Yes, many cities have roads paid for by tax dollars that the citizens
are not allowed to freely use. How is this consistent with principals
of liberty?
What you call subsidy I call hiding from the taxpayer the true cost of
the service delivered, convincing them they are getting a bargain when
in truth they are not.
It takes governments to truly distort a marketplace, and governments
can also restore a free market while ensuring that costs are born by
those that impose them. Of course polluters should be prevented from
polluting, and when that has failed made to pay the cost of
restitution and clean up. If society decides through the framework of
its representatives that carbon is a pollutant then tax it sufficient
to offset the societal costs it imposes (and by taxing it get less of
it) by raising the costs of things that rely on carbon.
Matthew
On May 28, 2009, at 3:01 PM, b_s-wilk wrote:
For mass transit to work and not be a net drain it has to be
survivable at a market price.
Many cities have downtown areas where cars aren't permitted.
The key word is PUBLIC transportation. Public transport benefits
all, whether or not you use it. I don't know of a good
transportation system that isn't subsidized, but there might be
some. Assuming that mass transit has to be private, existing on the
whims of the marketplace is naive. The free market fantasy is
killing us with pollution and bankruptcy. Should all roads be toll
roads? Of course not. There has to be a balance--and free WiFi with
schedules.
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