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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: June 24th, 2025

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  • having private companies compete has certain advantages in railway infrastructure, if the right framework is given.

    Its better than private monopolies, but no, lack of centralization has lead to really awful transfers compared to China and Korea.

    Under capitalism the ideal rail company runs zero trains, owns no infrastructure, is somehow charging rent to every other business, employs nobody, pays them nothing, and charges infinity dollars. It requires external force to fight against the pressures pushing it towards its ideal form.

    Hell the author even glosses over the “runs no trains” part in the article, saying the OG JR built too many unprofitable rural lines, as if having reliable transit isn’t good in and of itself, and then explains how the JR’S land ownership is profitable, as if charging businesses rent is a social good.

    In general the good thing about markets is that they enable less planning overhead as everyone focuses on their own thing

    This is how you get 12 companies owning mass transit in 1 city that don’t share timetables and have bizarre interchanges between like subway, grade-seperated streetcar, and an elevated bus.

    Japan’s sucess is in spite of neoliberalism, not because of it.