fresh

You make it sound like the American left pushes a lot of symbolic issues. Which ones are you thinking of?

Hot take: the American left loses on the material issues because it has lost on solidarity, symbolism, ideology. Don’t you know that healthcare and vacation days will “hurt the economy”? There are many poor working class people who still oppose Obamacare even though they directly benefit from it. The material gains matter a lot less if people reject the ideas behind them.

I’m not sure if the timing of Labor Day is important, but I wouldn’t underestimate the power of symbols.

These are good points. But I wonder if the longer life really comes from it being a general purpose computer per se. The points you make are more about the internet connectivity of the device. You can use a DOS machine in 2023 because it’s almost like an appliance. It works just as well now as a text editor as in the 90s. But an internet connected device has to be supported, and good enough for today’s processor intensive web apps. That general purpose DOS machine, like the first iPad, is never running Discord or Netflix.

Because they are a soulless profit-maximizing corporation, there will come a time when Apple stops supporting perfectly functioning iPads for no reason, but I’m not sure we’re there yet. The iPads they stopped supporting really do suck from a hardware perspective.

I agree the iPad is almost completely useless, but I don’t think comparing it to 13 years before the iPad is useful. My MacBook Air is 11 years old and it’s still great because it’s good enough to run YouTube, all the major websites, office suites, etc. It’s still getting security updates from Apple. I think that’s what 90% of people use a laptop for. A computer two years older than it, on the other hand, might be useless. It’s not really linear. Hopefully, iPads from 5 years ago can last over a decade.

The real holy grail would be all this open source. “Free for now” doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Your comment is refreshing to see. Economists across the spectrum, from left to right, agree that the gas tax is too low in Canada and the US. Here, for example, is an op-ed by an economist for the conservative National Taxpayer Union arguing against a gas tax holiday.

The US has the lowest gas tax in the developed world, but Canada is not far behind. Even BC has some of the cheapest gas in the developed world outside these two countries.

I have noticed secondhand stores are getting more expensive. In my area, it’s still way cheaper for adults than new. For children, it’s more of a crapshoot, but it’s still hands down cheaper for more expensive durable items like coats, jackets, etc.

It’s unfortunate that life is increasingly unaffordable, but it’s an absolute win if we as a society shift to buying second hand and reusing things more often. I wish it wouldn’t be considered so shameful. Kids clothes in thrift stores are often in near new condition. We live in such a wasteful consumer society.

What’s the baseline though? If only 10% of non-first movers in a new industry stay in business, being a first mover is still a comparative advantage.

I doubt the plowing is a big factor since we actually plow our bike lanes much less frequently than other cold countries like Finland and they paint their bike roads. Then again, you have a good point about paint being invisible because it gets covered in snow.

In Finland they use lamps above bike lanes to add colour and signage over the snow. I just think the gray asphalt makes it feel like the area is still for cars. That psychological effect is a huge part of good street design.

There is a car-free island off of Toronto with pristine roads. Take a look at around the 2-minute mark of this Not Just Bikes video.

This is also why university campuses, which have tons of pedestrian pavement, aren't full of potholes every spring. Same with outdoor malls, amusement parks, and on and on. The freeze thaw doesn't help, but it isn't the main problem.

That’s because they’re driven on by cars. Pavement can last decades without potholes and only minimal repainting if it’s for pedestrians and bikes. That’s one of the reasons why car infrastructure is the most expensive transportation infrastructure possible. Cars are a huge drain on taxes.

Many vacancy taxes already exist all around the world. There is not a single one that taxes normal short vacancies. It is just false that this increases costs for all landlords. The vast VAST majority of landlords will never pay it.

On the other hand, the increase in supply due to the tax can be noticeable, which has a much bigger effect lowering prices.