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| Re: Photo of NYC varnish at St. John's Park Terminal, Lower Manhattan (1361078) | |||
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Re: Photo of NYC varnish at St. John's Park Terminal, Lower Manhattan |
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Posted by displaced angeleno on Tue Jul 28 16:27:14 2015, in response to Re: Photo of NYC varnish at St. John's Park Terminal, Lower Manhattan, posted by Bill West on Mon Jul 27 22:25:32 2015. If your contention is that the government shouldn't be in the business of transportation, then I agree with you. But most forms of transit are subsidized, especially automobiles, not just in preferential spending, but a plethora of policies that for over half a century have encouraged automobile ownership and living outside of cities. Those too are subsidies.I love the city. I don't like trash on the streets or noise, but it has many other attributes I find appealing and essential to life. However, this discussion isn't whether we like or don't like living in cities, but whether the government should be in the business of subsidizing one form of living over another. If the costs of sprawl were were imposed on those who choose to live it, say by charging residents for roads according to the population they serve, few would choose to live in such places as the per person costs of providing infrastructure and services are so high compared to cities where there are economies of scale. As to private insurance. There are various estimates as to the cost of an American life, ranging from $800,000-$8,000,000. Too many times a reckless driver (one who runs a red light, speeds, or fails to yield to a pedestrian) has insurance that does not come close to recouping even the low end of that spectrum. Road violence is a largely unpunished crime, where many victims are not able to obtain even civil compensation. I don't want to pay for highways, so I didn't buy a car, but unfortunately, my taxes still pay for them. The road taxes you mention do not cover the costs of those roads. |
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