[lbo-talk] Re: polled while driving?

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Wed Feb 16 14:34:38 PST 2005


Andy F.
> A trope you don't hear so much outside of urban
> planning circles is how much gummint intervention is
> involved in pushing cars. The interstate system
> is/was a massive federal program that bulldozed many
> an urban neighborhood. Even now I doubt there are
> many states whose gas tax and permit revenues cover
> more than half of road expenditures -- I'd have to
> fact-check this, but I know it's true in a number of
> states. That's without getting into federal money,
> environmental damage, ongoing maintenance of empire,
> etc. etc.
>
> I agree that irrational car use goes hand in hand with
> US-specific cultural pathologies, but the perverse
> economic incentives that favor car use here are huge.
> I think it meshes well with a theme that comes up
> often on the list -- how much elites encourage
> atomization and alienation in the US.
>

I agree. I just did not want to overlook the cultural/individual pathologies and focus only on structural factors.

Wojtek



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