The fleecings of America

[Pepsei]

John Stossel Takes on Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior


link

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
John Stossel Takes on Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior


link

John Stossel is my hero. This is an awesome article! I actually heard a radio program from him about all this stuff - very insightful!

 

[spiderrasmon]

is it really plural? I always thought it was just one fleecing....

oh well...

SPIDER!

 

[FoBoT]

Stossel is a good guy, Dan Rather isn't worthy to carry his jock strap

 

[vi edit]

Myth #1 - Media is liberal?

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Myth #1 - Media is liberal?

More than likely.

Good article for the most part, except for his slam of Portland, which was very inaccurate IMO. I have a rather large backyard in town and I'm not "rich". And with limited sprawl, you can live out in the country without having to have a 2 hour commute. Sure, the new developments are built on top of each other, but isn't it like that everywhere?

 

[FoBoT]

i don't like the way portland has done things, but if you want to see a sprawled out city (for good or bad,i don't know), come out to kansas city

i live 40 miles east of the city, some of my coworkers live 50 miles south
for its population, this has to be one of the most spread out metropolitan areas in the country

but our traffic is much better than portland, i might drive farther, but i don't take any longer since i am actually moving instead of stuck/stop and go and all that

i moved way out to get into a small rural school district for my kids and to get a cheap but big house on some land, the price i pay in gas/time is worth it for now. after my kids are out of school, we'll re-evaluate

 

[SP33Demon]

If you think outsourcing is bad, read this article. Like I've sayin for years, outsourcing only improves our economy. Anyone who took Micro should know this.

 

[Amused]

Great article!!

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i don't like the way portland has done things, but if you want to see a sprawled out city (for good or bad,i don't know), come out to kansas city

i live 40 miles east of the city, some of my coworkers live 50 miles south
for its population, this has to be one of the most spread out metropolitan areas in the country

but our traffic is much better than portland, i might drive farther, but i don't take any longer since i am actually moving instead of stuck/stop and go and all that

i moved way out to get into a small rural school district for my kids and to get a cheap but big house on some land, the price i pay in gas/time is worth it for now. after my kids are out of school, we'll re-evaluate

Take a look at phoenix. It sprawls out about 50 miles north to south and almost 75 miles east to west.

It's huge.

 

[Queasy]

I'm all aboard with Stossel over public schools. It's an absolute joke that politicians and other leaders keep pushing bad government schools on parents without another option unless the parents are upper-middle class while they merrily send their kids to elite private schools.

Atlanta city schools are at the top of spending per pupil and at the bottom in producing results. They almost single-handidly pull the entire state of Georgia down to the bottom of the state education rankings.

 

[FoBoT]

Phoenix's population is much more than KC too
Phoenix ~3,251,876
KC ~1,776,062
Portland ~2,265,223

 

[beer]

His arguments on Urban Sprawl are weak, at best. Urban sprawl is bad for a number of reasons - people spending that much time in their cars are statistically more obese, and that is a public health problem. Urban sprawl also prevents efficient mass transit, such as that in NYC or Boston, from being feasible options to reduce vehicular traffic, and that ends up creating pollution which is also a public health problem.

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
If you think outsourcing is bad, read this article. Like I've sayin for years, outsourcing only improves our economy. Anyone who took Micro should know this.

I agree.

Anyone who thinks increasing minimum wage helps workers are also talking out of their ass.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i don't like the way portland has done things, but if you want to see a sprawled out city (for good or bad,i don't know), come out to kansas city

i live 40 miles east of the city, some of my coworkers live 50 miles south
for its population, this has to be one of the most spread out metropolitan areas in the country

but our traffic is much better than portland, i might drive farther, but i don't take any longer since i am actually moving instead of stuck/stop and go and all that

i moved way out to get into a small rural school district for my kids and to get a cheap but big house on some land, the price i pay in gas/time is worth it for now. after my kids are out of school, we'll re-evaluate

The metro area populations of KC and Portland are almost the same, both a little of 2 million people, with Portland just slighty larger IIRC.
In contrast, Portland spreads out roughly just less than 25 miles from its downtown core in all directions (except NW).
The traffic issue is more about geography (we're not as flat as Kansas and Missouri!), and the need to upgrade and widen more of the highways here, something they are finally working on. Commuters from Vancouver, WA are probably always going to have major traffic problems because of the issues with the ancient drawbridge across the Columbia, which neither Oregon nor Washington want to replace.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: beer
His arguments on Urban Sprawl are weak, at best. Urban sprawl is bad for a number of reasons - people spending that much time in their cars are statistically more obese, and that is a public health problem. Urban sprawl also prevents efficient mass transit, such as that in NYC or Boston, from being feasible options to reduce vehicular traffic, and that ends up creating pollution which is also a public health problem.

Forcing people to do what they don't want to is a far bigger crime than anything you just mentioned.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: beer
His arguments on Urban Sprawl are weak, at best. Urban sprawl is bad for a number of reasons - people spending that much time in their cars are statistically more obese, and that is a public health problem. Urban sprawl also prevents efficient mass transit, such as that in NYC or Boston, from being feasible options to reduce vehicular traffic, and that ends up creating pollution which is also a public health problem.

STFU city boy.

Some of us happen to enjoy the country.

 

[JDub02]

Stossel for elite.

 

[Pepsei]

Originally posted by: JDub02
Stossel for elite.

:thumbsup:

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: beer
His arguments on Urban Sprawl are weak, at best. Urban sprawl is bad for a number of reasons - people spending that much time in their cars are statistically more obese, and that is a public health problem. Urban sprawl also prevents efficient mass transit, such as that in NYC or Boston, from being feasible options to reduce vehicular traffic, and that ends up creating pollution which is also a public health problem.

Forcing people to do what they don't want to is a far bigger crime than anything you just mentioned.

No, it's a public health issue when you let development run rampant like in Houston and your city has so many problems it's unbearable to go anywhere because of traffic. Houston is far bigger and worse in sprawl than Phoenix and KC, and that reflects in the statistics of the city, namely 'the fattest city of america', one of the longest commutes, etc. When you can't even go outside for three months out of the year because of the pressure-cooker type environment pollution has left, its a BIG health issue.

Civil leaders have the right to zone their cities such that the demands of its current citizens can be met at the expense of future citzens. That's how most things work. If a city wants to end all cosntruction within its city borders beyond a certain point, it has that right.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: beer
His arguments on Urban Sprawl are weak, at best. Urban sprawl is bad for a number of reasons - people spending that much time in their cars are statistically more obese, and that is a public health problem. Urban sprawl also prevents efficient mass transit, such as that in NYC or Boston, from being feasible options to reduce vehicular traffic, and that ends up creating pollution which is also a public health problem.

Forcing people to do what they don't want to is a far bigger crime than anything you just mentioned.

No, it's a public health issue when you let development run rampant like in Houston and your city has so many problems it's unbearable to go anywhere because of traffic. Houston is far bigger and worse in sprawl than Phoenix and KC, and that reflects in the statistics of the city, namely 'the fattest city of america', one of the longest commutes, etc. When you can't even go outside for three months out of the year because of the pressure-cooker type environment pollution has left, its a BIG health issue.

Civil leaders have the right to zone their cities such that the demands of its current citizens can be met at the expense of future citzens. That's how most things work. If a city wants to end all cosntruction within its city borders beyond a certain point, it has that right.

Great. Let's nanny everyone because they cannot be trusted to live their lives the way they want to.

This is the fascism of the nanny-state. Orwell almost had it right. It should have been named "Big Mother."

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Pepsei

Originally posted by: JDub02
Stossel for elite.

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Myth #1 - Media is liberal?

More than likely.

Good article for the most part, except for his slam of Portland, which was very inaccurate IMO. I have a rather large backyard in town and I'm not "rich". And with limited sprawl, you can live out in the country without having to have a 2 hour commute. Sure, the new developments are built on top of each other, but isn't it like that everywhere?

No, Houston is not like that at all. It also explains why I can get 1.5 acres and 3600 sq ft for $350K.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Amused
Great. Let's nanny everyone because they cannot be trusted to live their lives the way they want to.

This is the fascism of the nanny-state. Orwell almost had it right. It should have been named "Big Mother."

When the decisions of others impact my health in such a way that it clearly takes years off my life, yes, they had better do something about it.

 

[torpid]

The anti-sprawl arguments above are hilarious. Really, thanks for a good laugh.

I never thought someone would be so preposterous as to offer eliminating urban sprawl as a way of making people lose weight.