Blueprint America

12/29/2008 :: 02:03:19 PM
Inside Thirteen » Blog Archive » Things Fall Apart Says:

[...] “The Big Fix,” part of Thirteen’s “Blueprint America” series, airs December 30th at 9:00 pm. Idiocracy’s vision of the future [...]

12/29/2008 :: 05:22:55 PM
The Dig ~ Things Fall Apart, a post by David Brancaccio | Blueprint America Says:

[...] “The Big Fix,” airs December 30th at 9:00 pm. [...]

12/29/2008 :: 11:29:41 PM
Pavel Says:

I am happy only 6% of American have to use public transportation. The less the better. Public transportation promotes natural monopolies like MTA in NYC that exemplifies most dangerous traits of over-centralized, over-controlled communities: “Too big to fail” government-sponsored monopolies, calls for socialistic-type of control over executive compensation and abuses (that are made possible by very existence of monsters like MTA), more regulations, more taxes, less common sense, more inertia, cover-ups, un-shrinkable recurrent expenses. To summarize, more stealing of people’s money and liberties. Isn’t it what got us into this ongoing crisis? “Community reinvestment act”, promoting irresponsible behavior, cutting off small and family-size businesses. Any public transportation company soon becomes “authority” (Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority, you name it) encroaching on people’s land and liberty.

Whoever disagrees — ever tried to sue such a behemoth for negatively affecting the value of your property?

Or to receive any recourse from losing money because of unannounced “service change” by MTA?

We need more fruitful environment for private entrepreneurship, not more of public transportation or whatever that directly suffocates any small business staying on its way and indirectly — any other small business (by grabbing private land, establishing its rules for land use, increasing taxes and unfair competition).

12/30/2008 :: 05:58:03 PM
Thirteen/WNET » Watch ‘The Big Fix’ about Infrastructure and the Economy, online Says:

[...] This hour-long program examines what policy makers in Washington, including President-elect Obama, mean when they say that rebuilding our crumbling highways and bridges, leaky water systems and other vital lifelines will stimulate the economy and generates jobs. Will fixing our infrastructure save the economy? Watch now. [...]

12/30/2008 :: 11:33:52 PM
ItsObvious Says:

Great report! But, the problems we are facing are a matter of cause and effect. And the cause is OVER POPULATION! The effects of over population will continue to cause all of the repercussions covered in your report until we face the reality that there are just too many people. All of the solutions that you covered will eventually become inadequate until we control our population growth.

Please explain why over population was not mentioned when it is the basic issue here?

12/31/2008 :: 03:22:22 AM
shonu pande Says:

65% of singapore’s population uses public transport, as opposed to 6.5% in the USA. yes i know singapore is a city state and the USA is not. but that cannot account for such a vast difference in use of public transport. my question for you, pavel, is does that make singapore socialist?

12/31/2008 :: 05:46:54 PM
Thirteen/WNET » Watch ‘The Big Fix’ about Infrastructure and the Economy, online Says:

[...] This hour-long program examines what policymakers in Washington, including President-elect Obama, mean when they say that rebuilding our crumbling highways and bridges, leaky water systems and other vital lifelines will stimulate the economy and generates jobs. Will fixing our infrastructure save the economy? Watch now. [...]

01/08/2009 :: 01:40:40 PM
Thirteen/WNET » Series Airs: January 8 at 8:00 pm on Thirteen;11:30 pm on WLIW21 Says:

[...] * An interview with Representative Charles Rangel * A look the MTA and New York infrastructure from Blueprint America * Charlie Rose’s interview with Warren Buffett * What Do I Do Now? – A Personal Show on [...]

01/10/2009 :: 06:31:32 PM
Jeff Says:

Does USA need more airports and runways? You can build all the airports and runways, but you cannot build more airspace.

01/11/2009 :: 12:59:37 AM
Brennan Says:

I know this is very unlikely to garnish a response, however I must make this point. Pavel, I would like to see evidence that back up all of your comments about public transport. I suspect that your comments are nothing more than narrow-minded theories.

Have you ever considered that the land used by most public transport systems is actually government owned landed, not private land as you claim? Do you really justify CEOs taking millions of dollars in compensation for hiring other people to do all their work for them, while many people in this country are starving? Does limiting greed amount to socialism, or is it practising responsibility? Have you ever considered all the extra patronage that small businesses could benefit from if the public transport system is expanded? The cost of public transportation is far more stable than that of gas, so is more desirable for lower-income people; expanding the number of people this is available to can greatly increase the number of potential customers that businesses have. Have you ever considered that having more access to public transportation could increase the value of a property? Have you ever considered that greater regulation could prohibit such monopolies? Have you ever considered that greater regulations benefit the populace as a whole, especially in ensuring the safety of the public? Have you ever considered that the cost of lawyers, settlements and payments for damages could cost a business more than implementing regulations? Would you have objections to several private businesses operating public transportation services, or is your gripe only with government run agencies?

I had been living in the United Kingdom for 7 years and the public transportation was amazing. Returning to America, I was astounded at how backwards and inadequate the public transportation system is in this country. We are supposed to be a superpower, yet we don’t even have decent public transportation services.

01/31/2009 :: 03:45:29 AM
Krugman discusses Obama’s domestic development plans « FeudArt Says:

[...] interview was part of “The Big Fix,” a report that appeared on “Blueprint America,” a year-long, PBS-wide series [...]

05/21/2009 :: 08:37:30 AM
Lance616@yahoo.com Says:

Brennen-
Gasoline here costs about 25% of what it costs in England. I too have lived in England. The goverment on the UK place incedibily high taxes on gasoline to drive the cost up, therefor increasing utulization of public transportation. Are you suggesting that we should do the same? The the costs of all that we buy will skyrocket, becuase most goods are deleivered by truck. You can not compare a city state such as singapore, or an island state such as the UK with the US. It just doesn’t work.