Media Can’t Stop Presenting Horrifying Stories as ‘Uplifting’ Perseverance Porn

Re:Media Can’t Stop Presenting Horrifying Stories as ‘Uplift... by rayiner on Sunday August 18, 2019 @04:33PM (#20732628)

Sure, cities can’t make up for federal labor laws. But they should be able to run basic municipal services, like schools, transit, etc., that in other countries are overwhelmingly paid for by municipal and local governments.

Median household income in Baltimore is about double that of Spain or Italy. Median household of African American households in Baltimore, though much less than that of white households in the city, is still about as much as Spain or Italy. There is an ample tax base there to support good municipal services if the government was capable of doing so efficiently.

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Re:Media Can’t Stop Presenting Horrifying Stories as ‘Uplift... by digitaltrees on Monday August 19, 2019 @06:51PM (#20742502)

Economics usually work in ratios not absolute dollars. Comparing services in Spain and Baltimore can only go so far as the cost of those service have drastically different inputs and those inputs may comprise very different ratios making the unit economics worse in what otherwise appears to be a wealthier area.

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Re:Media Can’t Stop Presenting Horrifying Stories as ‘Uplift... by rayiner on Sunday August 18, 2019 @06:40PM (#20733417)

(I should clarify—I’m not trying to diminish the magnitude of the problem that black households have half the income of white households in Baltimore. That’s a separate issue from whether Baltimore’s tax base is sufficient to support decent public services—somehow, Spain and Italy make due with less.)

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