Horrible article and worse headline, that trivializes a serious issue.

1. There is no “insolvent”. There really isn’t even the concept
2. There is a serious increase in debt that we ought to do something about (like by cutting the recent tax breaks for wealthy)
3. Social security and Medicare are underfunded, but it’s stupid to add a “75 year liability” to the current year and complain about how big it is. It’s like 80% funded by tax revenue over that 75 years and certainly not due this year

That may be true and is certainly a well known concern …. Yet given the US government’s recent history, I have a hard time believing much of what they say

Cheap Chinese routers as a risk being true doesn’t prevent it from also being true that the current us administration is full of shit and likely more concerned about enriching someone connected to them, or tilt at windmills

All true, but where are the headlines of Chinese companies setting up second and third shifts to crank out as many as possible solar panels and EVs to take advantage of this? Good for their profits == good for our environment

That’s a really dangerous thought. Certainly no nation should have nukes, but increasing the number who have them just makes it more likely they’ll be used. Civilizational survival is more important than fairness here.

We survived the Cold War because of “Mutually Assured Destruction” and no one in their right mind would let this happen. But it came down to one person disobeying an order at least once. It would be insane to trust the survival of civilization on this assumption

It would be “mad” to multiply the number of ways we can destroy ourselves and believe MAD will save us

It’s easier because I can make the decision myself and I can do it without much planning or coordination. I replace my car periodically anyway, so there may be no real difference (in my case my ice car was nine years old and I needed something for my teens to use, so an EV was the logical choice)

Modifying a city for walkability takes many years, decades, even assuming everyone else agrees, politicians are supportive, and there is some sort of budget. We can’t afford to just wait for the ideal solution

We’re probably more city. While it’s effectively a suburb to a major city, it was built out pre-car with a nice walkable downtown with larger buildings and a central business district, including the train/bus station. A small city

While there’s parking, it’s all pay, and all signed for no overnight. While there’s enough parking within a few blocks, the train/bus station used to fill up by 8am. It’s not expensive, $3.50/day in my town, but no overnight parking makes it tough.

I was annoyed when even our library started charging for parking, but they have a small lot and complained it was filled up with people looking for cheap parking for the day

The point would be to remove/recover street parking for more important uses. Especially in older urban neighborhoods you might have really narrow streets, no room for bicycle or bus lanes. This lets you compromise: car is still possible for those who need it, but less convenient so used less, neighborhood streets have reduced traffic and can be opened for cycling or pedestrians

I’d regularly walk my dogs through on a 3 mile loop; we became regulars at a couple bars and one of the pet stores… until my girl became crippled in the hind legs

This is painful to read. Mine is turning 9 years old, which is getting up there for her breed. This past year she’s been noticeably slowing down after about three miles - this past week I tried a longer walk and she just gave up after 3.4 miles …… we didn’t even get to the pet store

Edit: and the pet store no longer carries “Frosty Paws” so I don’t know what we’re going to do this summer

It’s even the basic things, like sidewalks. If you never use a sidewalk, why waste money on them? I have neighbors who never clear their snow because “no one uses the sidewalks) (despite all the footprints from people who do). There are too many places without sidewalks and no one cares.

Then of course, the effing cars. In the last few years of more frequent walking places

• I’ve almost gotten hit by someone cutting a corner across the sidewalk
• I’ve almost gotten hit many times bu cars ignoring the crossing signal
• I’ve almost gotten hit many times by cars pulling up fast to a red light and into the crosswalk
• I’ve almost gotten hit many times by cars taking “right on red” without stopping (legally require) or looking around the corner
• almost every time I walk somewhere is inconvenienced by someone parking on the sidewalk

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I believe walking is such an alien concept that they’re just not aware of issues like these

Look for an older town, built out before cars.

I have a lot of that where I live

• walkable downtown, centered on a train station - settled since 1600s, bedroom community of a major city
• first zone for single family homes so I do have a small yard/driveway/basement yet still walkable to center of town
• I got one of the “new” houses, built in 1946 out of very solid materials, with a usable basement, yard, and driveway. For example, my own EV charging
• just a few blocks away is a sizable reservation of undeveloped land and a six mile loop of ridge trail - we occasionally get coyotes that presumably live there

Here they just loosened restrictions, so wood framed buildings can be built to six stories …. Now you’ll be able to hear all 500 of your neighbors stomping around, but at least it will be cheaper to build, right?

Note: a lot of the initial resistance was fire safety in large buildings. Sure enough the first six story wood framed apartment block in my town burned to the ground. I know that’s just one example and I don’t know enough to have an opinion on that, but makes you think

Even when we have a corner store it may be useless. I was excited when my neighborhood got one and I tried to develop a habit of using it. But this “inconvenience “ store was useless. They’re really only interested in selling cigarettes and lottery tickets. Good riddance

Friend of mine got divorced and had to move out of her family home. She ended up in a nice apartment in a huge building, but with giant strides on all sides. It’s an island of inaccessibility

Maybe some people don’t want to live very restaurant. I feel like that would be one of the first choices rejected.

I am happy with my small house, small yard, walkable town.

• yard was big enough for toddlers to play, and parks are nearby for when kids got older
• yard is big enough for a nice deck and grill
• just enough separation that I’m Not disturbing anyone when my dog barks or I use power tools
• BASEMENT!!! the most important room of the house
• and yes, off street parking where I have my own charger is nice

Hopefully they got action items out of it - what do they need to work on.

Personally I loved the freedom of not having to deal with a car on a daily basis, but there was too much I couldn’t do.

One of the shortcomings that seems to surprise people is a lack of long term car storage. There will be an extended transition where many people can not give up their cars or think they cannot. Why not help with that? At one point I was driving my car mostly to move it for street cleaning because there was no permanent place to store it. We want the cars off the street to make room for more important road users. Garages in apartment blocks are too convenient and for-profit garages too expensive

You’ll get more people willing to try car-free if you give them a slightly inconvenient place to store their car, until they realize how little they need to use it. I wonder if making it cheap and easy to leave your car at a park and ride at the end of a transit line would work

I would have thought the whole point of suspenders is no belt. Instead of a belt pulled tight around your waist enough to hold up your pants and everything you carry, let yourself breath a bit, loose and comfy

Cargo pants. Suspenders really need to go with cargo pants so you can carry all your tools 😂

Fwiw, any place that alters pants can add them cheaply. Then again, I only used them with suit pants that needed alterations anyway

I went through a suspenders phase when I was wearing suits on a regular basis. They’re both comfortable and another way to flash a little color when men’s fashion is so boring.

But it never occurred to me that you could wear them with other types of pants. Can you? These days I regularly wear khakis: are they appropriate? How about jeans?

Cambridge is like 30 years ahead of this. They are a model for the rest of us