Please translate what you posted for me like I’m five. |
As a Euro transplant here: the above is partly true. But as the cost of healthcare and public services rises in Europe, authorities are paying very close attention to Americans wanting to move in and enjoy the fruits (free healthcare) of what others have paid for through years of high taxation. |
+1 As awful, corrupt and dysfunctional as the Dem Party is in 2026, the GOP is actually worse as long as Trump is in the picture. Needless to say, we have a hot pile of garbage in DC. |
This is a really babyish understanding of why we don’t have rail. The reason post war countries were able to organize themselves around rail is because they simply didn’t have that many constituencies to worry about- there weren’t rich NIMBYs fighting tooth and nail to keep a railway track out of their backyard. People were just surviving. And the problem with Obamacare is what has held our country back every step of the way- not Republicans, but conservatives. Conservative democrats stripped Obamacare of a public option. Conservatives have fought against every iota of progress in this country, from racial equality, to electric cars, to healthcare. It doesn’t matter what political label they wear be it Democrats or Republicans. Joe Biden signed legislation investing billions in our infrastructure and it was all for nothing. You’re going to go to Europe in a couple of decades and find their electricity is insanely cheap and they’re driving electric cars for nothing while we won’t have the infrastructure- JUST LIKE RAIL. And you are watching it in real time and both-sides-ing it. |
We don't have these things because the political will isn't there. As long as people vote for republicans, who don't believe in government and want to favor captialism without guardrails, we won't get things like universal healthcare, better education, worker safety and rights, safe food, water and air and yes, high speed rail. |
they devote 1-2% of their GDP to defense. We devote closer to 4%. The difference in that money is significant. Consider that the GOP wants to raise defense spending when they have $500 billion dollars currently that they don't know what to do with and...how much is going into ICE to terrorize our cities? And...how much have the tax cuts cost our debt while we cut medicare and medicaid? It is ridiculous. |
Because the GOP has done everything it can to sabotage and make it inefficient so we are forced to go without health insurance all together and just die. That is what the GOP wants, clearly. |
A successful high speed rail system is feasible in Europe because a rail has a stop in a major city every hour or so. The US has too much sparsely populated area to make cross-continental rail systems feasible. This is basic common sense for most people. |
"socialist style of government" = taking care of people. Thanks for agreeing with me that the US is only good for making money. This country has a huge problem with wealth gap. No other first world country has such a large gap like ours. So yes, the average person is much better off in other first world countries compared to the US. Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, the Irish... and Israelis are happier than we are (and why not? We give them billions so that their citizens can get universal healthcare); we have the worst gun violence and deaths; we have the highest incarceration rate compared to other developed countries. We are great at glorifying greed, and telling individuals to pull themselves up by their bootstraps all while handing out billions to industries that back Rs, like farming. Not saying those other countries don't have issues. Of course they do. There's not such thing as a perfect country, but they certainly have a better qol than the average Americans do. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/quality-of-life https://x.com/Globalstats11/status/2026714135833239840 DH is from the UK, and he's noticed over the past 30 years that the cost of living in the US has surpassed the UK, and he's right. The US is right below Finland. Healthcare index: US is just above the Philippines and way below Mexico. Quality of life here is great, if you have money. https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp |
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We don't have rail because the rubber, gas and car lobby killed rail, time and time again, starting with the dismanlting of the really awesome streetcar systems we had in just a bout every city until around 1960.
When the first oil shock hit in 1972-1973, the europeans and asians decided to decouple of middle eastern gas and invest in subways and rail. What did the US do (other than BART and Metro) - highways, single family press-board cul0de-sac exurban development and so on. Choices based on lobbying from corporate interests. |
Then create hubs: Northeast Midwest Texas Pacific Coast And you can run literally striaght lines of rails though those sparcely populated areas if there was political will to do it. Imagine being able to take a train across the country in a day. Or being able to go NY to DC an hour or two? Or LA-SF in an hour or two? That is what Europe and Asia have. |
Amtrak had record revenues and passengers in 2025 yet still operated at a financial loss while depending on Federal aid to maintain. Let us know how much the American taxpayer will be on the hook for this DC to San Fran high speed rail before the first track is laid, please |
Are any charging more bc retirees haven’t paid into their system? Will they start taxing g Americans (I understand some don’t force expats to pay their nation’s taxes in addition to US taxes. I could see that going away or as a carrot. |
But then we won’t have our bike trails. /s |
You really don’t have a leg to stand on here with ya know…all the pdfiles, faux religion, fraud, lying, corruption, filth, and damaging deficits⬇️ All Republican presidents since 1980 increased the federal deficit during their time in office and left worse deficits. Since 1980, Democratic presidents left office with better deficits than they inherited. President Clinton left office leaving the U.S. with a surplus, the first since 1969. |