Cars and Factory Work (was Cars and Victorians)

[Louis Proyect]

Trond Andresen:
(clip)
>I am perfectly aware that this will not be popular among a lot of motorists. 
>But it is difficult to argue against, since urban environment (consisting of 
>among other things the freedom from pollution, noise, congestion) obviously 
>is what  economists term "a scarce resource". We are f.inst. not allowed to 
>call long distance or use elecricity  without paying proportionally with our 
>consumption of these resources.  Everyone accepts this. The only fundamental 
>obstacle until now  for treating the scarce resource of urban environment in 
>the same manner,  has been the absence of the technology to measure -- and 
>bill people for -- such  consumption. When that possibility has arrived, the 
>natural question is: why shall not consumption of urban environment by  
>motorists be controlled through purchase of quotas, just as most other  
>consumption of scarce resources is controlled in a market economy? 
>

Trond's letter raises some interesting questions. Last night I was thinking
about the whole question of cars in 2 contexts. I have a 78 year old mother
who I just bought a new car for, a snazzy little Mercury Mystique. Her
driving is not what it used to be, but there simply is no way for her to
get around in the rural part of upstate NY she lives in.

There would be a role for cars in postcapitalist society, I'm quite sure.
In rural areas like she lives in, the only sensible economic approach is
private automobiles. Since there are so few people living in isolated
farming communities, this would not present an environmental problem.

For the urban population, cars would be available for pleasure but on a
strictly rationed basis. A worldwide socialist planning board would
calculate how many cars would be ecologically sustainable and we would be
entitled to a certain number of credit miles that you would use annually
until they were exhausted. So, if you had 200 hours available, you would
use them for vacations rather than driving up and down the freeways
aimlessly like bored teenagers or LM supporters like Russell Pearson and
James Heartfield.

Louis Proyect

(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)