Stupid is as stupid does and stupidity votes Obama

[snoopy369]

When I think of compassionate people, Asher is definitely the first that comes to mind

[Asher]

I've never worked for a phone company.

I worked for Lehman Brothers for 2 years, then I worked for Yellow Pages in their R&D dept (making their mobile apps). I decided it was not satisfying. So I switched.

[kentonio]

To be fair, that number includes all sorts of people, probably including me at the moment (we are living in effectively temporary housing - a hotel - while we finish our house renovations).

Not sure you'd end up on that kind of study tbh.

[Jaguar]

Local party politics is at best marginally tied to national party platforms and policies. Snoop, you're in Chicago. Do you really think the city council there is full of liberals? By most any measure, the actual policies of the Chicago "machine" have been, for the past 50+ years, much more conservative than the national party, both fiscally and socially. The council members are, in general, political hacks with loyalty to the status quo.

Chicago is an interesting choice to be "not representative of the national Party."

I maintain that there is nothing inherently "GOP" or "Dem" about local political parties, except insofar as they deliver votes for national candidates. Because local issues affect lives much more than the vagaries of national politics, their relationship to the national economic policies and social agendas of either party are far from being linear and predictable. Local politics are about winning local elections and staying in power.

OK, let's blame Chicago or New York City voters then.

Some fun facts:
1. The NYC cab medallion policy was instituted in 1937. Hardly an indicator of a modern Democratic plot against immigrants and the poor.
2. The city government does not set the price of medallions; they are sold either privately or at auction. This is the free market in action when demand outstrips supply.
3. Roughly 82% of New York's estimated 60,000 current cab drivers are foreign-born.

The government controls the supply of medallions. The government has been cruelly refusing to issue more medallions, despite the obvious gains to immigrant cab drivers and people who need rides. The $1 million free-market price of a medallion shows just how scarce they are relative to the demand for them.

The city government is responsible for the laws it enforces. The city government is a bunch of Democrats, elected by overwhelmingly-Democratic voters.

[Asher]

When I think of compassionate people, Asher is definitely the first that comes to mind

You may be joking, but I've cut cheques for more people on Apolyton than you would know. Even here, I'm compassionate where it counts.

[giblets]

You have been turned into a toolbag by fully adopting the beliefs of those who are allied with you on a single issue.

So he's like all the working class homophobes who vote Republican?

[Hauldren Collider]

Some fun facts:
1. The NYC cab medallion policy was instituted in 1937. Hardly an indicator of a modern Democratic plot against immigrants and the poor.

The fact that they never fixed the system is inexcusable.

2. The city government does not set the price of medallions; they are sold either privately or at auction. This is the free market in action when demand outstrips supply.

The commodity in question is supplied by the government. The government could just make more medallions trivially and lower the cost.

3. Roughly 82% of New York's estimated 60,000 current cab drivers are foreign-born.

But more foreign-born people would be able to start cab businesses without the idiotic medallions.

[Hauldren Collider]

So he's like all the working class homophobes who vote Republican?

Yes, actually.

[snoopy369]

[Editorial note: This post refers to the NYC taxi discussion from earlier. I see that the thread has morphed into a discussion of homelessness in Canada vs. the US since then. Please proceed.]

Local party politics is at best marginally tied to national party platforms and policies. Snoop, you're in Chicago. Do you really think the city council there is full of fiscal/social liberals? By most any measure, the actual policies of the Chicago "machine" and the City Council have been, for the past 50+ years, much more conservative than the national party, both fiscally and socially. The council members are, in general, political hacks with loyalty to the status quo.

I maintain that there is nothing inherently "GOP" or "Dem" about local political parties, except insofar as they deliver votes for national candidates. Because local issues affect lives much more than the vagaries of national politics, their relationship to the national economic policies and social agendas of either party are far from being linear and predictable. Local politics are about winning local elections and staying in power.



I'm just saying that it has virtually no relationship with the national Democratic party per se, nor its policies, and that attempting to do so is a poor way for you to make your point.

Some fun facts:
1. The NYC cab medallion policy was instituted in 1937. Hardly an indicator of a modern Democratic plot against immigrants and the poor. It's much more about the difficulty of changing any established "rules of the game" (and thus, again, a poor example).
2. The city government does not set the price of medallions; they are sold either privately or at auction. This is the free market in action when demand outstrips supply. See also: rent controlled apartments, black market.
3. Roughly 82% of New York's estimated 60,000 current cab drivers are foreign-born.

Um, yes, I do think Chicago is a liberal-run city. The power of the city government is the sort of thing liberals believe in. Why do you think we have only one Wal-Mart in the city? Certainly not conservative economic theory...

As far as the taxi medallions being 'free market', that's entirely wrong, as I'm fairly sure you know. It is not a free market when supply is artificially constrained. If the supply were higher, the price would be lower. NYC's taxi medallion system, from what I've heard (not having been to NYC) sounds an awful lot like actual wage slavery - similar to how sharecroppers were kept tied to their land, or how workers for factories in the 1890s were kept in debt by the factory owners who sold them supplies and rented them housing at a rate specifically calculated to keep them in debt. Sure, the foreign-born work in taxis in NYC; but if it costs $1MM to get that medallion, they're in debt for 20 years to get it.

[Ben Kenobi]

But it's quite clear when he comes to the grim realities of the real world, he's as in the dark as you have been.

And yet it's you who comes off as the toolbag, while Jag has the charisma.

Hey, at least I'm self-aware enough to know that not everyone shares my opinionated opinions. You seem to believe you're 100 percent impartial and everyone should believe as you do. I don't.

[Asher]

Um, yes, I do think Chicago is a liberal-run city. The power of the city government is the sort of thing liberals believe in. Why do you think we have only one Wal-Mart in the city? Certainly not conservative economic theory...

Are they being blocked politically, or is it just not economical?

Huge box stores in developed cities are extremely expensive. The economics probably just don't make sense.

[kentonio]

Sure, the foreign-born work in taxis in NYC; but if it costs $1MM to get that medallion, they're in debt for 20 years to get it.

From what I understand they don't buy the medallions, they lease them from the taxi companies who own them.

[Asher]

And yet it's you who comes off as the toolbag.

Hey, at least I'm self-aware enough to know that not everyone shares my opinionated opinions.

Huh? I recognize not everybody shares my opinion and I've made that quite clear.

You seem to believe you're 100 percent impartial and everyone should believe as you do. I don't.

I can see how you can think that, what with my ambiguous comments in this very thread reading "You're free to believe what you like."

[Hauldren Collider]

We have several huge box stores here in Pittsburgh. Chicago is much bigger, yes, but land is certainly not cheap here. They build them on multiple floors with integral parking garages.

[kentonio]

Hey, at least I'm self-aware enough to know that literally no-one outside the Westboro Baptist Church shares my mentally unbalanced and quite repulsive opinions.

FTFY.