41 replies to this topic

[SemiBizz]

This discussion wasn't about whether or not living in China is desirable. It was about the Real Estate values in the U.S. compared to other parts of the World. The conversation expanded to include the infrastructure... that we are turning into a Third World Country and we are... And when you are in China, you drive on brand new highways and see brand new bridges, skyscrapers, and fly out of ultra-modern airports, beyond any of ours. It's a real letdown to take the right turn on Highway 101 when you leave the San Francisco Airport and grind into potholes in the roads... The Bay Bridge is a perfect example of why we are turning into a Third World Country. The section they are replacing fell apart in the October 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake... Here it is, 23 years later and they still haven't finished the work on the replacement, it took more than 15 years to agree on a design... They put up a single spire bridge and people here marvel at the architecture, I must have seen 20 of them in China. Most of them built in the last 5 years. So we are turning into a Third World Country because our government can't get things done because they clog up progress with ridiculous amounts of red tape and useless regulations... which is also at the root of the stagnation of the private economy. This is not a "gets things done" place anymore.

[NAV]

This discussion wasn't about whether or not living in China is desirable.

It was about the Real Estate values in the U.S. compared to other parts of the World.

The conversation expanded to include the infrastructure... that we are turning into a Third World Country and we are...

And when you are in China, you drive on brand new highways and see brand new bridges, skyscrapers, and fly out of ultra-modern airports, beyond any of ours. It's a real letdown to take the right turn on Highway 101 when you leave the San Francisco Airport and grind into potholes in the roads...

The Bay Bridge is a perfect example of why we are turning into a Third World Country.

The section they are replacing fell apart in the October 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake... Here it is, 23 years later and they still haven't finished the work on the replacement, it took more than 15 years to agree on a design...

They put up a single spire bridge and people here marvel at the architecture, I must have seen 20 of them in China. Most of them built in the last 5 years.

So we are turning into a Third World Country because our government can't get things done because they clog up progress with ridiculous amounts of red tape and useless regulations... which is also at the root of the stagnation of the private economy.

This is not a "gets things done" place anymore.

Can't disagree with you there.

[orange]

Warning though, when you step off the plane from Shanghai, you might realize exactly who lives in the Third World country now...

China is so great that nobody wants to live there. Faber lives in Thailand. Jim Rogers lives in Singapore. U.S is so bad that everyone wants to live there. Yogi Berra would love this.

Lol, you can live like a King in those countries...

[OEXCHAOS]

Warning though, when you step off the plane from Shanghai, you might realize exactly who lives in the Third World country now...

China is so great that nobody wants to live there. Faber lives in Thailand. Jim Rogers lives in Singapore. U.S is so bad that everyone wants to live there. Yogi Berra would love this.

I love it!! LOL!

[OEXCHAOS]

So we are turning into a Third World Country because our government can't get things done because they clog up progress with ridiculous amounts of red tape and useless regulations... which is also at the root of the stagnation of the private economy.

This is not a "gets things done" place anymore.

This is absolutely true. It's also not just about the regulation. It's also about the nature of the bureaucracies. These things fund each other. The problem on the ground (whatever it is, jobs, schools, roads, housing) has the local bureaucrats screaming for help (manpower and regulation). So, the upper level bureaucrats take up the call. They cast the issue properly, take some pictures, build a campaign, and use it to elect "the right people". They then suck in some state tax dollars, feeding their state bureaucracy in the process, and then the county and city bureaucracies, but then they "don't have enough" so they get the Feds to give them money too. By the time a dollar gets down to the guy on the ground, there's just $0.15 left, after all the bureaucrats are fed. Now, NONE of these people has any incentive to address the problem.

I mean why would you fix a problem that's feeding so many parasites? You don't.

And the people are told that de regulation will cause our economy to collapse and the case for these programs is facile, and it's hard to explain just how much waste there is. And even if you do, it's so bad, you don't want to believe it. I'm serious. I've done it. You think it's just waste. It's not. It's corruption on a grand scale. Worse, it's huge sums of money being spent on perpetuating the problem at huge human costs.

This isn't a liberal or conservative issue, either. Don't believe me? Pick a local government function (they're less sophisticated and more accessible). Preferably one that is well established and smells of a bit of waste that nobody ever really gets around to. Then do an open records request for their budget. Check it line by line. Talk to some people (privately) who work there. Talk to some people who used to work there. Look at what they actually accomplish. Tell me what you find. I and my liberal and conservative friends did and were horrified. I guarantee you will be too.

It's time to wake up and take a hard look at what's going on. Shed your preconceived notions about politics and party. It's not about that. Start local. It'll spread if you do.


M

[Rogerdodger]

It's everywhere! Bureaucrats make lousy cooks (and horrible parents).
Students strike against new federal school lunch rules...

"I wonder if the people who made the decision had to go through a day like Nick Blohm."

And who could forget this one:
Preschooler's Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”
A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because the school told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.
The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the person who was inspecting all lunch boxes in the More at Four classroom that day.
(How many starving, poor children could be fed with the salaries of all of the lunch inspector bureaucrats?)

Edited by Rogerdodger, 18 September 2012 - 08:56 AM.

[salsabob]

And then, well, there's reality -



pretty sure that thing about sales is under-counting - what businessman wants to admit he's failing at sales when he can so easily blame the big evil govt?

I return you back to your hysteria.

[OEXCHAOS]

Of COURSE poor sales are the biggest issue facing small business. If the sales are big enough, they can work around the regulation. But the regulation is killing sales becaues it's killing growth. And the agents of regulation just keep taking more, wasting more, meddling more, and actively destroying parts of society. M

[ogm]

Regulation is part of the problem, but its not whats killing sales. Broke consumers are killing sales. Consumers that have been borrowing for 30 years on credit cards, car loans, mortgages, home equity loans, etc all over suddenly lost their jobs to China and India and their ability to repay the loans. So instead of borrowing extra 1k a month to spend they now not only can't do that but need to subtract money from their shrinking income to repay the loans, while facing higher energy, food and healthcare costs at the same time. Until consumers regain the ability to spend the economy will sag. Broad tax reform would be one of the ways to help people rebuild their spending power, combined with massive government investments into education and new technologies to regain competitive advantage in the world. So I'm talking both sides of the isles here.. MORE targeted government investment and LESS taxes.... And instead we have congress who is on the opposite side of every solution and is stuck in the mud. They can't pass anything, nevermind whats really needed. Want to blame it on someone ? Blame it on congress. On all those clowns from both parties who do nothing but run for re-election every 2 years and b*tch at each all day long after they get elected.

Edited by ogm, 18 September 2012 - 11:07 AM.

[ogm]

And if Fed is so desperate to print money, why not give it directly to the people ? You can hire a sh*tload of people for 40 bil a month or invest it into something useful. Instead they are buying garbage paper and funneling money to banks so banks could make LOANS to people. People don't want to borrow, because they can't repay. And Banks don't want to lend because there are no credit worthy borrowers. Why would they lend at low rates to people who can't repay ? They'll run gambling in the markets instead, like they've been doing for the past 4 years.