ErikVandeWater

Cars aren't the solution to the future of transportation. Walkable cities and quality public transit between them is.

To be fair, the laypeople are also likely bombarded with advertising about the ballot measure. The advertising will simplify what's stated, and get at some potential consequences of voting yes vs. voting no. There could actually be a benefit with this language in that uninformed voters will actually not vote on it, whereas generally speaking, people vote with complete disregard to their level of knowledge about a subject.

Also to be fair, even if the language was perfectly easy to understand, there's probably at best a 70-30 shot the voters pick the right choice, since people lack the critical thinking skills, and education in public policy and economics to choose what's best.

If the government were competent, it wouldn't require proof beyond a reasonable doubt to recoup substantial compensation for faulty parts.

It might not be perfectly effective, but I don't see any substantive drawbacks vs the current system.

The news media are decidedly less pro-free speech than before. They could afford to promote free speech back when they had a monopoly on people's attention when it came to news. Now that Google can direct you to any number of independent sources, the news media feels threatened and wants to censor unapproved views so they can maintain the Overton Window.

Noam Chomsky: "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate."

> The free exchange of information is more appealing and less threatening when you have more information processing capability to begin with.

I struggle to get this. "Dumb" people feel threatened when others can freely express themselves?

MBTI isn't scientific, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful.

If someone says a particular type fits them well, that helps you understand them quickly. And if they say the type they get doesn't describe them, then you don't need to use that information.

> We live in a democracy. The underlying problem of government is voters.

Pretty sure dictatorships have the same problem with improper zoning.

> No one has ever claimed that climate change would not benefit some areas.

False. Some people are saying the world will end and humanity will be wiped away.

I could list 1000 places that are experiencing more moderate conditions than usual right now.

My point is, anecdotal evidence is not meaningful for something as multifaceted as world climate.

I'd love to see nature write an article about why a certain part of the world has had such unusually moderate temperature and precipitation of late. Also, if you want to search the whole globe for something extreme happening, you're guaranteed to find it in spades.

Is he saying that, or is he simply expressing a disdain for what he sees as anti-regulation crypto investors? He's overgeneralizing to suggest all crypto investors hate regulation, which no one believes is true. It's not even clear the majority oppose regulation in the crypto space.

What value does this comment add to the discussion?

Required parking is a terrible idea. By requiring parking to accompany new development, the government reduces demand for public transportation. Then, since no one uses public transportation, nobody wants to fund it. Then you're caught in a car dependent loop which wastes incredible amounts of resources.

UBI is a much less bad idea, since people will be incentivized to select the best providers and to not waste limited resources.

Productive is relative. Certainly the most water-needy crops can be grown in countries (or states) with more abundant rainfall than that of California. The water used for those crops grown in California has a better purpose down the line..

It identifies passengers that are not price sensitive. Price sensitive customers are subsidized in all airlines by overcharging customers that are not price sensitive (e.g. business class).

Yes, also, all airlines have ads visible to you. The name on of the airline is a big billboard on every plane. It's not actually necessary. I'm honestly surprised airlines don't put more ads on their planes, but perhaps there is some regulation preventing that.

My entire point is that it is not the majority.

> Zoning isn’t special.

twblalock is acting like zoning is special though.

It doesn't take a majority to enforce NIMBYism. Just a small, very politically active group.

Most people don't influence zoning policy or understand it at all.

I've had less of a problem recently with call center accents, and actually a surprising problem with call center employees who stutter. I don't hold stuttering against them, but it has literally taken twice to three times as long to solve the problem that it should have. It's just not a good job fit for their skills.

Reminds me of: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/16/areva-...

I think they meant weird.

So he wasn't able to get a bill through congress, but is now using an executive order to cancel student loan debt. I wonder what legal reasoning is used to give him that power. It should also be interesting if the debt is forgiven, but the justification for his power to forgive debt is found to be invalid.

The land value tax is a good idea, assuming there is a tax on the pollution created when building the property. Unfortunately, there usually isn't one. A property tax is kind of a substitute for that tax.

There should be that tax because bigger and more luxurious properties usually cut down more trees to clear space, and usually use building materials that are pollutive/environmentally destructive than commonplace materials.

Friendly reminder that income taxes are still an awful idea. They disincentivize making income, and income is a wonderful thing. They also make it easy for the top .1% to avoid paying taxes better than the top 10%.

Progressive taxes can still be achieved, through property taxes, sales taxes on luxury goods, and taxes on excessive usage of public goods.

Some people are certainly not contributing much brainpower. If only the smartest people were having kids I could see this being true.

We could always allow more legal immigration.

Some countries don't have unfunded liabilities that can share some of their population so we can keep the Ponzi scheme going.

> The US has always experienced relentless political activism against public education.

Lol we spend almost 3x more on k-12 public education now (inflation adjusted) than we did in 1960. I really doubt the relentless political activism was on the side against public education. Really, the cost to educate a child should have gone down substantially relative to inflation given new technologies that make teaching easier and faster.