The US Needs to Build More Subways

[beijingwalker]

But if a country is serious about public transportation, it must make the ownership of a car prohibitive. Singapore does this, I believe. But I doubt this will happen in the US, where owning -- and driving -- is considered a human right.

Or you make driving prohibitively expensive and inconvenient, In Beijing, parking fee can cost you more than house rent in many places and still hard to find a parking space anywhere you go, this is the reason I hate driving in the city, time to find a parking space can the longer than the driving time on the road, my car sometime just sits idle for a week. besides, Beijing's public transport is just too good to refuse, super super convenient, fast and comfortable.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

"Less relative to property taxes"

Is simply a nice way to try to handwave away the ponzi scheme that is the residential market in cities.

The U.S. has a relatively benign housing market compared to the trainwrecks in countries that have adopted the model you like to tout as a "good idea".

"Houses are for living in, not speculation"

no lol, you don't seem to understand how real estate works.

 

[Communism]

One of the main reasons why everyone looks poor in cities is due to the fact that the cost of living absolutely skyrockets in those cities.

Ask a homeless person how much money they make in a city and you will be shocked that it is usually more than someone with a house that doesn't live in a city.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Or you make driving prohibitively expensive and inconvenient, In Beijing, parking fee can cost you more than house rent in many places and still hard to find a parking space anywhere you go, this is the reason I hate driving in the city, time to find a parking space can the longer than the driving time on the road, my car sometime just sits idle for a week. besides, Beijing's public transport is just too good to refuse, super super convenient, fast and comfortable.

I'm surprised that on PDF, there are people claiming that all city dwellers are poor illegals, transit is bad, etc yet they live in a mobile home or only own their primary residence so they only have a sample of 1 and aren't actively doing real estate research, appraising real estate, etc.

they aren't realtors, civil engineers, etc. yet they somehow have very strong opinions about real estate and infrastructure. it's like how nobody is a doctor but everyone has strong opinions about COVID.

 

[Communism]

So offended when I tell you the hard truth about your fantasies, lol.

You should go consult Erdogan about how your fantasies end up in the real world.

Erdogan spent the last ~20 years trying to prop his economy almost entirely upon urban property speculation.

He is now enjoying near-hyperinflation because of course that is a dumb idea.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

cons of public transit + privatized toll roads: you can't keep poors away from your ruling class with plausible deniability.

This may be true in China where poor really really means poor. But even in the worst inner cities in the US there are plenty of cars so I'm not buying the argument that the vast majority of them are being denied any access "to the ruling class".

 

[Communism]

Indeed, If you can afford to live one month in a city, you can probably afford a perfectly working car for about the same amount of money as one month's rent.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

This may be true in China where poor really really means poor. But even in the worst inner cities in the US there are plenty of cars so I'm not buying the argument that the vast majority of them are being denied any access "to the ruling class".

but but but according to you, the inner cities are filled with penniless homeless illegals.

 

[Communism]

Homeless simply means unable to afford living in a home where they currently are.

I'm sure most Americans would be homeless if they were forced to live in similar cities.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Basically Americans here argue that no subways, high speed railways or other public transport are needed in either cities or suburbs, because we just like driving.

Would you stop being continuously stupid about the high speed rail. We have already stated that the cost to eminent domain the land needed to build a straight HSR line is prohibitive because we are a developed country not a nation of poor farmers.

https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/high-speed-money-sink-why-united-states-should-not-spend-trillions-obsolete

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Would you stop being continuously stupid about the high speed rail. We have already stated that the cost to eminent domain the land needed to build a straight HSR line is prohibitive because we are a developed country not a nation of poor farmers.

https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/high-speed-money-sink-why-united-states-should-not-spend-trillions-obsolete

yet Hyperloop was seen as an amazing idea even though it needs the same eminent domain. and how come no other developed country has the same land acquisition problems?

 

[Communism]

Those other countries simply try to hide the real costs with (gigantic) subsidies, literally what we have been talking about this entire time.

Also, stop pretending that "Hyperloop" or "The Boring Company" are anything other than scams.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

but but but according to you, the inner cities are filled with penniless homeless illegals.

No I said after WW2 with an increase in income there was a shift to suburbanization. The "single family home with the white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog" was the target lifestyle.

This caused a shift in city demographics where the "haves" started moving out and being replaced with "have nots" or rental units like you see in the TV show "Friends" where landlords jam 3+ unrelated people with mediocre jobs into apartments to get more rent.

You then end up with a city suddenly needing to throw precious tax dollars at services for lower income people (like welfare) instead of using it for schools and infrastructure maintenance. As more and more money is siphoned away more and more people start moving out because they are not seeing much benefit for their tax dollars (like good schools for their kids). It then goes into an ever increasing downward spiral.

 

[SaadH]

Basically Americans here argue that no subways, high speed railways or other public transport are needed in either cities or suburbs, because we just like driving.

That's the pretense, the real reason is Americans all have this inane notion that they will all be billionaires or at the very least multi-millionaire one day and when that happens they won't have any need for subways or roads.

The rich are the demigods that the American masses worship and want to join their club one day, until that time they need to put in their due, i.e. suffer while grinding out 3 jobs without any support from the gov't and paying exorbitant tax relative to their income so that the rich can trickle down manna on them.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

No I said after WW2 with an increase in income there was a shift to suburbanization. The "single family home with the white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog" was the target lifestyle.

This caused a shift in city demographics where the "haves" started moving out and being replaced with "have nots" or rental units like you see in the TV show "Friends" where landlords jam 3+ unrelated people with mediocre jobs into apartments to get more rent.

You then end up with a city suddenly needing to throw precious tax dollars at services for lower income people (like welfare) instead of using it for schools and infrastructure maintenance. As more and more money is siphoned away more and more people start moving out because they are not seeing much benefit for their tax dollars (like good schools for their kids). It then goes into an ever increasing downward spiral.

yep the TV show "Friends" was totally about a gang of welfare leeches.