't", no. It all hangs on the U.S. at the moment, which could absolutely make enough shells for Ukraine if the funding authorization comes through. What's holding that up is politics, not limits in productive capacity.
  - rainworld 3y ago
    https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Gun-Barrel https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Gun-Barrel Sorry, khikhil, zrada was baked in from the start. Link related.
- EasyMark 3y ago
  We absolutely can if the government allocates the funds to help Ukraine which is cheap as hell compared to 10s of trillions of dollar for WW3 in Europe in a few years as we neglect NATO but are finally forced to. when Putin inevitably overplays his hand and attacks a NATO country because we will be ramping up for real.

unglaublich 3y ago

A direct consequence of how the West treats real estate as an investment. People bet 10 x their yearly income on a property, and then they will do anything in their power to make that value rise, or at least not fall: NIMBYism. They will block any effort that potentially lowers the value of their property. And I don't think you can blame them, as we can't expect them to voluntarily lose a lot of money.

givemeethekeys 3y ago
People bet a much bigger multiple in Asian countries. US real estate is cheap. Not to mention, the incredible 30 year fixed mortgage.
- yowzadave 3y ago
  I don't think this is true in Japan? https://cheaphousesjapan.com/house-prices-in-japan/ https://cheaphousesjapan.com/house-prices-in-japan/
- bugglebeetle 3y ago
  Not in Japan they don’t. Housing, outside of central Tokyo, is a depreciating asset (and even sometimes is there). Japan also has fixed rate mortgages that are currently offered at a lower interest rate than in the US.
  - tonyarkles 3y ago
    I'm not sure if this is still the case but for quite a while house prices in Japan seemed to be basically just the land value. It was expected that the first thing you'd do after buying a 20-30 year old house was to demolish it and build your own. And since population growth in Japan has flatlined and gone negative it's not a big surprise to me that they don't have a ton of demand for new land/housing.
    - bugglebeetle 3y ago
      This is still mostly the case for single family homes. There is some uptick in resale of “used” homes built since the 2000s, as construction standards have improved dramatically since then, relative to prior years. For additional context, there is very lax enforcement of home building standards for anything single family, both to encourage new construction and because the general principle is it will be torn down in 20-30 years, so why bother. This is of course also leads to a bit of a vicious cycle (which some see as wasteful) where it’s safer to tear down and build new because who knows how whatever you’re buying was built.

CoachRufus87 3y ago

And weapons.

mportela 3y ago

> It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads Except it's usually done in a more expensive and slower way than in other advanced economies

giantg2 3y ago

We can't pump out lawyers and laws like we do and expect regulatory related delays/costs to actually decrease.

Lazonedo 3y ago

>It seems like the only thing we still know how to do and also want to do is roads. And maybe not. >But the Texas Department of Transportation says converting paved roads to gravel is the only safe plan it can afford. https://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/19/conversion-of-roads-to-gravel-met-with-concern/ https://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/19/conversion-of-roads-... > Omaha’s Answer to Costly Potholes? Go Back to Gravel Roads https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/omahas-answer-to-costly-potholes-go-back-to-gravel-roads.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/omahas-answer-to-costl... A pretty sad trend that keeps on growing. America has lost the ability to build and maintain. It's slowly deconstructing and dismantling itself.

throwup238 3y ago
That's not a problem with building, tons of people in the US know how to lay down asphalt and make concrete because its a very local industry (the materials are too heavy to be economical long distance). It's a problem with white flight and the post-war suburban expansion that way overbuilt the supporting road system without considering how much it would cost to maintain in the future. Now as more and more of the deferred maintenance bills come due, they have to make the hard decisions they should have made a long time ago.
- pixl97 3y ago
  People have been warning for decades that a multi-trillion dollar bill will come due for aggressive suburban expansion into SFH neighborhoods and car based policies. And now that we see that bill showing up it seems that many want to blame the wrong thing so they can maintain their current lifestyle at a low tax rate.
downrightmike 3y ago
USA has never been able to maintain, we rely on constant expansion to increase taxes and then the Federal Gov't comes out and pays for the road repairs because the states would need to charge at least twice as much tax as they currently do.