Doug
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from LBO #65
Autoparasites. According to American ideology, cars are for self-reliant individualists, while mass transit requires deep public subsidies. Mass transit does indeed require subsidies, but cars do too. In a study published by Komanoff Energy Associates, Cora Roelofs and Charles Komanoff did the math for New York State. They found that while motorists pay $4.5 billion in taxes, tolls, fees, and fines to all levels of government, governments spend a total of $6.9 billion on streets, highways, enforcement, regulation, and administration -- a gap of $2.4 billion. These figures do not include what they estimate to be $21 billion in indirect environmental and social costs -- pollution-caused illness and rot, accidents, congestion -- in New York City alone. In other words, nearly one in three dollars spent directly on the traffic infrastructure has to come out of general revenues. The subsidy issue is particularly pungent in New York, where 30% of households statewide -- and 56% of households in NYC -- don't own cars. Nationwide, only 16% of households are car-less. Though the authors didn't extrapolate their detailed analysis to cover the entire U.S., their back-of-the-envelope calculations are that the annual auto subsidy nationwide -- again for direct costs, excluding indirect environmental and social costs -- is $20-25 billion, well over 50 times the $377 million in mass transit subsidies by all levels of government in 1990. In another study done with Brian Ketcham, the total indirect costs of vehicle use came to $726 billion in 1990, of which $418 billion was borne by motorists, leaving $308 billion paid for by the public at large. Komanoff, who made his name by unmasking the full costs of nuclear power, argues that the real costs of driving should be made fully apparent to drivers, through higher fees and taxes -- though with proper rebates and alternatives made available to the poor. In New York, Komanoff argues, the cost per mile of driving would have to rise to 65cents from the present 17cents were all the hidden subsidies and indirect costs fully reflected in the price. This is, Komanoff acknowledges, political heresy, but someone has to speak the truth. [For more, write Komanoff Energy Associates, 270 Lafayette St., New York NY 10012, or call 212-334-9767.]
from LBO #60
Killer cars. Cars do immense damage before they even reach the showroom, according to research by a German group reported in the Guardian (London), and then they move on for a lifetime of wilding. Heidelberg's Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut estimates that each car made in Germany, where standards are among the strictest in the world, produces 25,000 kilos (28 tons) of waste and pollutes 422 million cubic meters (552 million cubic yards) of air just in manufacture. Add to that, in a 10-year life: 44.3 tonnes (47.7 tons) of carbon dioxide; 18,400 grams (40.6 pounds) of tire, road, and brake "abrasion products" (grit); and the pollution of 1.02 billion cubic meters (1.3 billion cubic yards) of air. Disposing of the clunker pollutes another 102 million cubic meters (133 million cubic yards) of air. From birth to death, a car pollutes 2.04 billion cubic meters (2.7 billion cubic yards) of air, puts out 59.7 tonnes (65.8 tons) of carbon dioxide, and creates 26.5 tonnes (29.2 tons) of solid waste. Or, from another perspective, each car will kill three trees and sicken 10; every seventh car injures someone, every 100th handicaps someone, and 450th kills someone. One out of every 100 people are killed in a road accident, and two out of three are hurt. Counting roads, garages, parking lots, and the rest, cars consume about 60% more of the German landscape than housing does. In its lifetime, the average car costs outsiders 6,000 DM ($3,752) a year in pollution, other physical damage, injury, and noise, after deducting vehicle and fuel taxes. This is nothing other than a vast subsidy, and one that is almost certainly larger in the U.S. because taxes are lower and cars less tightly regulated. In Germany, it is the money equivalent of a year's free pass on public transportation, a new bike every five years, and 15,000 km (9,321 miles) of first-class rail travel. But in standard ideology, cars are the self-reliant individualist's way to get around, and public transport is for dependent losers. As the Guardian's author, John Whitelegg, concludes "the car is thus revealed as an environmental, fiscal and social disaster that would not pass any value-for-money test." But cars are still at the heart of our economies, societies, and geographies. Nasty contradiction.
...and non-auto bonus...
Rich, soft wanting. What was this man talking about, and why did he say it to realtors? "One of the greatest poets that this country ever produced was Carl Sandberg. And I used to save a little quote by Carl Sandberg. I carried it with me for years and years when I was a young man. And it was -- I believe I remember it, even though I haven't seen it for 15 years -- Sandberg said, a tough will counts. So does desire. So does a rich, soft wanting. Without rich wanting, nothing arrives. Without effort, nothing arrives. Sandberg said, 'I see America not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us. I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun, fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and women of will and vision.' I see that and I think you do, too." -- Bill Clinton to the National Association of Realtors, Washington, April 27, 1993 (White House transcript).