Posts by Angus Robertson
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...is it really controversial to suggest that the overheated anti-government rhetoric of the last two years, with its often violent imagery, ought to be toned down? Really?
Rhetorically speaking it would be a whole lot less controversial if the phrase "the last two years" had been missing from the piece.
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The US could “win” by dropping hundreds of nuclear weapons on Iran’s military bases, nuclear facilities and industrial centres (i.e. cities) and killing five to ten million people, but short of that, nothing works.
Israel could win the same way.
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Matthew,
Your point (unless you have changed it) is that the workers of the CBD are highly productive. My point is that the productive workers of the CBD are highly renumerated for their productivity. Complimenting (not ignoring) your point. The idea of a rail tunnel through the Auckland CBD is disliked as paying assistance to the rich, well paid, productive workers of the CBD is disliked.
If the CBD loop was to be paid for by the beneficiaries of the CBD loop (through congestion charging/railway fares) then a lot of the antipathy would be reduced. And the added bonus is by using a congestion charge we will reduce congestion even more. Win, win.
And why does the rest of the country suck on Auckland’s road tax tit instead of paying for their own transport infrastructure? You know, since we’re playing the “If it benefits you, you should pay for it directly” game.
Basically, the rest of the country is poorer and Auckland is richer. To a large subsection of the electorate it is notional that richer people should help out poorer people.
The tunnel makes rail more useful, which reduces congestion, which benefits the regional economy and thus the national economy.
Will this benefit to the rest of the country arrive in some form trickling down effect?
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Matthew,
The richest people in any country are generally the most productive* (per capita). And you point out that they work in the CBD. I forsee antipathy in gifting rich people $2 billion plus in anything (including this train set). Mine is not a minority view.
If these rich people were to pay for the tunnel themselves through ticket prices and/or a congestion charge there would be a lot less resentment (afterall since they are "very productive people" they can obviously afford it). Instead the rich ask the rest of Auckland (or indeed the rest of NZ) to pay, through fuel taxes or road user charges or general funds.
* unless you count the last 3 years in which the bankers, insurance professionals, et al have managed to become epically unproductive. -
Personally, I find it very difficult to understand what seems not just reticence, but outright hostility towards funding a rail loop and a CBD tunnel. In my view, that’s the *least* possible work that can be done to build a viable long term transport system.
I am hostile to a rail loop -
1. Giving money to rich people is not inherently popular.
The CBD rail loop is an attempt to shovel money into the most over valued, expensive, ostentatious real estate in the country. Only the mega rich profit increasing the value of realestate downtown and they should not be catered for by providing yet more wasted infrastructure.
2. Why do we need a centalised transportation system? Why do we need a CBD?
A CBD uses office blocks and learning campuses to provide ease of communication and organisation amoung groups of people. Communication technologies are emerging to offer alternatives at decreasing prices. Peak Oil is coming, this means all commuting (not just motorways) is about to become more expensive.
Global warming is occuring and so efficiency is again key.
A CBD catered to by a centralised transportation system was a good mode for cities for the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. But we don't live there anymore.
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I think the extent in which the US wasn't hegemonic in the second half of the Seventies may be somewhat overstated.
The fall of Saigon, the Iranian revolution and then the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan all occured in that period.
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...a deep and consistent concern for whatever it is that would best enable the United States to continue its hegemony over the world.
In 1976 - 80 the USA did not have "hegemony over the world".
It’s hard to forget the entire cold war, but it does appeared to have happened.
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Incredibly in my research (and yes, I'm an Eng-Lit major) it is possible to get funding from the US Defence Department, they're quite happy to listen. And even if I couldn't see the military applications, maybe they could.
The primary "military" objective of the Pentagon is to get more and more money out of Washington. English Lit is more militarily useful than Aerospatial Engineering.
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The sight of a spotty adolescent carrying a sign that read simply PEACE was presumably too much for his patriotic sensibilities.
That, plus he could be pretty sure you weren't going to fight back.
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I believe the phrase American imperialism was coined back then, yes. I still have the literature.
I thought it originated during the late 19th century. How old are you exactly?