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One of the things I do like about the US, and that I think is a reason for America's ability to meet the challenges this country faces is that it has good data

by arjie 8mo ago

One of the things I do like about the US, and that I think is a reason for America's ability to meet the challenges this country faces is that it has good data collection and aggregation mechanisms: from the seemingly-banal surveys and so on to satellite remote-sensing. There's three more years to go but afterwards (and perhaps even post the mid-terms) we should be able to hammer back some of this nonsense like being upset about job reports not showing favourable information and so on. Good information allows good decision-making and it's important we don't break that. Hopefully the current surge of low-quality corrupt executive choices isn't met by a counter-surge that kicks out people like Jerome Powell because he's a multi-millionaire capitalist or whatever. I think it won't be. The establishment folks are mostly sensible. It's the new crop of "no property tax" and "no income tax for tips" and "no tax for under $100k earners" and so on that makes me worried, but I'm hoping it will all settle down soon. We'll have to find better surveying methods than the phone surveys but provided #2 and #3 are solved in the article, which is just a matter of switching the admin, then we should be able to.

mikeyouse 8mo ago
This ratchet effect of partially righting the ship every four years followed by drunken sailors YOLOing further into a reef because the ‘responsible party’ didn’t fix things fast enough is unsustainable. No clue how it ends but it’s so much easier to destroy things than it is to build them, so the builders are always at a distinct disadvantage.
- david422 8mo ago
  > so much easier to destroy things than it is to build them, so the builders are always at a distinct disadvantage Tangentially related, there was a local property nearby that had these large, aesthetic trees in the yard. The house was sold, a developer cut them all and flipped the house for sale. Probably took 50+ years to grow, gone in an hour.
- hattmall 8mo ago
  I really have a hard time understanding the analogy of the "responsible party" existing, when it was objectively the Biden administration that did the most damage to the average American.
  - derektank 8mo ago
    COVID damaged the average American. The Biden administration (and the preceding Trump administration) did not perform perfectly by any means, but US inflation was below that of most other OECD countries. Real wages took a serious hit and I understand people being mad about that, but it’s hard to imagine a world where the supply chain disruptions don’t cause real living standards to fall at least a little bit.
  - tastyface 8mo ago
    """objectively"""
davidw 8mo ago
This is going to take a generation or two to fix. If we're lucky and work hard at it.
- overfeed 8mo ago
  ...and don't vote in more wreckers the whole time
- leptons 8mo ago
  Only possible if we can keep the party that repeatedly destroys the economy when they get into power, out of office for a generation or two. That seems unlikely considering the overall stupidity of the electorate.
  - timbit42 8mo ago
    After 12 years of three Republican presidents (1921-1933), bringing about the Great Depression the last of which, Hoover, taking a hand off approach which didn't help, there were 20 years of two Democrat presidents (1933-1953). Not even one generation.
__MatrixMan__ 8mo ago
> just a matter of switching the admin, which we should be able to I wish I shared your optimism. Being unable to change the admin has been the default state. The recent few centuries have been an exception. It's a big ship that we need to turn here. Might take longer than we think if we can manage it at all.
- davidw 8mo ago
  It's important to be realistic and honest about the short term, but optimistic about the long term. If you give in to doom and get cynical, you won't accomplish anything, and you're just doing their work for them.
ks2048 8mo ago
> The establishment folks are mostly sensible. The establishment has been replaced by MAGA and The Heritage Foundation extremists. The "data collection", surveys, remote-sensing etc are things they all want to get rid of and are doing so. Here's one article from last year about climate datasets being disappeared, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250422-usa-scientists-race-to-save-climate-data-before-its-deleted-by-the-trump-administration https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250422-usa-scientists-r...

by arjie 8mo ago

mikeyouse 8mo ago

This ratchet effect of partially righting the ship every four years followed by drunken sailors YOLOing further into a reef because the ‘responsible party’ didn’t fix things fast enough is unsustainable. No clue how it ends but it’s so much easier to destroy things than it is to build them, so the builders are always at a distinct disadvantage.

david422 8mo ago
> so much easier to destroy things than it is to build them, so the builders are always at a distinct disadvantage Tangentially related, there was a local property nearby that had these large, aesthetic trees in the yard. The house was sold, a developer cut them all and flipped the house for sale. Probably took 50+ years to grow, gone in an hour.
hattmall 8mo ago
I really have a hard time understanding the analogy of the "responsible party" existing, when it was objectively the Biden administration that did the most damage to the average American.
- derektank 8mo ago
  COVID damaged the average American. The Biden administration (and the preceding Trump administration) did not perform perfectly by any means, but US inflation was below that of most other OECD countries. Real wages took a serious hit and I understand people being mad about that, but it’s hard to imagine a world where the supply chain disruptions don’t cause real living standards to fall at least a little bit.
- tastyface 8mo ago
  """objectively"""

davidw 8mo ago

This is going to take a generation or two to fix. If we're lucky and work hard at it.

overfeed 8mo ago
...and don't vote in more wreckers the whole time
leptons 8mo ago
Only possible if we can keep the party that repeatedly destroys the economy when they get into power, out of office for a generation or two. That seems unlikely considering the overall stupidity of the electorate.
- timbit42 8mo ago
  After 12 years of three Republican presidents (1921-1933), bringing about the Great Depression the last of which, Hoover, taking a hand off approach which didn't help, there were 20 years of two Democrat presidents (1933-1953). Not even one generation.

__MatrixMan__ 8mo ago

> just a matter of switching the admin, which we should be able to I wish I shared your optimism. Being unable to change the admin has been the default state. The recent few centuries have been an exception. It's a big ship that we need to turn here. Might take longer than we think if we can manage it at all.

davidw 8mo ago
It's important to be realistic and honest about the short term, but optimistic about the long term. If you give in to doom and get cynical, you won't accomplish anything, and you're just doing their work for them.

ks2048 8mo ago

> The establishment folks are mostly sensible. The establishment has been replaced by MAGA and The Heritage Foundation extremists. The "data collection", surveys, remote-sensing etc are things they all want to get rid of and are doing so. Here's one article from last year about climate datasets being disappeared, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250422-usa-scientists-race-to-save-climate-data-before-its-deleted-by-the-trump-administration https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250422-usa-scientists-r...