Manhattan DA announces new prosecution policies

[brooklynite]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Great. Bus drivers can work for free, just like WMATA's bus drivers. NT

[aeromanKC]

2. Hey, great idea.

Subsidized bus transportation. (Drivers would thus then not have to depend on "fares&quot

Would be great for the working poor.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Who pays?

The money has to come from somewhere. Does it not make sense that the person who uses the service pay for it?

Bus drivers can apparently go pound sand. They can consider their job a public service and forget about getting a pay increase.

[aeromanKC]

4. Elon Musk

He made $18 billion yesterday. Pocket change for him.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Cite please.

Full disclosure: I live in Alexandria, Virginia. The city's transit system, DASHbus, went to a no-fare model back in September. I ride it much more than I used to. By my observation, the traffic load has increased. I see my fellow passengers lugging bags from the grocery store and so forth. I'm glad to see that they can get around.

I am also under no illusions about who is paying for this. I just got socked for a BIG tax payment by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The bill was addressed to me, not Elon Musk.

[jimfields33]

6. On paper. It could disappear tomorrow

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Can you point me to a stock price for TSLA or TSLA options?

Last edited Tue Jan 4, 2022, 10:05 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't own any, so I don't follow it.

I suspect it's not unlikely that the price went up yesterday. TSLA is now approaching {edited from "not approaching"} $2 billion in capitalization. But as you say, that's on paper. You can't pay for your groceries at the Aldi by showing the checkout person this morning's copy of The Wall Street Journal.

[jimfields33]

9. 1,149.50 per share currently. It's down 50.19 or 4.19 percent.

Options I don’t do

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. It's up something like 300 percent for the year.

As you well know, you don't make that money until you sell.

Happy New Year.

[jimfields33]

22. Happy new year to you too!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. Give it a chance; it will turn out lousy.

We tried wishing "Happy New Year" in 2020 and 2021. How did that turn out?

[jimfields33]

25. Can't argue with that. That's for sure.

[Torchlight]

17. What do you think the odds are of it disappearing tomorrow?

[brooklynite]

14. What does Elon Musk have to do with this?

He lives in Texas and doesn’t pay taxes in NewYork.

[aeromanKC]

15. Even better.

He can start to pay back New York for all the funding Texas has received from New York (and all other Blue States) for all these years.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. What do you estimate your contribution will be?

Hint: it's not zero.

Funding

Fares and other revenue fund 57.6% of the Metro's daily operations while state and local governments fund the remaining 42.4%. Since the Metro's inception, the federal government has provided grants for 65% of the system's capital costs.

{snip}

[aeromanKC]

20. Good. Public Transportation. Money well spent.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. That's why the people who use it should be expected to pay for using it.

Don't you agree?

The people who drive electric cars -- shouldn't they pay for the maintenance of the road system?

There's no free lunch. It's not a right wing talking point. Someone has to pay the salaries of the bus and train operators. Someone has to pay for maintenance. Who better than the people who are using the system?

As someone who, shockingly, actually rides the Metrobus and (not that often) the Metrorail, that's me, by the way. It's not Elon Musk. He'll never set foot on a Metrobus. I'm also a local and state taxpayer, so I pick up the tab that way too. That category leaves out Elon Musk, for, as brooklynite pointed out, he doesn't live around here.

[aeromanKC]

23. Nope. We the 99% help people like Musk make their gazillions

They need to pay it back by at least helping the masses get to work so that society can work like and they can continue to make their gazillions.

And you want to talk about free lunches, well what a great place to start by talking bout Musk, Bezos, Trump et al.

But fuck them. I'm out. Not worth my time to talk about those fuckwits.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

26. I will carry on in your absence and continue to support the system, as I have done for years.

Last edited Tue Jan 4, 2022, 10:10 PM - Edit history (1)

If you ever come to DC, the trips (at least the Metrorail and Metrobus part) are on me.

Just stare angrily at the person in the Metrorail kiosk as you jump the fare gate, daring him to do something about it.

That highly paid rich fat cat working in the Metrorail kiosk who is not about to put his life on the line to confront a fare gate jumper.

I wonder what he thinks when he sees the private school girls not bothering to pay. Each of their parents' cars costs more than he makes in a year.

At any rate, I am not at all displeased when I see who is riding the fare-free Alexandria system. I don't think these are people who can afford a brand new car, or maybe any car at all. I'm helping them get around. I don't feel bad about that. They keep the local merchant humming. When they shop, they pay taxes that go into a general fund, so in a way, they do pay for their use of the system. Good for them. I enjoy seeing them do well.

Happy New Year.

[brooklynite]

19. IOW your're venting and not being serious.

Last edited Tue Jan 4, 2022, 07:11 PM - Edit history (1)

[former9thward]

7. Only a sucker will pay for the subway now.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Metrorail has been considered a free public good for several years now, at least at

some of the stations I've been to.

I know I don't have to tell you this, but it seems to go right over the heads of people here how WMATA is going to pay technicians to repair all those defective 7000-series cars. Those guys don't work for free. They expect to be compensated for their time and their training and the knowledge they've accumulated after years on the job.

I've had people steal the value of my labor. It's not a funny thing.

Rant mode off.

You have a Happy New Year.

[Torchlight]

18. Only if one confuses honesty with being a sucker.

But as this is America, I can understand (if not agree with) that confusion.

[Demovictory9]

10. they mostly don't arrest for these anyway unless perp is Black

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. I've seen girls who attend a private school where the tuition is $40,000 per year

jump the fare gate.

They were wearing the school hoodie, or something like that, so I could tell where they went to school. Mom and dad are lawyers or lobbyists, whatever. Household income is a good quarter-million, easy.