Both India and China have far higher expected work rates. In the west six days a week was standard. The question is: 'Why should this time be different?' Every new technology results in disruption, but has always ended up seeing replacement jobs emerging.
Whilst a few subcultures are proving refractory to western culture, in practice most second and third generation immigrants are fully integrated. The fact that both the UK and Eire (until yesterday) have Indian heritage Prime Ministers demonstrates this rather powerfully.
Yes, some start ups are never going to fly, but unless we provide the possibility of their doing so, we will miss out on those that do and achieve major benefits for our society. AirBnB at its best allows people with unused spare rooms to generate an income from that asset. Without a 'startup culture', it's probable that it would never have happened.
The budgets and actual priorities of the FAA and DoT are the result of politicians decisions and actions. There's only so much money and political capital available to get things done, and both will respond to these factors. Of course this shouldn't be the case - but no political system ever operates completely rationally.
It's they who are generating the fuss about the Boeing mess - and failing to address the road safety issues.
The virtue of taxing pollution and monopolies is that you are reducing the distortion caused by the failure to address pollution. Sadly the losers will squeal...
Air travel is and remains ridiculously safe compared with other forms of transport
The most efficient way to improve energy efficiency is to put significant and rising taxes on it and GIVE THE MONEY BACK as a universal basic income. This should ensure that few poor people suffer and lots of companies start to invest in better energy efficiency. But it's far more attractive to employ more bureaucrats and give the money out visibly; that creates the illusion of activity by the government...
The reality is that airline safety is stellar compared with the carnage on the roads. The really hard question is to know how to get the balance better; how to get road safety taken a lot more seriously.
This is important work, but the idea that the US taxpayer should be the only people paying for it is not reasonable; other countries should be making financial contributions, as should the big tech companies.
A good suggestion.
To give NASA an implicit subsidy is what I'm objecting to. The money for the service which the FAA provides to NASA has got to come from somewhere; it's either explicit by having them charged in the same way, or implicit in requiring the FAA to provide the service to NASA without charge.
Of course I'm assuming a rational response to the need for a NASA budget boost to allow this, and that may well be a mistake. But from first principles...
Cute point scoring about Clinton's record of leaving a surplus at a time of world peace is unhelpful.
The fact that the US economy is continuing to generate jobs at a totally unexpected pace strongly suggests that Trump's tax cuts did the job they promised; it's clear that if the pandemic hadn't derailed the economy, it would have been storming along as a result of his economic policy. The point about stock buy backs is that they release the money stuck in companies with no clear investment opportunities to be reinvested, at a lower cost than would otherwise be the case, in companies that do have expansion plans. Yes, of course that's not the only reason; the appalling problem of the double taxation of company dividends versus bond payments makes financial engineering always a profitable prospect, while foolishly designed executive bonuses based merely on share price also encourage such things. But it's not simple.
Yes, Biden talks the talk on taxing the rich. However the ever expanding number of loopholes (think IRA) means that it is only the relatively little people and careless corporations that will actually pay more tax.
Note I'm no fan of Trump, and the prospect of his getting a second term is terrifying. But it's important to try to spot what is really going on, not just assume a politician is telling the truth for the first time ever. In having the choice of Biden or Trump, the USA is getting what it deserves - at least a bit of it.
Biden is a creature of the American corporations, as proven by his being the Senator from Delaware, which is where a massive proportion of US corporations are registered. Hiding your real intentions by progressive fluff is always a good technique.
The issue is motivation. Do we want to do the best for the children here, or do we want to tick a box that satisfies our priorities?
E = MC ** 2 +- 3db
