Firefighters work to contain The Mosquito Fire in Ramsey Crossing, California. Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Comments

1

The week without driving starts the same week as major cuts to bus routes. That tracks.

2

Aren’t most mammals treat-motivated?

4

Enjoy these final decades of private transportation freedom before far left commie-socialism solidifies. Enjoy driving your car as much as you can.

5

@ 3,

This explanation is from an economics blog that I follow. Also important to note that every major economy is experiencing this along with spiking inflation:

"The labor participation rate keeps declining, as unemployment declines per its rather restrictive definition; and jobs go unfilled causing bizarre kinks in our economy.

1,000,000 Americans died of COVID, of which at least a third had jobs. Somewhere between 5,000,000-7,000,000 Americans are permanently incapacitated. At least a third of them had jobs. 7,000,000 Americans who had jobs, took early Social Security; more than the usual number over that timespan. Immigration dried up.

So between one thing and another, there are about 11,000,000 empty jobs. Some of them never needed to have been filled in the first place. Many of them have been claimed by people moving up, leaving the lower-tier jobs the vacant ones.

Our economy had shifted almost completely into "Just In Time" inventory management, which is actually a capital management program primarily. It offshores the costs of inventory to suppliers, and requires that nothing ever go wrong with weather, energy, transportation or labor.

Plus, for capital reasons, there's no excess capacity in our economy any more. Everything has to run at 97% capacity in the best of times, so if anything at all goes wrong, there's no way to fill a gap.

It's a very brittle system at the best of times, and can't deal with a crisis. We're still in a crisis; not just from COVID but now a crisis of our political class. Meanwhile, things that need to get done aren't getting done, because the lowest tier of labor to get things done simply isn't there.

The ownership class senses that they can no longer just assume workers will take any ol' job, regardless of pay or conditions. They hate that. So into the brittle state of the economy, and our various ongoing crises; the ownership class demands a finance-driven recession to crush labor and restore the balance of leverage in employment to the employer, since it's swung toward the employee recently."

6

Someone should tell raindrop about bicycles. He'll never believe it coming from me.

7

@raindrop, some people CANT drive a car. Thus the Disability Washington focus. Also some people are kinda mentally challenged to read the things they're commenting about.

9

"The ownership class senses that they can no longer just assume workers will take any ol' job, regardless of pay or conditions. They hate that."

No, more like small business (like your favorite Thai or Italian restaurant) are having a terrible time finding staff and are trying to raise wages as much as possible while staying in business.

10

@8: Interestingly, you acknowledge my sentiment by noting that silly exception.

11

@7, see @10.

13

@5, I saw an additional bit of insight a couple months ago from a labor statistician saying that, due to population trends and birthrates, we were already at the very start of having significant staffing issues just prior to the pandemic. So these troubles were already on the horizon and covid acted as a massive catalyst by taking out a big amount of the existing work force.

15

Oh yeah, the ol' sitting in traffic retort. Weak sauce.

17

Go to Amsterdam and then shut the fuck up about cars and freedom. Real freedom is being able to get anywhere, efficiently, without the need to drive a car.

18

The Bolt Fire is an odd one. Yesterday, for the 1st time since it started, I could actually see Baring Mtn. from my house. It's still hazy, but I'd expect to see a plume? It may not be contained, but it doesn't appear to be raging.

Congrats to the hostage freed from the Haqqani Network. Biden continues to make the tough choices a US President should.

21

"terrier/pit bull mix"? Uh, a pit bull is a terrier, Matt. The breed name is American Pit Bull Terrier.

22

All of the comments on twitter about the arrest of the assailant are "acab", how horrible the police are, etc etc. He assaulted at FedEx driver. He was stealing. Why does anyone have sympathy for him? How is this even related to him being a POC? Does being a POC mean he can do anything he wants with no repercussions? Amazing the mental gymnastics of some people. "How could they arrest him in front of his children!" How could he assault someone in front of his children!!!!

25

@22 that's expected, Twitter is a cesspool. What's really disappointing (but honestly not surprising) is Matt choosing to amplify a tweet that is clearly misinformation and only designed to inflame anti police rhetoric. When TS continues to do stuff like this it continues to undermine their credibility on any public safety issues. I guess you got to play to what the base wants though and TS definitely needs those clicks.

26

@ 19,

“My gawd it’s a total mystery why we’re all careening into mass poverty even though there’s lists online of the thirty or so billionaires that keep getting richer and totally control the Republinazi party and half the Demonrats in our completely rigged, genocidal racist kleptocracy. We’re all so fucking dumb!!!!!!11!!!11!!”

—obtuse white America

27

@17 -- Exactly. The amazing thing is that driving is actually better there, because fewer people feel like they have to drive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RRE2rDw4k

@19 -- The ownership class is not easily defined. In that sense it is similar to the "middle class", or the "working class". I would say that it in reference to the article, it is people who have a lot of wealth (not counting their house). The number of people in this class are pretty small, but they have a disproportionate amount of power (because of that wealth).

28

@18 -- Yes, the Bolt fire is an usual fire. It is a west side fire. Rarely do west side fires grow very fast, or get very big. This one did because the winds were unusually dry, hot and strong. It was like a blow drier right before the fire started and during the first day or so. Then the winds stopped. We have had more normal weather since then. The winds are blowing from the east, but not as strong (hot or dry). We got a little bit of moisture in between as well. So now it is acting like a typical west side fire, in that it will smolder a bit, but not have the huge plume. At least not today. It may get pretty big over the next couple days, if offshore winds get strong.

29

I finally figured out a way to navigate the "healthy streets". I ignore them. No one cares.

I drive carefully, I share the road, Blah blah blah, but I got places to go. And like it or not, Lake Washington Blvd is a major N/S arterial.

32

@26: You seem to get away with your hyperbole and projection so much more than I do with mine, what's your secret?

33

Fun fact: Joseph Kennedy was never fired in the first place.

34

RE: week without driving. I have far more sympathy for the handicapped and elderly trying to navigate the hilly terrain of Seattle via foot, wheelchair, walker or crutches. Ever watch an elderly person with a walker try to beat the right of way pedestrian light - it's a nail biter given how long the light gives them and impatient drivers waiting to turn right. I wouldn't blame anyone in this category for using Uber, taxi or having a friend drop them off right at their destination at the DOOR via automobile.

35

@29, Lake Washington Boulevard is a major arterial? Really? Along the section they want to close, there’s a lake on one side with a bunch of parks and giant single-family homes on the other, most of which you can’t even access from that road. There are numerous other ways to, and through, the area (Rainier, Genessee, 38th). I live in the area and have ridden my bike extensively there, and can tell you that drivers routinely pass too close around corners that offer too little visibility. There are small children and pedestrians everywhere (families have numerous close parking options near the proposed area for closure, including a giant lot at Genessee Park).

They should close the damn thing.

36

Yes, schmacky, really. You can go from the Evergreen floating bridge to Rainier Beach and then onto Renton using the Boulevard, 50th, Wilson Ave and Seward Park Ave. Many people do.

If they want to close it from Dakota to Orcas, have at it. Although that will push more Seward Park traffic on to the side streets in the Seward Park neighborhood, and they've very uptight.

37

@6: This is about disability awareness. Those that can't drive may not be able to bicycle (or skateboard, scooter, or whatever the verb form of those damned one wheel things is).

38

"@26: You seem to get away with your hyperbole and projection so much more than I do with mine, what's your secret?" --@32

A. there's more Truth
in One of Original Andrew's
excellent posts than in All of your
(admitted!)* Hyperboles and Projections.

plus
he's Not
a Troll. sorry

*an excellent
place to start

39

This "week without driving" should be the perfect time to head into town and run a few errands. Less traffic and more available parking.

On the other hand, lets not go. As an "awareness" exercise, it might serve nicely to demonstrate to downtown businesses how much of their income is derived from customers who can load up their cars with bulky purchases.

42

@26: "even though there’s lists online of the thirty or so billionaires that keep getting richer"

Stop worrying about how much others are getting. It won't make much difference anyway. Here's an interesting exercise: Take the total annual income of some wealthy CEO of a major corporation and distribute it to all of the employees. Or take the salaries of their entire board of directors. It comes to a few percent of the rank and file employees wages on average. Perhaps a decent Christmas bonus. But not a meaningful difference. Meanwhile, the executives walk out (who wants to work for nothing), flips the workers the middle finger and the company folds up. Now everyone is out of a job.

There just isn't enough wealth to redistribute from the management ranks to solve the world's injustice problems.


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