Last edited Sat Nov 19, 2022, 12:41 AM - Edit history (1)
There isn't a money issue here. In fact, they are spending gobs of billions$ to gold-plate a couple 14 mile routes with light rail. $2500 per Hennepin County household on average for one of these, and that's just the Hennepin County taxpayer share (funded by the most regressive of taxes - the sales tax). The Minnesota legislature's contribution is additional. The federal match is additional. The operating subsidies are additional. Pretty soon it adds up to real money.
So I'm extremely very skeptical when I read all the giddy bubbly boo about expanding transit. My ass. Let's not kid ourselves, for Chrissake.
I fear that the labor shortage in certain occupations will be a continuing problem. There have been warnings, starting back decades ago, about the labor force growth rate falling to a snail's pace, and it's happening and projected only to get worse.
The labor force participation rate has been dwindling from a high point of about 67.3% in 2000 to 62.2% now. (It was 62.2% in January, so there hasn't been any progress in that all year).
Meanwhile the population of elderly (such as me) needing more and more service (me not yet but soon) grows.
Labor force participation rate: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
Labor force in thousands: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11000000
Edit: corrected the link for Labor Force Participation Rate
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