Stages to bring AMTRAK to Ashland, Oregon Step 1: Oregon purchases the tracks owned by the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad. Step 2: Oregon upgrades the line for 60 MPH. This increases freight capacity and makes passenger rail viable. Step 3: Start running service. Potential riders: Josephine, Jackson, and Douglas counties have 400,000 people total, …
Author Archives: stidmatt
Biden does not understand Europe at all
Could we just have a coherent presidential candidate, I mean, an Atlanticist pro-democracy liberal who supports trade, visa-free travel, and mutual protection pacts between democracies should be the bare minimum, but at this point, I would kill for a President who can just form a coherent sentence. NEITHER candidate meets that very low bar. Biden …
Supply Side vs Demand Side is Lazy
There is a popular idea in popular economics discussions that the left wing is on the demand side and for the working class, and the right wing is on the supply side and for the bourgeoisie. This could not be farther from the truth. Housing costs In the case of zoning, zoning is a supply-side …
Senate projections
Current situation Joe Manchin and Karen Sinema are de facto Republicans and must be treated as such. Likewise, Bernie Sanders and Angus King are de facto Democrats and must be treated as such. De facto 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats in the Senate today. Democrats win 2024 If Democrats win in 2024, we won’t lose …
Deadliest conflicts in history
I have a spreadsheet of 100 wars and conflicts from history, stretching from 475 BC to the present. Wars before then tend to have poor data. All major wars are on the spreadsheet, which can be viewed on Google Drive. A few interesting things about this sheet are how I approach the data. I include …
Overview of UN resolutions regarding Ukraine and Palestine
There have been three resolutions in the UN over the last year regarding the invasion of Gaza and six regarding Ukraine over the last two years. The following countries have voted in favor of Likud at least once in the last three resolutions: Argentina Austria (x2) Croatia Czechia (x3) Fiji Guatemala (x2) Hungary (x2) Israel …
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Fire Jake Sullivan
It is long past time to fire Jake Sullivan. He should have lost his job after the fall of Kabul. He assured the American government and people that the Afghan government would be able to withstand the Saudi pressure, and he was completely wrong. I have been fired for far less. He should have lost …
Red lines are political boogiemen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_lines_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War This article clearly demonstrates that the red lines Russia has set have been of little to no value. But what we have found is that when NATO has not made it clear something is off limits, Russia consistently violates it. In response to us not letting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO in 2008, Georgia …
Ukraine fact check
“Wait a minute, this war has been going on for 10 years, Russia has had every advantage, and after 10 years they only occupy 18 percent of Ukraine,” Hodges said. “They [have] lost half a million troops, the Black Sea Fleet is getting worse by the day, and the Air Force is unable to get …
France unemployment rate
https://tradingeconomics.com/france/unemployment-rate France has not seen unemployment below 7% since 1981. In this world, we have a choice: you can have all of the labor protections you have so you never lose a job, or you can have high wages and low unemployment. The costs of hiring in France are extremely high because it is nearly …