Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

Re:Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in... by twblalock on Wednesday October 21, 2020 @09:26PM (#24854063)

This is why I'm against increasing taxes in the USA. Europeans get more per tax dollar than we do. In the USA, we just waste the money. Europeans pay a bit more than we do, but they get a lot more back in terms of transit, health care, social safety net, etc. If our government can't use the money more efficiently, it shouldn't get even more.

Last time I rode on Amtrak it was absolutely depressing. Same with Caltrain and BART. The problem is not money -- other countries do more with less money. The problem is governance.

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Re:Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in... by sneak on Wednesday October 21, 2020 @09:36PM (#24854105)

The big reason is because the US spends an amount of money equivalent to Jeff Bezos’ entire net worth (~200B USD) every 80 days on its military.

Amtrak’s annual revenue is less than 4B USD.

On that basis, I agree with you wholeheartedly. It would be nice to use some of that massive amount of money for infrastructure, versus funneling it to a dozen companies who exist solely to consume as much of it as possible.

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Re:Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in... by onepointsixC on Thursday October 22, 2020 @04:46PM (#24863110)

DOD spending is ~15% of the total budget. Blaming defense expenditure when 85% of the US total budget is not defense expenditure is an unconvincing argument.

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Re:Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in... by martinald on Thursday October 22, 2020 @05:19AM (#24856194)

This isn't as true as you think it is.

Social security is often a lot, lot better in the US than Europe. Take the UK:

UK unemployment 'benefits' are around $100/week regardless of previous salary (so low compared to housing costs in many areas that it is almost pointless). US state unemployment benefits tend to be a lot higher than that.

UK pensions are low - around $10,000/yr, again regardless of salary. US Social Security pensions are vastly higher.

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Re:Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in... by twblalock on Thursday October 22, 2020 @01:30PM (#24860613)

However, the UK government will give pensioners somewhere to live, for free. In the US they can become homeless if they do not have family to rely on.

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