Climate change, to the extent that it is human-caused is a global commons. The Prisoners' Dilemma indicates the futility of individual action. The chart below (from The Economist) shows that in recent years, the U.S. has been an over-achiever reducing carbon emissions. China and India are under-achievers.
Why, then, the California Bullet Train? Perhaps it will never get built. If it does, it will have huge costs and offer negligible benefits. If it does not, huge sums will have been wasted. The State's public pension commitments are underfunded. The roads are potted. Public spaces are the domain of the homeless.
You do not have to visit the U.K, France, Greece, etc. to see the consequences government by out-of-touch elites. But do read about the clueless here, there, and everywhere in Martin Gurri's The Revolt of the Public. Elites are may still think Bootleggers and Baptists but in the age of the internet, locking in legacies the old-fashioned way may not work. When elites get clobbered, they apparently revert to Manchurian-candidate-from-Russia fantasies. Any self-awareness is missing.
Why, then, the California Bullet Train? Perhaps it will never get built. If it does, it will have huge costs and offer negligible benefits. If it does not, huge sums will have been wasted. The State's public pension commitments are underfunded. The roads are potted. Public spaces are the domain of the homeless.
You do not have to visit the U.K, France, Greece, etc. to see the consequences government by out-of-touch elites. But do read about the clueless here, there, and everywhere in Martin Gurri's The Revolt of the Public. Elites are may still think Bootleggers and Baptists but in the age of the internet, locking in legacies the old-fashioned way may not work. When elites get clobbered, they apparently revert to Manchurian-candidate-from-Russia fantasies. Any self-awareness is missing.
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