We’re all in on the culture war now

    • rgb3x3@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      It’s straight out of the American conservative talking points book. Somehow, driving has been equated with freedom and not fully embracing driving over all other firms of transportation taking away individual freedom.

      How is it freedom to be forced to own a car, pay for gas and maintenance, and waste your life in car traffic every single day?

      It’s the dumbest talking point.

      • artaxadepressedhorse@lemmyngs.social
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        1 year ago

        Typical conservative strategy:

        • Public thing exists
        • Become a lead weight in government so public thing gets underfunded and cannot adapt to market changes.
        • Public thing no longer meets expectations.
        • “See? It should be privatized and you won’t have this issue”
        • Privatize thing. A few people make a crap load of money in the transition. Thing starts out acceptable for the first few years.
        • “Oh no, capitalism uses an infinite growth ponzi model. How do we increase shareholder value this year?”
        • Private thing gets underfunded and consumers get manipulated and abused.

        Are we winning yet?

      • Moyer1666@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Absolutely fucking not. Privatisation is literally the worst thing you could do. Do we really want some random assholes to own something we rely on and try to squeeze it for as much profit as possible? I don’t, fuck capitalism

      • Gabu@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Privatized public transportation rarely works. At most you’ll find some success stories of companies that partnered with a government to jointly service a transportation line.

        • Aux@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, it always works. Nationalised transport doesn’t work though.

          • Hadriscus@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Thanks for providing these examples. They completely changed my mind about public transportation privatization

            • Aux@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The example is across the channel - the whole of EU. And Japan as well. One must blind to think that nationalised transport can work.

              • Hadriscus@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                In France, nationalized transport worked for decades before rail was opened to private compagnies circa 2014 (would have to check exactly). Since then, no one has been able to afford a train ticket. You have no idea what you’re talking about

              • Elivey@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Japan literally has privatized roads and it’s kind of a nightmare. You have to pay tolls for nearly all highway transportation because it’s owned by 3 companies.

                Yeah, privatization is great…

      • Hadriscus@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Didn’t England already go through that, and wasn’t it a complete failure ? someone knowledgeable quick please

        • Tristano@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Relevant video: https://youtu.be/DlTq8DbRs4k?si=y-muiI81MKk3gin0

          Privatized railways are mostly failures most of the time. Besides Brightline, and I think a bunch of the Japanese railway companies, no nation really has privatized passenger rail. But I think the Japanese system has a weird setup.

          Actually, I think Italy and Germany have started allowing private companies to operate on their railways, but I think they need to fit it between the nationalized services. I could be wrong about that tho.

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I disagree. Aside from privately owned Brightline who already owns the land around their stations, owns their tracks, and has a lot of incentive to expand their coverage, I have not heard of a single other piece of privatized infrastructure that actually benefits the users or actively engages in expansion