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Archive for the ‘transportation’ Category

Peak Oil and Decentralization

Monday, July 7th, 2008

One of the central functions of government under state capitalism is to subsidize the inputs to large-scale business enterprise, like energy and transportation.  The railroad land grants, the civil aviation system and jumbo jet industry created almost entirely at government expense, the Interstate Highway System, a foreign policy aimed at providing cheap and abundant oil for the American economy…  all these things have a massive distorting effect in favor of large scale organization and economic centralization.

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Posted in energy policy, transportation | 12 Comments »

Local Externalities, or why decentralized isn’t always better

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

In the comments to my post on “free” public parking, Quasibill said that he would rather have decentralized power because local cronyism is less damaging than centralized cronyism. Here is his argument: (more…)

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Posted in free markets, transportation | 10 Comments »

Our government subsidized car culture

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Jackson have posted before about how publicly built highways are not an expression of the free-market. Now, via Yglesias, we see another way in which our tax dollars go to support the automobile’s dominance in America — subsidized parking.

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Posted in transportation | 8 Comments »

Scary!

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Looks like PA is going to come right in at my 55-45 prediction. Okay, I said 55-44-1, with Edwards or somebody getting the votes of a handful of the disgusted and despairing. I award myself a biscuit anyhow. This has to count as the worst possible result for the Dems as a party: it’s the minimum spread to count as a decisive victory for Clinton, but not so decisive as to start a stampede away from Obama. Punksatawny Phil sees six more weeks of lapel pins and Balkan snipers - or rather, heh heh heh, their absence . . .

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Posted in Campaigns, Democrats, big cars, global warming, obama, transportation | 4 Comments »

Some Trade-Union Porn for Kevin

Saturday, April 19th, 2008
South African port and truck workers are refusing to move weapons from a ship that docked in the country on its way to Zimbabwe, union officials said Friday.

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Posted in class, labor, news seen elsewhere, transportation | 5 Comments »

Publicly built highways are not an expression of the free market

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

My friend Alex Marshall, in his newest post up on Governing magazine, asks “What’s up with groups that argue for less government but see publicly built highways as an expression of the free market?” Alex is highly critical of right-wing libertarians whose policy preferences are a simple Rorschach test of their own personal biases - people who label their preferences with the language of freedom, individualism and happiness, whereas any policy they dislike is labeled “socialism” or “tyranny”. Thus, if these people like to drive big cars, then any government action that supports their ability to drive big cars is a bold stroke for glorious emancipation, whereas any policy that interferes with their ability to drive big cars is a form of Stalinism so black that even Stalin himself would have thought it excessive. I encourage you to read the whole post. This is how it starts: (more…)

Posted in big cars, free markets, libertarianism, transportation, vulgar libertarianism | 15 Comments »