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Comment It's all about real estate (Score 1) 692

If the root complaint is that housing prices are going up, then San Francisco and its residents are at least as much to blame as the economic success of their region. They consistently vote to nix new housing developments because they feel it will upset the character of a neighborhood, or block the view of an adjacent one. To put it bluntly, it's property owners voting down measures that would dilute their property value and current tenants voting down measures that they feel would change the demographics of their neighborhood.

The city is a popular place for young people to live, and with proximity to strong schools like Berkeley and Stanford, young professionals have money. Without growth in housing units, the free market will push housing prices up so long as demand will support it. This is just like any other real estate market in the country.

Many residents complain that the tech buses are using public bus stops. That's between the city and the tech companies, and they've got a negotiated agreement. Maybe the residents are not happy with how their city represented their interests and what they got in return, but that's between the residents and their government. As of right now, the tech companies' use of public bus stops is legal and agreed-upon. Any protests against that use should be at city hall, not at the bus stops.

As for mass transit, that's a hugely sticky issue in the area as well. Caltrain fares are more than the cost to drive for a given distance and it doesn't connect to the BART system, nor does it wrap around at San Jose / Milpitas. The state can't afford to buy the land or pay the construction crews to connect and harmonize these lines, nor will homeowners allow for significant expansion due to the perceived loss in home value. And then there's the problem of the entire western half of SF, where there is no rail or subway at all.

Submission + - Student president candidate brings paid astroturfing to higher education 1

grimsnaggle writes: Stewart MacGregor-Dennis, a candidate for Stanford student president, has brought paid astroturfing to higher education. An unofficial Stanford blog post outlines the extent of his antics, including purchasing more followers than the sum total of the Stanford student body. Astroturfing is for more than customer reviews, it seems.

Comment Re:Medical expenses? What's that? (Score 1) 651

My friends who work at medical device companies feel no pressure to keep costs down. Why make a part out of plastic when things machined from billet aluminum are shiny? Oops, there was an error in that part. Maybe we should order twice as many more of the next revision, because surely we will have caught all the bugs. Later, when the R&D is done, they'll sell the machine for a boatload of money and only honor the warranty if the end-user (your doctor) buys all of their consumables from the OEM. Now they also sell bottles of buffered saline for $10k/liter. As far as I can tell, the rest of the medical industry works in much the same way. But it's all OK, because you want the very best possible care and you wouldn't want to kill Uncle Pete for want of a few hundred thousand dollars.

Comment Re:Medical expenses? What's that? (Score 3, Interesting) 651

I'm a US citizen and I needed medical care in Coober Pedy, South Australia. The hospital was closed for the night so they called in a doctor for me. He looked me over, gave me some painkillers and anti-inflammatories, slapped on an ice-pack, billed me $46, and sent me on my way. No government or insurance was involved.

Had this been the United States, they would've billed me $400 for opening the door, $150 for the first drug, $220 for the second, $190 for the ice-pack, $30 in clerical fees, and made me sign a bunch of paperwork. I don't understand why medicine is so expensive in our country.

Comment Re:I bought a house (Score 1) 651

8% is a pretty good rate. If you find an investment that can pull that off without violating any laws, please let me know. Also, having cash on hand does not correlate to a credit score. As recently as last year I was unable to get a post-paid cell phone plan despite having enough cash on-hand to pay the monthly bill until the end of the millennium.

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