Well, thanks. I guess. I used the term Reagan conservative to indicate my admiration for him; one of the 2 or 3 greatest American presidents of all time. But I guess in hindsight I may have changed my mind on a few points over the years.
I love what he did with PATCO, but air travel in the US today is simply terrible compared to what’s available in much of the rest of the world. Is it ok for us to disagree on some of these things?
Thanks.
People are suspicious because of past troll coming in here. So, please don’t take it personally. It seems like whenever something big happens in China, there are people relatively new on here touting the Chinese line.
Welcome to FR. Just out of curiousity, what led you to Reagan conservatism. Were you a Democrat first?
I for one appreciate your reporting and don’t believe for a second you are a Chinese troll.
I was in Beijing in late May, early June, staying in a Hutong near the Drum Tower and saw minimal security. That of course is the thing with communist countries, you never know “who is security”. That being said, it doesn’t surprise me that as we get closer to 8/8/08 you see more public displays of security for a number of reasons.
If I could find the article, there was a good writeup on why train travel will never be tenable in the US as it is in Europe or Japan (in a word, distance).
Train travel might be good for a few "short-hop" routes -- LA to San Diego or Santa Barbara, Portland-Seattle, New York-Boston, that kind of thing.
But mass-transit in the US (including light rail) has typically needed gobs and gobs and oodles of taxpayer subsidies to work: and often, a disproportionate share of those on mass transit tend to be, well, what the press calls "youths" when they riot in Paris.
As far as the air travel, I think they put something in the water in the C-level suites at airlines and at US auto manufacturers. It's not deregulation, it's stupidity. And have you seen (sorry, I looked for > 10 min and couldn't find it) a story that many air carriers are forced to run short-hop routes with occupancy rates of 10-20% (e.g. Minneapolis to Mesabi, MN) in return for an (inadequate) subsidy, directly by Federal Law?
Cheers! Cheers!