"I love you Mini me! You complete me!"
"EEEEEEEE!"
Of the ten topics Stossel takes on this week, my favorite is this one:
No. 2 -- MYTH -- Urban Sprawl Is Ruining AmericaThe others are good, too, but this one really hits close to home for many of us. If it wasn't for "sprawl" we wouldn't have a home.Suburban sprawl is evil. The unplanned growth, cookie cutter developments is gobbling up all the space and ruining America. Right?
Wrong.
Enjoy!
This is going to be a very difficult discussion if we insist on using "URBAN" and "SUBURBAN" interchangeably.
They are as different as Red states and Blue.
well glad he figured it all out
now i can go back to sleep everyting is good
How about exploding the myth that people who use cell phones in public places are evil? I'm about fed up with that one.
I don't know if I agree that urban sprawl being bad is a myth. It has always existed, BUT, Firstly, much of it has happened because families have been driven out of liberal-dominated cities and their stagnant economies and soft-on-crime politics. If it weren't for liberals in the cities, there would be less sprawl.
Number 2, add in property-rights-destoying laws (that Stossel would definitely oppose on libertarian grounds), such as open space laws which prohibit development, and sprawl gets even worse.
Number 3, towns know that businesses bring in tax dollars but schools cost money. Given our lack of property rights, towns preferentially zone for businesses. This necessarily separates jobs from the residences, increasing sprawl. The old liberal bugaboo, the Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again: "free" public schools create sprawl.
Number 4, (and this is more controversial), rent-seeking homeowners. Minimum lot sizes, restrictions on multi-families etc... I think that the public schools also drive this. The quality of a school is largely determined by the quality of the other students (as opposed to funding or teachers), so neighborhoods use zoning laws to self-segregate based on socio-economic status.
Does any of this mean that we wouldn't still have sprawl? Of course not. But I'll bet it would be a lot less with universal school vouchers, stronger property rights, and conservatives running the cities.
"Well, you can't have everything," Kunstler said.
Sums up the greenie philosophy in a sentance. Or it would, had he added, "and folks like me get to decide who gets what."
"I love you Mini me! You complete me!"
"EEEEEEEE!"
HERE IS THE BEST QUOTE FROM THIS ARTICLE:
private property rarely gets abused or degraded.
And there's an explanation for this. "When something belongs to everyone, it belongs to no one. No one owns it. There's no incentive to take care of it. It gets abused and degraded," Roberts said.
Private property sounds selfish. We think of rich people taking advantage of other people. But it works a lot better, Roberts said.
When I told this to people at the gas station they didn't believe me. And why should they? The media keep telling us about the record high prices — they're just not adjusting for inflation!
I like his myth segments.
Stossel is dam man!
Full list here:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=448934&page=1
No. 10 — NASTY BEHAVIOR — Littering
No. 9 — NASTY BEHAVIOR: Extra Cell Phone Fees
No. 8 — NASTY BEHAVIOR — Noise
No. 7 — MYTH — Gas Prices Are Higher Than Ever
No. 6 — NASTY BEHAVIOR — Congress' Pork Barrel Spending
No. 5 — NASTY BEHAVIOR — Welfare for Farmers
No. 4 — MYTH: Outsourcing Is Bad for American Workers
No. 3 — MYTH: Public Schools for Poor Kids, Not Politicians' Kids
No. 2 — MYTH — Urban Sprawl Is Ruining America
MYTH No. 1 Sharing Would Make the World a Better Place
So when adjusted for inflation gasoline is slightly less expensive now than it was during it's worst crisis ever?
I'm so relieved!
But the reality is that the "record high gas prices" are a myth. The U.S. Department of Energy records show that when you adjust for inflation the price of gas is now lower than it's been for most of the twentieth century. Prices are lower now than they were 25 years ago.
REPLY:
The problem is that my income has not kept up with inflation.
Adjusting my income still doesn't make up for what I was making 25 years ago, then yes, no or maybe the prices are not to high, I guess.
The soultion for Urban Sprawl
The solution to problem caused by the solution of urban sprawl.
I wonder if ABC ever regrets hiring John Stossel?