Comments by "DynamicWorlds" (@dynamicworlds1) on "Why Anchorage is America's Most OP City" video.

@letrouvere2158 not just the monopoly. The demand for access through that chokepoint also drives up costs. There's only so much traffic a given canal can handle in a year and as we saw with Suez this year, it's not like the major canals are going under utilized. Becoming less strategically important may also help Panama get out from the imperialist thumb....supposing it doesn't get too hot for human habitation which is a real possibility.
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Also, canals are limiting the size of ships. We may see some absolutely massive cargo ships be built specifically for these routes going between northern ports which are often particularly deep being cut by glaciers. It'd be better if we could keep the ice, but we're going to need all the silver linings we can get, especially if the equatorial regions become uninhabitable.
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@rawhidelamp I didn't imply that and the fact that 3/4 of your examples are a total mess because of US foreign policy isn't doing your argument any favors, nor is that the 4th is straight-up totalitarian. Btw, the corruption perception index ranks us as, in fact, tied with Cuba for corruption, and that's being generous. If you look at their definition of corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit" and compare that to the near total lack of correlation between what the public wants to happen and what politicians so suggests an even worse situation of near total corruption. Our political campaign financing amounts to legalized bribery. We're a haven for money laundering. The amount of tax evasion by those at the top is insane. There have been plenty of documented cases of industry lobbyists handing Congress bills to pass. The problems with our "justice" system are endless even beyond private prisons regularly both using forced labor and lobbying (aka: legally bribing) politicians to put more people behind bars. Legislators are not only allowed to own stock, but vote on bills directly related to stocks they know they own. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are rampant. The corporate news is funded by the same companies buying our politicians and tows the state line with remarkable consistency. (See "manufacturing consent" and us ranking 44th in press freedom) Etc etc etc. Hell, the biggest scandal out of thr Panama Papers for the US was how much of what happened was legal. Whatever other countries' situation is isn't that relevant to the reality that the US effectively runs on corruption. Even the saying "it's not what you know; it's who you know" is an acknowledgement that our entire system runs on cronyism and nepotism. Btw, a real patriot would never deflect discussions about problems their country is facing by pointing to other countries that are doing worse. Being able to point to another country that's worse in some way doesn't do shit for improving this one. It only helps nationalists feel complacent about their country falling apart around them.
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@rawhidelamp I think the fact that our country has legalized so many forms of corruption is skewing those statistics, tbh. Looking at how negligibly correlated public oppinion and government policy are is probably a better metric, and by that, the US is extremely corrupt.
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@janelleg597 blatent denial of reality and projection from the right. Typical. We get it. You hate that voting is a thing. It's not something to proud of.
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