People in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, L.A. etc, get themselves into these situations by buying new construction on the edge of the city thinking that the traffic on the expressways can't possibly get any worse. They then realize several years later that it has, in fact. The open secret is that their lifestyle choices are what's causing it.

My point is that you are not entitled to both your McMansion enclave and your cushy software engineering position at Big Corp. Denser development (in the U.S.) is necessary and would be achieved if people were willing to pay for it and vote for it.

Instead, they do the worst possible thing, which is imagine they can live a pseudo-bucolic existence and not be members of the urban center, or at least old growth dense suburbs, that actually support the jobs they want to have.

Is this pathology uniquely American? No, but arguably we invented it and have taken it to the most extreme level.

You've got absolutely no idea what kind of home this individual lives in or their personal situation or why they're commuting that far. You're criticising them for something you've imagined.

Let's imagine for a second you're correct that they are commuting from one relatively underdeveloped area to another.

That's still totally unrealistic in the modern economy. I get it. All of you that have kids and a settled life want to flip the table and make yourselves as unavailable as possible. No more mentorship of younger engineers and new team members. No more face to face planning and strategy. No more conferences, after-work networking, etc.

It's selfish. You're going to be proven wrong by those who are willing to show up, collaborate, and innovate. We're going to run circles around you and leave your failing businesses in the dust.

!remindme 1 decade.