Yes, we should invest in trains, but this is not a short or even medium term solution. It’s also horrifyingly expensive in many parts of the US, and broad public support simply isn’t there. So in the mean time we need to adapt using the infrastructure that already exists.
Where are you located where there is perfect charging station maintenance for the previous 10 years?
I’m not saying it isn’t possible that you’ve never encountered a broken station, but I’ve had an EV for only a few months now and encounter malfunctioning stations on nearly every trip to a DC fast charger. It usually isn’t that every single station is broken, but if there are 4 stations, 1-2 of them will be out of service.
Totally agree with the points you’re making. Policymakers don’t do nearly enough to support the economic base of the country. In the long run, that does have dire consequences.
Regarding housing prices, I think you already know this, but wanted to clarify that those are less of an inflation problem and more of a supply / demand problem. New housing supply collapsed after the 08 crisis and has been slow to recover since. Some have argued that once more of the boomers die off it will open up more supply, but I’m not fully convinced.
Unfortunately, I don’t see any quick fixes for the housing problems we’re facing. We need to advocate locally against NIMBYs and more broadly for programs to enhance access to housing, public transit, etc. We have lots of big problems but IMO public discourse gets bogged down arguing about semantics.
Yeah, IMO, the biggest thing to remember about inflation is that interest rates (the cost of borrowing) factors a certain level of inflation into the calculation. If you haven’t taken an interest in finance, this piece isn’t always obvious.
This is important to the modern economy because so much of our financial system is predicated on this principle.
For example, in the US, 30 year fixed rate mortgages are wildly popular, in no small part due to this idea. When one takes out one of these loans, the payments earlier in the loan might be rough. Over the years, due in part to inflation, personal income (generally) increases, but loan payments don’t. This makes it easier to pay down the loan over time. By the end of the 30 year loan period, typically the mortgage payment is a much smaller proportion of income. Conversely, if the economy experiences deflation, then it gets harder over time to pay off the loan.
Now expand this principle to institutional loans, government securities, etc and you’ll likely see why it is imperative to policymakers to avoid deflation.
Okay, let’s say infinite growth is impossible. That seems intuitive. If that’s true, where’s the ceiling? It sounds like you’re worried that we’re going to hit it and bounce off, so maybe we should be planning for this event. What would be the best things for us to do as a species to prepare for this potentially cataclysmic event?
Money is made up and stupid
You’re made up and stupid. 😂 Just kidding, money IS made up, but it certainly isn’t stupid. Money doesn’t have any inherent intelligence, obviously, but I think your implying that we are stupid to keep using it as a medium of exchange? What would be a better alternative? Going back to the barter system?
Idk, money definitely seems better than that. It allows for greater skill specialization and for the construction of more complex economic systems. I know that can seem scary because there’s so much going on to keep track of, but arguably most people participating in society prefer it this way.
While your analysis of the way that the courts have been implementing conservative policy is spot on, I have to disagree with your conclusions about how it will play out in practice.
Social security? Medicare? The FCC? The EPA? NASA? All history.
Surely this would be a wet dream for the most diehard conservatives, but the reality is that there exists simply too much popular support for many of these programs. Constitutional or not, take away people’s social security checks and there would be a popular backlash unlike anything we’ve seen in ages.
Having said that, if Trump gets elected, who’s to say that he wouldn’t try to take a swipe at some of the more controversial programs, like the EPA? That certainly seems plausible, but the idea of fully dismantling the federal bureaucracy seems far-fetched.
You’re being too kind.
While I know where you’re coming from, there’s no path to ever making things better without kindness, empathy, and an open mind. Yes, their actions are draconian and misguided, steeped in superstition and myth, but if we simply give up entirely, we don’t have any hope of making the progress that we all seem to agree needs to be made.
I don’t have a silver bullet to solve the problem, I’m simply suggesting that those among us who are truly progressive should steadfastly seek to enroll others in our cause, rather than simply writing them off as a lost cause. Some people certainly are, others simply haven’t had issues explained to them in a way that fits into their world view. Good luck to us all on the path that lay ahead.
Okay I see where you’re coming from with that. Unfortunately it seems those commenters are everywhere!
Your donut example is describing a boycott, not a strike. If it were a strike, who exactly is making the donuts and coffee? Boycotts are fun too, but the dream of a strike would go slightly differently.
If we stick with the donuts example, you’d show up at your donut shop at 4am again, where you normally have, say, 10 employees. Since they’re on strike, they don’t come in to help out. By 6am you have roughly a quarter of the day’s donuts made, and customers are starting to stream in.
Since you’re alone, you have to stop making donuts to help customers, which means that while you’re already running behind, now you start to slip even further behind schedule to accommodate the morning rush. By 7 am, you’ve sold almost all of the donuts you’ve already prepared, but you can’t make more because you’re busy making coffee and helping customers.
At 7:30 you run out of donuts entirely - right before the morning rush. Customers keep coming in and asking to buy donuts, but you have to let them know that because you’re stubborn and don’t want to compensate your workers fairly, they’re on strike today. This brings grumbles from your customers as they realize that they’ll need to disrupt their morning routine to find an alternative.
By 8am you’ve given up on the day and hang up the “closed” sign, further driving loyal customers into the arms of your competitors. Maybe some of those people will be back first thing tomorrow, but maybe some of them decide that another option is just as good, and certainly more reliable.
You lose out on most of a day of business and potentially take a hit to your reputation as a business. The short term impact is measurable and notable, but it’s the threat of the long term impact that looms over you as you reconsider negotiations.
Otherwise I agree with you completely - negotiate with all stakeholders in good faith and be willing to make sacrifices. Everyone wants to make money here, and everyone deserves enough money to live off of.
What’s so fundamentally different about Lemmy that made you think that the people would act differently than normal?
Sure, but what would that even look like in practice? Russia would be staving off a protracted insurgency that could last years. We know from Afghanistan that they don’t do the best with insurgents (who does though?). It’s certainly possible, but it’s not the outcome I’d bet on.
The longer russia wages war with Ukraine, the less of a threat they will be in the future.
Agree 100%. IMO this is the biggest reason that NATO has thrown so much support behind Ukraine - they’re weakening Russia, which strengthens NATO. Further, it provides a peek into the capabilities of Russian armaments vs those that NATO chooses to share with Ukraine, further validating the claim that NATO firmly holds the upper hand in a theoretical conflict.
Based on context, I’d assume that the loss of efficiency of the batteries in the cold led the vehicle to over-estimate the range of the vehicle. If the car says it has 50 miles of range and the next DC charger is 40 miles away, I could imagine a situation where I’d get 30 miles down the road before the range estimate shows that there’s actually only 35 miles of range because you wanted cabin heat.
EVs are weird in lots of ways when compared to ICE, and we’re still figuring out lots of the problems that need solving.
Affordable? Are you in the market for a new Ford vehicle? What does your budget look like?
If you’re in the US you can get into a for like ~$20k after the federal tax incentive, plus any state incentives that would apply in your situation.
If you’re talking about Ford specifically, they’re not going after the budget market because they’re trying to play to their strengths - the F150 and Mustang. Neither of those brands are typically associated with being cost conscious, but the F150 has been the best selling vehicle in the country for 
I read through both of my responses again, since I couldn’t recall suggesting that the best option would be to turn the other cheek, and it turns out that I remembered correctly and actually didn’t say that. 🤔
To clarify, I haven’t been suggesting that I’ve found a solution to this problem, merely that I think that the way in which we are currently trying to solve the problem is not a solution.
If I need to solve x + 1 = 2, I can consider infinite solutions that are incorrect without needing to solve for the correct answer; 0 doesn’t work, 2 doesn’t work, etc. I can do this without having the answer to the original problem.
In this instance, we’ve been trying to solve this problem with violence and cruelty for quite some time now, and I’m simply of the mind that if it was going to work it would have done so by now.
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
It doesn’t take a military strategist to know that this wasn’t the right response. Terrorism is an ideological threat, it cannot be defeated or “rooted out” by conventional weapons until you kill every last person who finds it worthwhile to fight for the ideology. Out of all of the diverse peoples of the world, you might expect that the Jews would understand the gruesome impracticality of that goal.
Which would be a great point if we lived in a world where facts and laws mattered.