A particularly worrying downside is that to come up with the funds, Albany might be forced to starve roads and bridges in other parts of the state, or even transit in and around NYC — not in a “one-shot,” but year in and year out.
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28 January 2012
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17:01
I’ve run some numbers, and they’re so disturbing that even I’m not sure how much credence to give them. But with the fast-tracking of the jumbo-sized, jumbo-priced rebuild, I felt it was less risky to put them out than to sit on them.
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15:20
Cost of Tappan Zee Mega-Bridge Could Cause Tolls to Triple
A toll increase of that magnitude — in the $10 ballpark — would almost certainly send “demand” (the number of car and truck crossings) into a tailspin. That in turn could necessitate another toll hike to ensure that bondholders stay paid and set up another round of the downward spiral — the same whirlpool that nearly swallowed dozens of utilities a few decades ago.
The history of utilities collapse brought about by the expense of nuclear power, given at the beginning of the post, is interesting in itself. I had no idea that happened, I just assumed nuclear was subsidized to the the point that its outsize costs were not felt by consumers and private operators.
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13 October 2011
Arriving amidst an intractable 10-year military occupation of Afghanistan, the decreasing likelihood that workers will be able to retire at 65, and a wildly fluctuating stock market, today’s announcement that the national average price of self-serve regular has fallen to $3.39 verified that the worries of the past are now officially behind us, and that the U.S. stands alone as the world’s preeminent superpower.
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16 September 2011
When the government does try stimulus, what does it build? Roads and bridges. When Americans feel that things are looking up, what do they buy? SUVs and McMansions. If we have a recovery, that’s what we’re going to get. Roads and bridges, SUVs and McMansions, tar sands and electric cars. Parking required at the apartment building, parking at the train station, parking at the office park.
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14 August 2011
Truman, Carter and Obama
I said back in 2004 that the Democrats should consider themselves lucky Kerry lost that election, given what was coming in the economy. Well the debt binge went on a lot longer than I thought it would, and almost lasted through the second Bush term, but in the end I was right. Similarly, the Republicans may come to regret taking the House in 2010.
It’s an interesting thought. Having watched the Republican debate this week it is hard to see any of them defeating Obama. Romney has the best chance, but strangely he looked like crap, and as usual sounded like he was full of it. He is mouthing the phrases that your average centrist numskull likes to hear, but Obama reads those lines more convincingly. Obama is also currently The Leader which is very important to centrist numskulls.
So maybe House Republicans will get credit for further wrecking the economy, even though Obama himself supported many of their policies and, crucially, their ideology. Obama will get a second term he hasn’t really earned, like Bush, and the Left will wake up (again) and say WTF is going on here, we need to get somebody other than mentally ill warmongers and disaster capitalists in congress. And we will get them, but they’ll be quickly tranquilized by the likes of Chuck Schumer.
We seem to be stuck in a self-destructive loop that can only be terminated by shutting down the system. But there must be a god, because we seem to be running out of its fuel.
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6 August 2011
“The best part about selling gold teeth is that unlike that heirloom gold necklace or grandma’s old sterling silver flatware, dental gold typically has very little emotional value,” says Arch Enterprises, a buyer of dental gold. (via zunguzungu)
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12 July 2011
If the ‘if not now, when’ applies to spending cuts, why not taxes? If the argument that we can’t do ‘job killing tax increases’ now, why is it okay to do job killing spending cuts?
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28 June 2011
The End of “Development”?
Meanwhile, declining economic growth will probably lead to increased demographic competition between the old (who will be seen by the young to have used up the world’s resources) and the young (who will be seen by the old as a threat to savings and economic stability).
Fun times ahead!
