> I'm not drawing a distinction between operating costs and capital costs,
> if that's what you're getting at. I already told you that I didn't
> think it needs to be free, just that this step toward making it more
> expensive than it already is -- and doing it in one of the least
> efficient ways possible, by tolls -- is a bad idea.
>
Okay, so it's not infrastructure vs everything else. But what, after all, *is* the justification for making the autombile infrastructure free, when we charge for the subway infrastructure, the airplane infrastructure, the choochoo infrastructure? Not to mention the externalities. As policy, the reverse would make more sense -- stick it to the drivers and make the subways free. That's what I'd do if I had the policy magic wand.