Let’s just forget about that dumb Brexit-thing honestly and bring the UK back into the EU. They can even keep a few of their exceptions they had before as far as I’m concerned - the focus should be on strengthening the union and having the UK in it will do just that.

Same, but also apps

Electric buses should generally be trolleybuses, I think.

Even better - make most of them trams

I agree there, I have no patience for trying to make shit builds work.

Being able to win with shit jokers is a skill in itself. Remember that people beat this thing jokerless

I wholeheartedly support culinarily disrespecting Italians, honestly.

Dudes trying to convince us that they are presenting ancient traditions when their precious dishes are invented in like the 60s

Fuck him up

+ forced recession on track for depression

I’ve managed to set up Summit to be close enough to the RiF-experience. Probably even a bit better.

Summit, it’s the best.

There’s potential for mitigating some of the negative impacts using a mixed approach, although I’m not convinced it’s going to be straightforward or even worthwhile.

Please refer to the section about the negative effects of reducing property taxes.

They are most likely running an A/B test on exactly those metrics.

We’ll know if it’s successful if they roll it out in the end.

Using retirees as a tool to work against property taxes has historically been an effective strategy, but it’s important to remember:

1. What we’re actually trying to accomplish
2. Will the proposed change be effective in accomplishing the goal
3. Will the change have other consequences that are negative to the extent where the potential benefits outweigh the consequences in aggregate
4. Are there any alternative means to accomplish the original goal

One-by-one:

What we’re actually trying to accomplish

Seems to me that the root question is one of housing affordability, in particular for retirees, who may have a lot of assets, but limited cash flow

Will the proposed change be effective in accomplishing the goal

Reducing/capping property taxes does indeed make it easier for some retirees to keep affording their homes, but reducing property taxes makes real estate a more lucrative investment, driving up the overall prices of real estate. This applies for both private persons intending to use the property to live in, for private persons looking seek rent, and corporate actors doing the same. Messing with property taxes is a large part of the housing affordability issue present in many places in the U.S and elsewhere (zoning laws being another major contributor, in particular those mandating single family homes, and lack of public housing being the other major contributor). Hence, this change would only benefit those lucky enough to have purchased a home in the past, at the expense of all retirees not already that lucky, which are now less likely to be able to do so.

Will the change have other consequences that are negative to the extent where the potential benefits outweigh the consequences in aggregate

Apart from driving up the prices of real estate for other retirees, everyone else interested in purchasing a home will also feel this broad increase in prices. This has led to large swaths of the population being effectively priced out of home ownership. This has the second order effect of making owning rentals more lucrative, as higher rents can be charged, further exacerbating the larger problem of housing affordability, but now also for even poorer people.

Finally, reductions in real estate taxes limit what public services can be funded through their use. In the U.S, this primarily means schools, infrastructure, firefighting, transit etc, all of which are suffering a lot in quality, much as a consequence of having messed with property taxes in the past.

There’s a very, very strong case to be made that the consequences have very much outweighed the benefits in this scenario. I would even say that they have been devastating, being part of the root cause of a large amount of issues seen today.

Are there any alternative means to accomplish the original goal

There clearly are good means to tackle this problem in other ways, the principal of which I believe should be massive public investment in social housing. By building a huge supply of high quality homes affordable to everyone, we make sure no one will have to be forced to go without an acceptable home, regardless of whether they are retired or not.

The second strategy should be to entirely remove the kind of zoning laws that have contributed to the kind of increase in housing prices seen today - mandating that only single family homes should be allowed to be built on massive lots with low utilization is hugely harmful to housing affordability.

These two measures would address housing prices having gone up in the way they have historically, which would also lead to property taxes not rising in such a dramatic fashion.

What should never be done, however, is reducing or capping property taxes.

True? Yes, to a point. Climate solution? No.

An affordance would need to be in place to counteract that effect, yes.

What I’d like to see in place of a direct energy subsidy would be a program to upgrade the heating infrastructure in each home to highly energy efficient variants, thus reducing the energy demands for the occupant and simultaneously addressing issues of grid energy consumption and emissions.

I’m talking about upgrades to insulation and the installation of heat pumps. The heat pumps could even perform double duty by being reversible so that they can provide air conditioning in warm months, further saving lives, at the expense of negating some of the reduction in energy consumption.

Best option: avoid taxis and ride shares like the plague and use transit as often as you can

40 km/h outside school hours is probably fine.

The other option would be a road diet to not make the perceived speed to be slow at 30 km/h, but this is not a terrible compromise as is.

I don’t. She’s the one who delayed the implementation of congestion pricing because she was scared that the Democrats would lose some suburban votes. Were it not for her betrayal, congestion pricing would have been live for 6 more months, and probably built some more resilience against this attack.