gottorf

35 ms·

571.
by gottorf 3y ago
> If you can’t understand that a public utility can’t be compared to market-based examples Well, you're presupposing that ISPs are public utilities. I've lived in exactly zero places where I had a choice of providers in power,
572.
by gottorf 3y ago
I do not dispute the past existence of actual race-based discrimination on the part of the government, but it doesn't change my argument. My broader point re: "disparate impact" is that it's virtually impossible, in this
573.
by gottorf 3y ago
> It doesn’t matter what it costs Everything has diminishing returns. Of course it matters what it costs, no matter what "it" is. > it should be considered a basic right Many people disagree that positive rights (that requir
574.
by gottorf 3y ago
> You’re arguing that poor neighborhoods should pricier or worse water and sewage Nowhere did I make that claim. I'm simply saying that if a service costs differently to provide in different areas, then it's reasonable to expec
575.
by gottorf 3y ago
I'd imagine that people living in lower-income neighborhoods generally pay for lower-tier services, which lowers profitability for any given provider, and also lowers the incentive for other providers to come in and compete, which woul
576.
by gottorf 3y ago
> no one should be charged more based on their neighborhood Isn't it a fact that it will be more or less costly to roll out service in different neighborhoods? Everything will differ, including the local labor pool, the distance fro
577.
by gottorf 3y ago
> That's why a property crash is the only hope for a return to a normal economy (where people run businesses, develop skills, do actual work) Well, let's not actively hope for a crash. Lots of normal people who run businesses,
578.
by gottorf 3y ago
> it had been held for centuries[1] that shareholder-owned corporations also had responsibilities to society and the general public, as well as to their industry and their employees. For centuries[0], governments were very limited, and o
579.
by gottorf 3y ago
> Another (perhaps more drastic) approach would be to force shareholders to hold their shares for a minimum period of time The US tax code already does this by differentiating tax treatment between short- and long-term capital gains, alt
580.
by gottorf 3y ago
Every industry is so fascinating when you look under the surface.
581.
by gottorf 3y ago
What are the regulatory burdens around this? Is it simply that building codes only recognize Portland cement, and anything else is treated like you're trying to build with mud?
582.
by gottorf 3y ago
I believe commercial real estate is a ticking time bomb in the financial system. So many small and regional banks have so much loans tied away in CRE, the future of which is completely uncertain.
583.
by gottorf 3y ago
> falling birth rates are generally seen as a problem. Why is that? Anyone who's ever lived in a place (at a city, province, or national level) whose population is dwindling knows exactly why. Opportunities are fewer and people are
584.
by gottorf 3y ago
> The red tape, permitting, and labor costs are market-derived cash extraction mechanisms. Your problem is rent-seekers, not government. Red tape and permitting is government, though. Rent-seekers in government, maybe, but government non
585.
by gottorf 3y ago
Wow, I had no idea. There are very few entities in the world whose 100-year bonds I would entertain (maybe Switzerland?), and Argentina would certainly be near the bottom. I can't believe they sold two and three-quarter billion dollars
586.
by gottorf 3y ago
> is an american child granted the right of free speech? or do you get that right at a certain age? This isn't the right way to frame the question. The Constitution prohibits government actors from infringing upon the right to free
587.
by gottorf 3y ago
Enough people do this and they won't go the extra mile anymore, I suppose.
588.
by gottorf 3y ago
England does have a pleasant climate, rather conducive to human life, both globally and especially among its peer latitude locations. Is your quip that it's dreary and rainy often?
589.
by gottorf 3y ago
I was referring to the "fatality rate per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled" in my source, which puts California squarely in the middle. Entirely unremarkable. I'm sure per capita reveals a similar story.
590.
by gottorf 3y ago
> If you look at fatalities per capita or by net car ownership Curiously, by that metric, the US lies between Singapore and Hong Kong. Which is strange, since car ownership is rare in both those countries and neither are really known to
591.
by gottorf 3y ago
California's road fatality rates are entirely unremarkable among the 50 states[0]. In 2021, a little over 4k people in California died from a traffic-related accident, compared to over 10k in the same year from drug overdoses[1]. I thi
592.
by gottorf 3y ago
Scumbaggery of insurance companies aside, if someone gets into ten accidents a year where they're deemed not at fault, I would still be very skeptical of that person as a driver. I would not find it immoral to apply higher rates in tha
593.
by gottorf 3y ago
> I'm not aware of any other developed country with a comparable culture of neglect In terms of road fatalities per vehicle-mile traveled[0],the US is on par with other developed nations like Belgium and New Zealand, fares substanti
594.
by gottorf 3y ago
> I get annoyed by people who say the difference in taste must be in your imagination. I have a friend who is a supertaster, and I'm probably whatever is the opposite of that, due to lifelong allergies. We amaze each other sometimes
595.
by gottorf 3y ago
Doesn't this not apply in Hawaii, since there's a state law (or multiple laws) that effectively forbid ferries between the islands? IIRC it was to avoid environmental cross-contamination.
596.
by gottorf 3y ago
Construction costs don't scale linearly with height, so I'd imagine the sweet spot of cost per square foot is a mid-rise building. But I admit I don't have the hard figures on hand.
597.
by gottorf 3y ago
> something more like building Parisian boulevards, walkable, tree-line streets, and parks and such. Maybe even a train or bike lane. I've often wondered why a billionaire doesn't found a new city along those lines. There'
598.
by gottorf 3y ago
> Engineers manage risk and cost. "Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands."
599.
by gottorf 3y ago
> Under capitalism, ALL industries have conditions that favor monopoly. It arises from regulatory capture and economies of scale naturally. It is the end state of any industry. Regulatory capture is orthogonal to capitalism. In fact, man
600.
by gottorf 3y ago
> people have other drives in addition to maximizing profit. I have a drive to not distribute freedom, survival, peace, and safety based on ability to pay. Those other drives (let's boil it down to "altruism") are perhaps

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