The Automobile Subsidy

Brent wrote:
> On 2009-11-21, Stephen Sprunk > wrote:

Please don't remove attribution lines unless you also remove the
_entire_ quote they apply to.

>>> Unless he likes to eat and prefers to not "farm", or live near
>>> farms... where they move farmed goods from the fields in... trucks.
>
>> Does it really make sense for us to be shipping produce several thousand
>> miles across the country--or even from other continents--when we can
>> grow the same crop a few dozen/hundred miles away?
>
> It does when you consider that big agri-business has paid the elected
> office holders considerable amounts of money to make sure the nearby
> family farms can't compete with their crops from chile.

A more general problem that applies to many facets of our economy.

> However at various times of the year the crop might not be available
> locally but the crop grown elsewhere might. Out of season it would be
> perfectally acceptable to pay the transportation costs to have it.

True, and I have no objection to them paying for the _full_ cost of
transporting their goods from further away. OTOH, if consumers see that
(for instance) strawberries cost more at certain times of year due to
higher transportation costs, they might choose to buy something else
that is in season locally.

>> Ask someone from NYC or a non-US major world city like London or Paris,
>> though, and you'll get an entirely different answer. Why would they
>> want to deal with the hassle of owning a car, driving in congested
>> traffic, trying to find (extremely expensive) parking, etc. when the
>> subway is faster, cheaper, and more convenient?
>
> However that transit is subsidized by lots of people who don't use it.
> That's how it becomes "cheap".

NYC's subway has the highest farebox recovery rate in the US, and
transit ridership there is extremely high, so there aren't many people
actually subsidizing it.

Some transit systems overseas (e.g. HK, IIRC) actually turn a profit.

> And even in cities like London a lot of people still drive because
> even with the crushing costs and congestion it's still works better
> for them.

If some people want to deal with that mess, they're welcome to it. I
was just disputing your claim that nobody would ever choose transit over
driving when obviously millions of people all over the world do so every
day.

> In a big city I would live close enough to walk or bike most if not
> all year to avoid the hassles of driving and transit.

Presuming you can afford to pay the market cost of living that close to
where you work, more power to you. That isn't practical or even
possible for a large number of people.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking