There have been several posts on HN in my recollection about the building of highways in urban areas in the USA over the objections of local residents, it's just if they are poor or minorities they historically do not have the political power to stop these projects, and the private sector makes a bundle, which is the recipe for a lot of things that go wrong in the USA.

Here's one https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9561895

There's a whole sector of articles about how racism fueled the highway boom in American cities, when those people affected had lot less right to vote. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/07/984784455/a-brief-history-of-... It's still happening https://apnews.com/article/environment-houston-pollution-71c... But the average HN reader probably does not live in such a neighborhood nor know anyone who does.

Bulldozing homes to make room for a highway or train is an American tradition, even if we do it less often now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses#Criticism_and_The...

> Moses's critics charge that he preferred automobiles over people. They point out that he displaced hundreds of thousands of residents in New York City and destroyed traditional neighborhoods by building multiple expressways through them. The projects contributed to the ruin of the South Bronx and the amusement parks of Coney Island, caused the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants Major League Baseball teams to relocate to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively, and precipitated the decline of public transport from disinvestment and neglect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain_in_the_United_S...

Luckily if enough Americans agree with you in a few more years you can vote him out. Can you say the same for Winnie the poo (xi)

I have a feeling however, that since the leftist priorities these days are so ridiculous to the regular voter that you'll just get another republican president

Let’s say it how it is, this is the cost of freedom. Yes, China can build more quickly and has advanced more technologically, but it came at the cost of freedom. The degree of freedom is not something I’m fit to argue.

Now, there are those they believe the difference in freedom is worth that technological advancement. I’m not so sure.

COVID was a great example of this. China was able to slow the virus spreading faster than the US since they were literally locking people into their homes. In the US, this didn’t happen because of the rights we have.

> No stats can be trusted in a society that does not prize allegiance to the truth above all else.

What society, government or political entity prizes allegiance to truth above all else?

Truly you win the prize of the dumbest anti-china comment.

Where did you get the idea that they don't make eminent domain payments?

> You completely blipped over the part about “no property rights” which is pretty clear when you look at, for example, how their rail construction projects go. Choochoo, rail is coming through, time to move this village

Better than exterminating the natives to build railroads? Using your logic we don't have property rights in the US either.

> no eminent domain payments necessary.

Doesn't explain nail houses though.

https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/asia/gallery/china-nail-house...

> If ownership of a half-finished concrete shell by a bankrupt construction firm on the 33rd floor is counted as “owning property”, then the statistics will look pretty good.

Yes. 1.4 billion people live in half-finished concrete shells.

Come up with something better. You guys are getting boring repeating the same nonsense over and over again.

Ghost cities have been shown as western made up cope.

—

China is not individualist in a selfish way like the west. Collectivism is a good concept.

Thank god their property rights are not barbaric like the west.

I would absolutely take a chance to live in China, but I wouldn’t expect to be welcomed there. Their tech, disposable income, food costs, etc are so superior to what we have today in US.

The average person in America is living paycheck to paycheck and has negative equity.

20 years ago you couldn’t see in Shanghai. Trump pulled back the clean air act, it’s not hard to see a trend. It’s also not hard to buy a ticket and see it yourself.

This is a pretty outdated view of things too. Majority of chinese students return to china after getting their degree in the US.

Yo, I literally pointed out that I’m not for this model. But thanks for the comment?

> Theres the little matter of the US imposed Plaza Accords that have been skipped in the timeline there , which are widely acknowledged to have precipitated Japan's lost decades.

Actually, no. The CPC generally argues this is the case, but it is largely incorrect. Japan responded to the Plaza accords by attempting to massively increase stimulus and preserve the structure (significant industrial, limited service/consumption economy) they started.

In contrast, (West) Germany kept the stimulus relatively low and rotated into higher productivity enterprises and R&D and had a substantially lessened impact. See this (https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125961733.pdf)

The whole "US destroyed Japan with the Plaza accords" is basically CPC propaganda.

China will have its own issues, but I would guess they look more like the 1992 sterling crisis where China cannot hold its yuan peg as it continues to have trade expansion without corresponding foreign exchange growth.