Saikat Chakrabarti

You know, they had to train up Chinese workers, they had to do joint ventures with Chinese companies. But it's this overall mindset, we actually have to get this stuff done, that was different there. I think that's the bigger thing that's missing. It's, you know, even in Europe, they have timelines on how long these environmental reviews can take. And in America...

You know, they had to train up Chinese workers, they had to do joint ventures with Chinese companies. But it's this overall mindset, we actually have to get this stuff done, that was different there. I think that's the bigger thing that's missing. It's, you know, even in Europe, they have timelines on how long these environmental reviews can take. And in America...

The bigger thing that's happened is we've let open-ended lawsuits and this general kind of culture of letting things languish forever take over.

The bigger thing that's happened is we've let open-ended lawsuits and this general kind of culture of letting things languish forever take over.

My theory for why America and Europe ended up differently is Europe actually did their post-war boom and all that development in a more democratic way than we did. We had this Robert Moses era, where we didn't get a lot of public buy-in. We did demolish a bunch of communities, and then we got the backlash, and now we can't build for 50 years.

My theory for why America and Europe ended up differently is Europe actually did their post-war boom and all that development in a more democratic way than we did. We had this Robert Moses era, where we didn't get a lot of public buy-in. We did demolish a bunch of communities, and then we got the backlash, and now we can't build for 50 years.

Whereas Europe, I think, took more of an approach of trying to bring society in through this development. But I think the larger theory of why everywhere is stagnating I think countries have to go through these periods of renewal where they really go for it. And all the European democracies did this in peacetime post-war, right, when they're doing their booms.

Whereas Europe, I think, took more of an approach of trying to bring society in through this development. But I think the larger theory of why everywhere is stagnating I think countries have to go through these periods of renewal where they really go for it. And all the European democracies did this in peacetime post-war, right, when they're doing their booms.

And it's in these contexts of a larger society-wide transformation that you're able to do things like change the housing rules. Because housing is a big deal. But if you just do a whole politics around housing, that's not a big enough constituency to call for the huge kind of structural reforms you need across society. You know, in France, for example,

And it's in these contexts of a larger society-wide transformation that you're able to do things like change the housing rules. Because housing is a big deal. But if you just do a whole politics around housing, that's not a big enough constituency to call for the huge kind of structural reforms you need across society. You know, in France, for example,

They built TGV, their national high-speed rail, during their post-war boom. And I know you talk a lot about California high-speed rail, but if you look at how they did that versus how we did California high-speed rail, it was this comprehensive plan where they pitched the country on the whole network. And so because it was this huge network, they planned for all the surrounding industry.

They built TGV, their national high-speed rail, during their post-war boom. And I know you talk a lot about California high-speed rail, but if you look at how they did that versus how we did California high-speed rail, it was this comprehensive plan where they pitched the country on the whole network. And so because it was this huge network, they planned for all the surrounding industry.

They built out universities to train the engineers. They built out rolling car set industries to build the train sets. They built out all the steel industries. And they even planned, this is when they're deploying nuclear power all over France, they planned their nuclear power deployment in a way to make sure they would have the power to power the trains.

They built out universities to train the engineers. They built out rolling car set industries to build the train sets. They built out all the steel industries. And they even planned, this is when they're deploying nuclear power all over France, they planned their nuclear power deployment in a way to make sure they would have the power to power the trains.

And I'd say that whole thing was even made possible because France was in the middle of a larger national renewal where they were building out their whole economy. And Charles de Gaulle even talked about it as a mission for France, actually. But on the flip side, we got California High Speed Rail, where they had this project, which was one line.

And I'd say that whole thing was even made possible because France was in the middle of a larger national renewal where they were building out their whole economy. And Charles de Gaulle even talked about it as a mission for France, actually. But on the flip side, we got California High Speed Rail, where they had this project, which was one line.

And I just think it wasn't big enough to use the political capital of that project to push through the CEQA reforms or whatever other reforms we would need. to make that go faster. Well, they also didn't try.

And I just think it wasn't big enough to use the political capital of that project to push through the CEQA reforms or whatever other reforms we would need. to make that go faster. Well, they also didn't try.

Yeah.

Yeah.