Carload freight consists of individual railcars loaded with freight at separate locations that are then collected by a local freight train. This local freight train then takes the railcars to a railyard where they are sorted into longer freight trains to different destinations. These are called "manifest trains." A carload may pass through several railyards before it reaches its destination. Once it gets to the right yard, the process is reversed. The cars are put onto a local train and sent to the recieving customer. Carload freight requires spurs to be built for industries served, but once they are built, they save space and are much better for the planet than trucking. The first carload freight faciities were generally built within cities, sometimes even running in the street. More on this in this episode of :wtyp:. As discussed in that episode, many of these inner city industries were either moved to the suburbs, outsourced, or moved to trucking. Trucking deserves its own thread but in short, is a horrifically exploitative industry that is subsidized by taxpayers in the form of public roads and highways. It's dangerous, bad for the planet, bad for workers, and causes the most damage to the roads. Carload freight that remains is often found in suburban industrial parks, but even those are often dying out. Boxcars are being slowly replaced with trucks and containers that require a truck trip at each end. This is capitalism working as intended. :porky-happy:

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  • END [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Capitalists tend to develop a vicious hatred of workers precisely because they are ultimately dependent on them, much in the way a vampire might hate humans because they resent having to feed on “lesser beings” to survive. Consequently, capitalists are constantly trying to find ways to mask or break this dependency. The phenomenon of masking it is well understood — reconceptualizing exploitation as “job creation,” etc. . . . In this context, I see the rise of cryptocurrencies as fueled by a semi-conscious and futile attempt on the part of capitalists to escape this dilemma. I say semi-conscious because crypto-capitalists do actually have practical goals, such as tax evasion, and futile because workers are still very much involved via chip manufacture and power plant operations. However, the crypto marketing pitch usually takes the form of the promise of capital unsullied by human intervention, free from human “interference,” both in its generation and in its regulation. I suspect this is part of why it resonates so much with a certain people: capitalists who despise workers and self-hating workers that desperately want to become capitalists. More philosophically, it is a dream of capital unchained, of wealth based purely on math, elegant and abstract, cutting pesky humanity out of the equation.

    https://redsails.org/on-crypto/

    • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
      ·
      3 years ago

      "Crypto-Capitalists do actually have practical goals, such as tax evasion" is really funny in a dry humor kinda way