Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bucheon bum]

WaPo article

[Fox]

The United States transportation infrastructure, electricity distribution infrastructure, and telephone/internet infrastructure all need to be seriously improved.

[The Happy Warrior]

Our freight train system is pretty good.

I refuse to buy the WaPo's thesis. Too much money is spent on highways and the suburban lifestyle. That is the primary problem. If the US focused infrastructure spending on just commerce-heavy interstates (mostly from the Mississippi heading West), we'll be all good. After all, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, the TVA, and the Ohio rivers have much of the East coast covered, except for the ACELA corridor.

Although I would support a gas tax commensurate with estimates for expenses (and by commensurate I mean at least 50% higher than initial gov't estimates)

[matthews_world]

Yep, we need another massive TVA-type project to repair and replace the failing infrastructure that was first instituted at that time. With the highway stimulus earmarks already in place, Obama should expand the programs and he, along with Sect. Ray LaHood would be the perfect guys to oversee it.

Don't get me started on the stimulus jobs that are a part of the highway oney. They are just a band-aid aimed to lower the unemployment rate.

[bucheon bum]

[mc_jc]

There is too much dependence on the car. This dependence has led to the overpricing of gas a few years back and created the government subsidy on it that we see today.
The government, both national and local, believe that people should be responsible for their own transportation needs. However, the government, again both national and local, provide token transportation services to those who don't have the means to transport themselves.

I know I put down China a lot, but one thing I will give them credit for is that they are developing a massive national and local transportation system to shuttle huge masses of people from one place to the next at a low cost. They know that by improving their cummuter system will help them develop faster.

The US has a far way to go and the only word I ca use to describe its public transit system is, is complacent.

[bucheon bum]

Rail Service Expansion Imperiled at State Level

[The Happy Warrior]

More links. This is interesting.

I can see myself changing my mind on this, but, you gotta disagree if you want a thread topic to continue. So right now, I call bollocks.

[mises]

Some of the descriptions of American infrastructure are hyperbolic. I'm constantly surprised at how well managed and designed much of it is. American cities do need improved mass transit and a push to New Urbanism in the design of cities.

The US could use a high speed rail network between major cities. That's a personal preference though. I hate flying.

I completely agree with the comments about suburbia. It is a horrible misallocation of finite resources. Check out these pics from the Tampa area:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/09/human_landscapes_in_sw_florida.html

I don't get it. I've never met someone from North America who traveled to Europe and didn't gush about the way they've built their cities. The metro in Paris, the tube in London, the density without chaos, the sense of community and place. The preservation of history. Public spaces that aren't shopping malls. Yet we North Americans come home and buy a box in the suburbs, alienating ourselves from the rest of society. It doesn't make any sense. We have confused the rural and the urban. It's not healthy. It's expensive and inefficient. Worst of all, it is boring.

[The Happy Warrior]

[mises]

Maybe. We build really ugly cities in North America. Though some have improved dramatically. Toronto, San Diego, Miami, Austin, Denver, Portland and to some extent Calgary have all begun the adjustment away from the suburban trend of the last 50 years.

..

To pay for necessary upgrades the feds or states should create public banks for industrial and infrastructure investment. The amount of capital spent on interest for large projects is obscene.

[mc_jc]

The big problem is the considerable population shift that has been happening for a while- people from out west moving east, people from up north moving down south. People are trying to move to where the jobs are. Yet, no sooner do these people get to where they are, the job market dries up for them. The next question in their minds might be- do I stay or do I go on? It depends on how mobile they are.
The point is, as soon as a certain city starts investing in its public transit infrastructure, there is a chance for a shift where people might leave that city, leaving the remaining residents to flip for the bill.
A lot of the sustainable jobs, such as those in industry, have been seen as permanently moved overseas to cut costs and improve their bottom lines.
What the US should think about is to increase tariffs on foreign goods (like Korea does) and to give US companies less competition.
Then the government should put a cap on how much hospitals and HMOs could charge a person or subsidize part of the healthcare system to allow for workers and employers to pay affordable copayments that wouldn't burden the worker or the company.
Finally, the local government should give incentives to companies that hire local residents and fine those that hire undocumented workers.
Also, a universal tax on anyone earning more than $200,000 a year that could be levied by the government and distributed to the local governments to pay for infrastructural projects, not to mention raising remittance fees and taxing remittance out of the country. Think about it, hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers who don't pay any kind of tax, if we were to tax them, then I think we, as Americans, would be able to get out of some of the mess we are in now.
But all this depends on fiscal responsibility- which is not always the case with the federal or state governments.

[caniff]

Besides your using 'also' after 'finally' I thought it was a very nice speech.

[bucheon bum]

Yes. And fun fact of the day: many undocumented workers pay income tax and social security (but obviously don't ever get it when they'd become "eligible").

[rollo]

I would really be curious how an undocumented worker can pay taxes and social security! But overall I think this is a good discussion and some good ideas. The U.s. definetly needs to improve mass transit but their are strides being made in that area. As Mises pointed out some of this is hypebole. Highspeed rail system just went into operation in the Northeast corridor. Cities are changing , slowly but their is an increased committment to mass transit.