Okay. The article headline said “How” this happened. My guess isn’t entirely correct. It looks like we need histories of LA and Sydney to see when they made different decisions.
This was another of my guesses. When Germany rebuilt, they didn’t have the money for suburban sprawl. People could afford apartments in multi-family buildings, not single family houses.
It sounds like you have some good information. Are you saying that the difference is decisions made in the last 40 or so years?
US political decisions have historically been influenced by large corporate interests more so than in other countries. My recollection is that the automobile and oil industries were instrumental in destroying the old electrical streetcar system in LA. In contrast, cities like Toronto never lost their electric trolley and streetcar systems.
I wouldn’t say that I have good information as much as I would probably have gone into urban planning if the money were better, and I have a casual/hobbyist interest in trains/transit…and I’ve picked up a few things.
I’d say that the differences are multi-faceted, with one particular element being the divergent attitudes towards taxes among regions’ voters in recent decades.
Addendum:
Don’t forget the rebuilding aspect for much of Europe.
Given the combination of natural population growth, low construction rates through the Depression and war years, the destruction of a lot of housing during the war, and then the dislocation of people after the war, Europe had to (re)build a LOT of housing (more in some places than others, for the obvious reasons).
That’s a nontrivial part of the density difference. Multi-family complexes are easier to build quickly than suburban sprawl…and it does tend to be more affordable, all other things being equal.
Yep, that one kind of works for me. I’ve seen photos of 4 story buildings, right on the sidewalk, with a courtyard in the center.
Nothing like an administration that puts up banners praising Trump.
So North Korea, eh?
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Using the DOJ to cut checks to Trump supporters regardless of laws they have broken
Jamie Raskin accuses Kash Patel, DOJ of millions in improper settlements to former agents https://share.google/ZyPNOawCNH3N68bG0
School board in a town in WI had an emergency session to vote to stop the band from performing a purely instrumental music piece dedicated to a civil rights activist.
He could write a new piece (exactly the same as the old piece with a couple of new intro bars) and says it’s about Jesus hanging out with his disciples. Composers often repurpose sections from previous pieces.
I could see how the piece would be considered controversial. I could also see not letting them play it inviting a 1A lawsuit.
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/12/nx-s1-5818190/sean-duffy-road-trip-reality-show-sponsors
Transportation Secretary Duffy filmed a reality show, funded by firms he regulates
Those involved say production costs were covered by a nonprofit by the same name, The Great American Road Trip Inc. Its public list of sponsors is stacked with travel-related companies — like Toyota, Boeing and United Airlines — with ties to the Department of Transportation, raising more questions.
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Duffy said on X that “career ethics and budget officials” approved his participation and travel “in accordance with federal rules.” Department of Transportation spokesperson Nathaniel Sizemore told NPR on Monday that its “regulatory decisions are guided by career safety professionals, the law, and the facts.”
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“The Great American Road Trip Inc is an independent organization,” Sizemore said. “How and who they accept donations from in furtherance of their mission to celebrate America’s 250th birthday is their decision.”
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In another sign of the closeness between government and industry, Barnes, the director of The Great American Road Trip Inc., most recently served as the executive vice president of public affairs and policy at the U.S. Travel Association.
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The Great American Road Trip Inc. describes itself as an independent nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization, “fully funding its own efforts to celebrate and share America’s story.” (An IRS database search did not yield any results for an organization by that name, and Barnes did not respond to NPR’s requests for an identification number.)
Discussion from Robert Reich.
You guys think this might work?
I had dinner recently with a group of political operatives — sophisticated people who for years have been advising politicians and candidates. During dinner they shared with me their fantasy, which they gave 30 percent odds of becoming a reality within the next four months.
In my dinner companions’ fantasy, Trump’s failed war will elevate gas and food prices so high and long that much of the Republican base will begin turning against Trump. And Trump’s mental problems will become even more obvious.
Faced with all this, JD Vance promises Marco Rubio that he’ll appoint him vice president if Rubio joins Vance in seeking to oust Trump under the 25th Amendment.* Rubio agrees.
Vance and Rubio then approach House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for confidential discussions in which they broach the possibility. Johnson and Thune give Vance and Rubio their tacit support.
Vance and Rubio then get Pete Hegseth to sign on, promising Hegseth that he’ll keep his job. They get Todd Blanche to sign on by promising him he’ll be appointed permanent attorney general.
Vance, Rubio, Hegseth, and Blanche are what Thune and Johnson need to make the 25th stick.
This arrangement serves everyone’s interests. For Vance and Rubio, it avoids what could be a messy 2028 primary election in which the two are pitted against each other. As president, Vance gets a head start on being elected president in 2028. As vice president, Rubio is heir apparent in 2032 (when Rubio will be only 60 years old) or in 2036.
As president and vice president, Vance and Rubio end Trump’s tariffs and his war, which have caused prices to soar, upset the Republican base, and turned much of the world against America.
Hegseth gets the job security he’s desperate for. Blanche gets the promotion he covets.
Republicans in the House and Senate get rid of Trump, who’s become an albatross around their necks and who they fear, if he remains in office, will cause them to lose control over the House and Senate in the midterms — and could lead to a congressional rout in 2028.
The plan is finalized when Trump is away at Mar-a-Lago. It’s executed in a conference call to Trump — during which Vance, Rubio, Hegseth, Blanche, Johnson, and Thune notify Trump he’s no longer president.
Trump screams, hollers, pounds his Mar-a-Lago desk, and threatens legal action, but there’s nothing he can do. He’s out of office.
I listened intently as my dinner companions spelled all this out. “So you really think there’s a 30 percent chance of this happening?” I asked them.
“Could be higher if the war continues,” one of them said, and the others agreed. Another of them thought the odds already higher.
“I can’t decide whether to be elated or worried,” I responded.
They laughed, but I was serious.
** To remind you: Section 4 of the 25th Amendment states that “whenever the Vice President and a majority of … the principal officers of the executive departments … transmit to the president pro-tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.” Section 2 of the 25th Amendment states that “whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Most of those people don’t have the spine to do it
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That’s presumably why it was assessed only a 30% chance of happening.
Personally, I think it will take our Glorious Geezer doing something incredibly nuts in public, so blatant that it even penetrates the Kool-Aid induced haze experienced by the personality cult that forms much of his base, to get the GOP to act.
It’d have to be the Trump equivalent of Biden’s debate performance…except it probably would have to be more dramatic to overcome the Kool Aid effect.
I doubt the war and economy alone would do it, but I can imagine the Glorious Geezer trying to fight against the war and the economy prompting the necessary visible mental break.
the line of attack on his enablers grows. from covid era “i don’t take any responsibility at all” to the recent “i don’t think about americans and their finances at all” - this is person all those spineless congressfolks are insisting on not overseeing. so they must also support the same.
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Closer to zero chance
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Agree. Why would anyone actively seek to remove their personal scapegoat?
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In my dinner companions’ fantasy, Trump’s failed war will elevate gas and food prices so high and long that much of the Republican base will begin turning against Trump. And Trump’s mental problems will become even more obvious.
Only if the base actually believes that food and gas prices are going up. And that requires someone, whom they believe, to tell them.
No, their lying eyes are not to be believed!
THAT is a good 50% out of the 70% that it won’t happen.