Let’s just stop making random excuses, how about that?

The cities in the US that have the highest mass transit ridership per capita are generally actually small, not particularly dense, and not exactly wealthy.

Actually, they were at 15% before. China bumped them to 40% in retaliation to Trump’s moves. Now they’re back at 15% temporarily.

They had higher tariffs on larger displacement engines, but those aren’t dropping to 15% - just back to their previous levels.

How has this had a positive impact?

Tariff levels are simply going back to what they were before he started a trade war, and only on a select few products.  We haven’t received ANY concessions from China, but they now have a stronger negotiating position...

Put in another way, Luxembourg is about 50% bigger than Houston, but with only 1/4th the population.  Since mass transit naysayers insist population density is why mass transit will never work here while it can in Europe, this could be interesting - a country with 1/6th the density of a US city that is heavily…

Who really thinks his plan is working?  We’re no better off now than before he started the trade war.  Some tariffs are back to where they were, but we’ve handed China a stronger negotiating position than they would have had if Trump hadn’t gone through with his lunacy.

Not really. The concept of a “low tax state” is generally a bunch of crap that focuses on the top marginal rates. States still get their money, its just a question of how. Tennessee’s tax structure is one of the most regressive in the country. The bottom 20% on average pay 10.8% of their income in state and local…

I’d love to see what they think they could accomplish by forcing a breakup of Google. You can’t break a search engine into multiple companies, so you get what, separating search from maps? Separate search from smart phones?

What exactly would that accomplish?  You’d have the same search algorithm leading to the same…

Realistically, it ends up being in perpetuity.

Plant buildings are cheap. The equipment in them isn’t. They’ll be back for more tax breaks before you know it. Hell, the Ford plant down the road from my house is 60 years old. In the past 15 years, it’s had $200 million, $600 million, and then $900 million poured into…

They’re blowing smoke up your <censored> if they’re telling you they care about individual income tax rates. Businesses only care about what they pay.

The point of education ratings is that while the one change is good, saying they’re doing a good job with education and higher education in particular is incorrect. …

It can always get better

   -  Gordon Gecko

It isn’t even outright scaling back of production in some cases. Look at Ford. It isn’t so much an overcapacity problem as it is a capacity allocation problem.

Take Flat Rock.  They build the Mustang and the Continental and are running at about 40% of capacity, I would estimate.  On the other hand, Chicago Assembly is…

Old John Stewart quote after Blagojevich was convicted (making it 4 of the previous 7 governors having gone to prison):

“That means if you’re sitting in a room and to the left of you is a former governor of Illinois, and to the right of you is a former governor of Illinois, odds are that room is PRISON”.

Sadly, though,…

Businesses almost never choose locations based on what taxes their employees face. It’s what taxes the *business* faces - and Tennessee is more than happy to throw massive taxpayer subsidies at manufacturers to drive that cost to zero. Individuals still get hit with high taxes, particularly for low income individuals.…

“And you’re correct, Tennessee, along with Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina (all with large auto plants), have traditionally been non-union. It’s why the South has really taken over as far as car manufacturing has gone”

Actually, its been the state subsidies, not unions. Mercedes received ~$200,000 in state…

First off, closed shops have been illegal nationwide since 1947.

And the domestic manufacturers have not really “diversified to southern states” at all.

Here’s a list of Ford factories opened in the south (or “right to work” states since 1947):

Atlanta Assembly (1947)
Sheffield Aluminum (1958)

That’s it. And here’s a list…

Nothing can stop them from doing that.

But these aren’t just “wrench turning monkeys” no matter what the anti-union crowd tells you.  They’d see a huge cost to find and hire that many workers, and training them would take forever.  It’s cheaper and better for all parties to find and amicable agreement.

“Union membership has increasingly been catalyzed by recent layoffs at both Ford and GM.”

Umm, while Ford has announced layoffs, they’ve stated it will be 1,400 salaried positions, and haven’t announced anything on the hourly side, nor any plans to close any plants represented by the UAW.

I’m not talking yellow signs. These are actual speed limits at 45 - even though you can easily go faster. I’m just floored that everyone who wipes out going around the curve manages to end up in the pond on the inside of the curve.

Well, in the 80s, 55 was the speed limit on most interstates, not a minimum speed (which is actually 45 most places now, but you’re reckless if you’re doing that in anything but awful weather).

I think they all try to maximize EPA sticker ratings, which would mean tuning for 50-55 mph.  But I think they also realize…

The best part is the curves on the road. You can EASILY take them at 65-70mph, despite the speed limit dropping to 45 at that spot. Most people actually abide by the speed limit there - but here’s the mindboggling bit. There’s a retention pond on the inside of the curve. You NEVER see accidents where someone has slid…