[ExI] vaccines again

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: John Klos <john at ziaspace.com> 
...

>...I seriously wonder what you hope to achieve here. Do you want us to
believe that your understanding of capitalism stops at a fifth grade social
studies level?... John

Eh, I think of it as my understanding of capitalism stops at a capital
level.  That's the only level that matters: people with capital to invest.

With regard to trains, specifically high speed rail, I as an investor would
consider these factors.

Trains have a big advantage over planes for short runs because the station
loading and unloading is very fast and unencumbered.  This allows them to
have multiple stops close together, such as the BART train has.  This makes
them competitive even against short hops such as between San Francisco and
San Jose.  In those short hops, the train doesn't get much advantage if it
is high speed, because there isn't sufficient distance between stops for it
to really stretch its legs.

For longer runs such as the ones high speed rail was aimed at, SF to Los
Angeles and Sacramento to Los Angeles, the advantage of high speed rail over
standard rail is clear, but in those longer runs it competes directly with
existing aircraft infrastructure.

Regarding why I brought in risk from other passengers: that is inherent in
rail travel, because of the way trains are loaded and unloaded vs aircraft.
The planes need a runway which requires a terminal and all the
infrastructure that goes with it, including the ability to check baggage and
so forth.  With trains, anyone can pay and board without being identified,
can stay on a train indefinitely, all the problems we can see are
bankrupting BART.  We still don't have a solution to that problem of
homeless people using the trains as a shelter.  That problem really is
spelling the end of the rail for that system.  I am not exaggerating:
generally in non-commute hours, there are more homeless people on those
trains than there are homeful. Any ideas on how to deal with that?

There is a silver lining to this cloud however.  I think we have already
seen peak commuting in most areas.  Freeway traffic went way down during
covid.  It has come back some since then but hasn't ever gotten back to what
it was before.  Plenty of businesses figured out how to operate with less
travel, to move bits not butts.  The BART traffic is nowhere near what it
was before covid.  

As an unapologetic capitalist, I don't see the need for high speed rail and
would not invest in it.

spike