$2 Million Bathroom in NYC

[Ethereal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfAE5emMCs8

The end result of government extortion, cronyism, and bureaucracy.

[Ethereal]

Always remember: Everything Democrats do, they do for pure greed. It's all about sticking their hands in someone else's pocket. Always ignore their rhetoric. Only observe their actions and the results they produce.

[Newpublius]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfAE5emMCs8

The end result of government extortion, cronyism, and bureaucracy.

Parks Commissioner says, "Well, its very very durable material"

For that amount it should be a bomb shelter!

[Chris]

So what's housed underneath it?

[Green Arrow]

They pay their workers well and provide wheelchair accessibility? How awful!

I agree that the final price tag is bullshit, but equally bullshit are some of Stossel's points of criticism.

[Tahuyaman]

Stossel has a way of getting people to support and justify stupidity.

[Ethereal]

They pay their workers well...

They pay them wildly inflated rates at the expense of taxpayers. It's pure extortion and cronyism.


...and provide wheelchair accessibility? How awful!

Wheelchair accessibility just means installing a simple ramp. Stossel's point is that they take something incredibly simple like installing a ramp and make it incredibly complex and therefore expensive.

[Chris]

Yea, Stossel is such a problem.

[Mister D]

Having some experience with NY unions I can testify that prevailing wage in the NYC area is outrageous even after making a generous allowance for the relative cost of living.

[Green Arrow]

They pay them wildly inflated rates at the expense of taxpayers. It's pure extortion and cronyism.
Extortion? Cronyism? All the workers get out of it is a decent paycheck so they can afford a living for their families. Do you know how expensive it is to live in NYC?

Granted, it's too high, but that's at the bottom of my list of complaints.

Wheelchair accessibility just means installing a simple ramp. Stossel's point is that they take something incredibly simple like installing a ramp and make it incredibly complex and therefore expensive.
And that's one of the points I agree with him on. He just takes it too far.

[Ethereal]

Extortion? Cronyism?

Absolutely.

The taxes are paid under threat of imprisonment. And the politicians spread that money around to union cronies and politically connected developers.


All the workers get out of it is a decent paycheck so they can afford a living for their families.

They get it at the expense of taxpayers and their families.


Do you know how expensive it is to live in NYC?

Might have something to do with their $2 million bathrooms.

[Mister D]

You have to remember too that it's not just wages we're talking about. The pension fund, vacation fund etc. add substantially to their real hourly rates. I have always been shocked by the rate scale in NY.

[Mister D]

I have no problem with union labor and the negotiation of better wages but the wage scales in the NYC area have always seemed, to me at least, grossly out of proportion.

[Chris]

I have no problem with union labor and the negotiation of better wages but the wage scales in the NYC area have always seemed, to me at least, grossly out of proportion.

Just as much cronyism as the government subsidizing some corporation.

[Ethereal]

I have no problem with union labor and the negotiation of better wages but the wage scales in the NYC area have always seemed, to me at least, grossly out of proportion.
There is nothing wrong with union labor per se. In fact, unions in America began as private organizations who frequently battled the government. The problem arises when unions ally with the political system in order to cartelize a labor market. And that is exactly what this represents, a labor cartel.

[Mister D]

There is nothing wrong with union labor per se. In fact, unions in America began as private organizations who frequently battled the government. The problem arises when unions ally with the political system in order to cartelize a labor market. And that is exactly what this represents, a labor cartel.
I suppose labor is just getting in on the game businessmen have long played. I can't say I blame them but there is something else going on in the NYC area. The wage rates are staggering in some cases.

[Mister D]

The Mafia has had a long history of association with the unions in NY so maybe that explains part of it.

[Chris]

Extortion? Cronyism? All the workers get out of it is a decent paycheck so they can afford a living for their families. Do you know how expensive it is to live in NYC?

Granted, it's too high, but that's at the bottom of my list of complaints.

And that's one of the points I agree with him on. He just takes it too far.



"All the workers get out of it is a decent paycheck so they can afford a living for their families," while vague and emotionally appealing, suggests there's some calculable objective value for labor when the value of anything is purely subjective.

[Chris]

The Mafia has had a long history of association with the unions in NY so maybe that explains part of it.

Unions bring in a lot of votes.

[Ethereal]

I suppose labor is just getting in on the game businessmen have long played. I can't say I blame them but there is something else going on in the NYC area. The wage rates are staggering in some cases.
You're right. Businessmen have played the same game for a long time, and laborers are getting in on the action. The only problem is that the game is cronyism and graft and comes at the expense of the rest of society.

[Ethereal]

The Mafia has had a long history of association with the unions in NY so maybe that explains part of it.

Naturally.

Vinny and Vito can be strong negotiators.

[Newpublius]

Extortion? Cronyism? All the workers get out of it is a decent paycheck so they can afford a living for their families. Do you know how expensive it is to live in NYC?

Granted, it's too high, but that's at the bottom of my list of complaints.

And that's one of the points I agree with him on. He just takes it too far.

Yes, indeed, this is the result of political blackmail. Its not really the workers who are benefitting by the way, its really the contractor. You can have a minority owned business or woman owned business, veteran even, and they put in bids, whatever preference exists and then they subcontract it out to people who should've won the contract to begin with.

The whole thing proves that its not the governments money, so they just don't care.

If it really cost $2mn, one should automatically question priority, ie city should do something else with the money

Furthernore, anybody with any kind of business sense would see the solution.

Keep the $2mn, lease the space out to a Dunkin Donuts with an express covenant that a bathroom be located there

[Newpublius]

You're right. Businessmen have played the same game for a long time, and laborers are getting in on the action. The only problem is that the game is cronyism and graft and comes at the expense of the rest of society.

Well, you know, its ONLY $2mn, right? Only less than a $.25 per person, right?

[Tahuyaman]

...Do you know how expensive it is to live in NYC... You don't suppose government has any hand in that, do you?

[Newpublius]

"Democrat David Greenfield told WCBS-TV on Wednesday that it took him 7½ years to get City Hall to repair the formerly run-down Gravesend Park on 18th Avenue.

But the newly refurbished park became a pyrrhic victory for Greenfield when he learned it cost $2 million to build the new, 400-square-foot bathroom facility."

[Newpublius]

You don't suppose government has any hand in that, do you?

But if we were to suggest privatizing the park in question, you'd quickly be called a right wing nut job!

[Chris]

Well, you know, its ONLY $2mn, right? Only less than a $.25 per person, right?

Right, so people don't notice or care.

They should, there's probably 2 million projects just like this one.

[Bo-4]

The Mafia has had a long history of association with the unions in NY so maybe that explains part of it.

Pretty much mansplains the rise of Trump HuH?

So what up with Fredo?? ;-)

[Newpublius]

Does it now? Let's see you elaborate on that brain fart.

[Newpublius]

The Mafia has had a long history of association with the unions in NY so maybe that explains part of it.

Historically known for infiltrating Teamsters, LIUNA and the Longshoreman, though there naturally could be others.

[Chris]

Pretty much mansplains the rise of Trump HuH?

So what up with Fredo?? ;-)


https://s1.postimg.org/5m2sk4ru7/bb1_K_f-maxage-0.gif

[Tahuyaman]

Bo-4 has gotten progressively worse since election night.

[Mister D]

Pretty much mansplains the rise of Trump HuH?

So what up with Fredo?? ;-)
I have n idea what this is supposed to mean. Do you?

[Mister D]

https://s1.postimg.org/5m2sk4ru7/bb1_K_f-maxage-0.gif
Hey, another Nazi Jew. Sorry, it just seems to be in vogue these days.

[Captain Obvious]

I have n idea what this is supposed to mean. Do you?

Does it matter?

[Green Arrow]

You don't suppose government has any hand in that, do you?

Of course they do, many different factors play into the cost of living. Tax burden, for example, is a function of government that has an impact on the cost of living.

[Tahuyaman]

Of course they do, many different factors play into the cost of living. Tax burden, for example, is a function of government that has an impact on the cost of living.

Then maybe government should be forced to correct to problems they created. That asking too much.

[Chris]

Then maybe government should be forced to correct to problems they created. That asking too much.

That's what the government does, fixes the problems it creates...by fixing problems.

[Green Arrow]

Then maybe government should be forced to correct to problems they created. That asking too much.

What can government do? I thought everything government did was bad?

[Tahuyaman]

What can government do? I thought everything government did was bad?

They could start by doing less and rolling back some of the stupid things they did in the past.

[Tahuyaman]

That's what the government does, fixes the problems it creates...by fixing problems.


No, they make you forget about the old problem by making it worse.