Comments by "disgruntledtoons" (@disgruntledtoons) on "Wendover Productions" channel.

  1. You didn't mention that there has been a recent wave of white landowners being murdered or driven from their properties. Whether it is just or not to expropriate the properties that they held is immaterial; because it is being done outside of the law, the benefits are privatized (i.e., they go to the thugs who are seizing the properties) while the harm (the sudden loss of the productivity of the seized properties) still impacts the community as a whole.
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  2. The problem with California is that a large portion of the populace--perhaps a majority--have firmly embraced idiocy. For the people who oppose this, it is easier to move than it is to stay and fight. Those who stay will rationalize the decline as something that couldn't be helped, or blame it on the lingering constraints on the insanity of their government. They're like that guy who says that his hangover wouldn't be so bad if the bartender hadn't cut him off.
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  3. Long-term thinking is punished in our society, because a legislator or bureaucrat can pass a new law or regulation that throws all of your plans into a cocked hat, and there is not a bloody thing you can do about it.
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  4. If they can move from a state income tax to another tax base, they can attract larger numbers of remote workers, specifically, people who aren't insistent on living in a major urban area.
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  5. China's growth is due to the effect of infusing ever more modern technology into its industrial base. That can only carry them so far. They may exceed the US in absolute numbers, but they will forever lag in per-capita output until they also embrace Western principles such as the rule of law.
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  6. Plowing long-distance highways directly through urban areas is the biggest mistake of highway design. It causes each such highway to become a commute corridor, which is not their purpose.
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  7. Note to self: After winning the Powerball, go to Oregon and build them port.
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  8. We are never going to wean the American public off of the automobile unless and until we make public transport work for all of their needs. If the typical American needs a car at any point during the week, the marginal cost of using it for everything else ranges from ten to fifteen cents per mile, a figure that public transport can only meet in high-usage areas like New York City. This is because land-use policies in the US are based on the wishes of preserving property values for an influential minority than on government legitimate functions. Any zoning regulation that does not have a bona fide health and safety rationale should be abolished. Then and only then can we get people housing that is cheap, affordable, and close to work and shopping, and only when that is accomplished can we wean people off of their cars.
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  9. The communists among us see this and say, "fascism," while the fascists among us see this and say, "communism". The rest of us either see that Bukele is getting too authoritative or they admire the fact that he is getting stuff done.
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  10. The video hits a key point, but does gloss over a deeper point. If a process costs more than it delivers in profit, it is because it consumes more resources than it saves. Recycling a commodity is good for the environment only when the process is efficient enough to enable a real profit. About half of the copper goods we produce are made from recycled copper, and copper recyclers will pay good money for your copper. The same goes for aluminum and steel. I'm hoping for thermal depolymerization to become efficient enough to become viable; then we can turn all of that plastic into the feedstock for the petroleum industry.
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  11. It's something air force people have known for decades: "The initiative rests with the commander of the superior air forces."
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  12. The US actually still depends on rail for freight than Europe does. Rail is effing cheap (only water transport is cheaper), and businessmen know this.
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  13. I would bet my last dollar that Eisenhower, as supreme commander, spent much more time dealing with logistical issues than he did with strategy.
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