Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You mean raise taxes significantly to pay for $3 trillion in infrastructure? Or just float it as stimulus? Or take it out of the gilded corporate welfare program known as the defense budget?

Where’s this money?

In all of those places. We don't need to win a war and "own the world." We just have decided to cut taxes and not pay for anything.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

All of the above.



You just answered that question.

damn Hank. STP

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You realize all of those things are listed because they are unlikely to impossible in the current system, even allowing for Democratic control of all three branches.

The big court buildings I stood on to reach the thought were built with tax dollars. As were the interstate highways. And my point is the current system, as you say, won't build them. but "finding money" isn't the problem, the problem is spending what is here.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Explain the form of commuting with a lower carbon footprint than not commuting.

I'd say, "well, Sebby, you sure got me there," except that is not responsive to what I said and I don't disagree with you. But otherwise, you sure got me there.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

The big court buildings I stood on to reach the thought were built with tax dollars. As were the interstate highways. And my point is the current system, as you say, won't build them. but "finding money" isn't the problem, the problem is spending what is here.

Big ornate courthouses and city halls are worthless monuments. If we’re building, build things that link us. Transportation has a better multiplier than big govt buildings.

Courthouses are the biggest of wasted spaces. You can handle all that stuff in much cheaper facilities. Hell, we’re already doing loads of hearings by video conference.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I'd say, "well, Sebby, you sure got me there," except that is not responsive to what I said and I don't disagree with you. But otherwise, you sure got me there.

Sure it is. You’re assuming we need and will always have offices where people get together. I disagree.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

In all of those places. We don't need to win a war and "own the world." We just have decided to cut taxes and not pay for anything.

Tax me more for high speed rail? Cool. Tax me for a new pile of concrete for a bunch of judges and men in cheap suits to mill about collecting hourly rates, and clerks to drink coffee? Fuck no.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Tax me more for high speed rail? Cool. Tax me for a new pile of concrete for a bunch of judges and men in cheap suits to mill about collecting hourly rates, and clerks to drink coffee? Fuck no.

I was using the courthouses as a symbol of government infrastructure and spending. For you to have a call on where to spend I think you'd need to get elected. Everyone hates on spending for one thing or another, we can't have a plebiscite for every spending decision.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You realize all of those things are listed because they are unlikely to impossible in the current system, even allowing for Democratic control of all three branches.

You think debt-financed spending is unlikely???

No, you mean debt-financed spending on infrastructure is unlikely because the GOP won't vote for it unless there's room for their contractor pals to profit. Might be right.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Sure it is. You’re assuming we need and will always have offices where people get together. I disagree.

We need and will always have offices where people get together. People being people and all.

Sure, tech will mean marginally less need for them over time, but there's a big core that isn't going away for all kinds of reasons.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Sure it is. You’re assuming we need and will always have offices where people get together. I disagree.

Speaking broadly, we will always need and have offices where people get together. Some people will not need them. The proportion of such people may go up.

Three data points:

My uncle is a consultant. Some years ago, he decided to work from his home in Taos, NM, on the theory that he could work remotely. It didn't work. Most days it worked, but on the days when it didn't work, it really didn't work. Some piece of office equipment would break and he'd have to have what he needed overnighted. Etc.

One of my colleagues, an exec at my level, works from home in another state. But she still needs to come to the office every month.

The price of real estate on Sand Hill Rd is crazy and all the VCs are there.

Silicon Valley is full of companies disrupting markets formerly limited by geography (think of eBay, Google, Cisco, and so on). In the middle of Silicon Valley, why should that real estate matter so much? Because sometimes as the leveling effect of geography that you see takes hold, the marginal competitive advantage from geography matters more, not less. If a bunch of VCs are chasing a deal, do you want to be the one who isn't on Sand Hill Rd and who tries to do it by telephone instead of in person? Of course not.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Ann Coulter ftw:

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Tax me more for high speed rail? Cool. Tax me for a new pile of concrete for a bunch of judges and men in cheap suits to mill about collecting hourly rates, and clerks to drink coffee? Fuck no.

[Icky Thump]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

If you have a G5 and you're still working, you either need to get rid of the G5 and the other items that require you to keep working or go to a terminal cancer ward and make the following inquiry to patients:

"How much do you regret not spending more time at the office?"

News flash: I don’t bill. Just create pockets of money to pay for the G5. I fly commercial. Free on points, or courtesy of wonderful people. Ps I spend my work days also dealing with people with terminal cancer. Thankful most of the money goes to them.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Tax me more for high speed rail.

Really? Even our new super-lib governor knows its an impossibility in today's politics, impractical, and cost-impossible. But he still wants to spend something like $13 biillyon in approved bond measure, and Fed, funds for a 110 mile super fast train between two ag towns, when you cal already go between them on Amtrak for $36.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cal...ait-and-switch

LessinBanff, Alberta