More signs of "soft" capitalism in Vietnam

Quoted: Decision 259/2006/QD-TTg regulates that holding company Vietnam Airlines has the right to make investments, manage investment capital, directly produce and provide air transportation services, aircraft and engine maintenance, and import and export aircraft.

Quoted: Previously the carrier had to seek the go-ahead from government for its master business plan.

Quoted: One of the lures of the outer suburbs is more house -- maybe even one with a big yard -- for less money. But a new study shows that the savings are illusory: The costs of longer commutes are so high that they can outweigh the cheaper mortgage payments

Quoted: In 28 major metropolitan areas, families earning $20,000 to $50,000 spend an average 29 percent of their annual salary on transportation and 28 percent on housing, the study found. Earth-polluting aside, all that driving is just a damn waste, says Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth: "A three-car family puts a lot of money into depreciating assets, instead of into mortgages and college educations."

Boeing Everett made the list of 248 best workplaces for commuters. I call that baloney! Not if you don't live in Snohomish county!!!!

Quoted: Three-quarters of Seattle-area commuters, or 1.13 million people, drove to work alone last year, according to the Census Bureau. If Seattle's population grows as predicted, more than 25,000 extra parking spaces will be needed downtown in the next quarter century, said Steve Gerritson, executive director of Commuter Challenge, a Seattle-based non-profit and coalition member.

Quoted: Construction is well under way on a new 14-mile Central Link light rail line that is a critical piece in this region's transportation future. The trains will begin carrying passengers in 2009, stopping at 12 stations and running 4.4 miles on elevated tracks, 2.5 miles in tunnels and seven miles at grade.

Quoted:To support that line, Sound Transit is retrofitting the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and its existing stations for joint use by both light rail trains and buses. Sound Transit is also building new light rail stations in the following locations: near the sports stadiums and at Lander Street just south of downtown Seattle; at Beacon Hill; at McClellan, Henderson, Othello and Edmunds Streets in the Rainier Valley; and in Tukwila. Soon after this initial segment of the light rail line opens, Sound Transit will open a 1.7-mile extension to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, adding a thirteenth station.

Can Tim Eyman be anymore despicable? No, I think not.

Quoted: Professional initiative sponsor Tim Eyman has launched an effort to defeat a fall ballot measure that would increase Seattle property taxes to fund road, bridge and sidewalk improvements.

This is a really neat picture map.

Quoted: The folks at Princeton's International Networks Archive (INA) are hard at work creating a new system of mapping that reflects the spread of information and increase in globalization that both unites and stratifies people around the globe.

I ordered this on amazon.

Quoted: Despite what $20 billion of automobile advertising every year would have us all believe, buying or leasing a car, truck, or SUV is the worst financial move most people make in their lifetime. And they make this mistake again and again, at a cost of literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. High gas prices, car payments, insurance, depreciation, parking, repairs, maintenance, and nearly one hundred other expenses add up so quickly and silently that most car owners don't even notice---they just see how little money they have left at the end of the month and wonder why. As you will read in chapters 1 and 2 (free PDF download), cars devour cash, increase debt, reduce savings, and make financial freedom difficult to achieve.

A map on how Transit Now services could be spread throughout Puget Sound based on Metro's analysis of current ridership and future population and employment trends.

Too bad Metro doesn't want to cross county lines! What about places like Everett, with thousand of Boeing employees.