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You are here: Home / Economics / Austerity Bombing / Paved With Bad Intentions

Paved With Bad Intentions

by Zandar|  March 19, 201512:38 pm| 95 Comments

This post is in: Austerity Bombing, Domestic Politics, Glibertarianism, Republican Venality, Tax Policy, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Sociopaths

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I wonder what my douchebag of a Congressman, Thomas Massie, is up to.

Just introduced the #DRIVE Act of 2015 – (Developing Roadway Infrastructure for a Vibrant Economy). Info -> http://t.co/GIjEhF8tZ1

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 19, 2015

Wait, die-hard Glibertarian Thomas Massie sponsoring an infrastructure bill? What’s the catch?

Today, Congressman Thomas Massie introduced the DRIVE (Developing Roadway Infrastructure for a Vibrant Economy) Act of 2015 with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI), Congressman Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), and Congressman Ken Buck (R-CO) as original co-sponsors. The DRIVE Act (H.R. 1461) would help keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent and improve our national infrastructure, without raising the gas tax, by refocusing the Highway Trust Fund on its original and proper role of building and maintaining federal highways and bridges.

OK.  So again, what’s the catch?

“Currently, gas tax revenue is diverted from the federal Highway Trust Fund for bike paths, sidewalks, mass transit, and other local projects,” said Congressman Massie. “But due to inflation and fuel efficiency improvements of today’s vehicles, there is no longer enough money in the Highway Trust Fund to maintain our nation’s critical highways and bridges while also funding local projects that have no federal nexus. By eliminating diversion of gas tax revenues, the DRIVE Act ensures that the Highway Trust Fund can fulfill its namesake duty – to fund highways, without an increase in the gas tax rate.”

Oh I get it.  Let’s cut to the chase.

Annually, over $9 billion of the Highway Trust Fund goes to the Mass Transit Account, which provides funds for local public transportation projects, including subways, light rail, buses, and streetcars. Additional authorizations exist for sidewalks and bike paths to be funded from the Highway Trust Fund. The DRIVE Act repeals these authorizations and reduces Highway Trust Fund obligations by approximately $10 billion annually.

Ding ding ding!  So we’re going to fix the Highway Trust Fund by cutting $10 billion a year from mass transit projects, like, say, Cincinnati’s streetcar.

Oh well played, Mr. Massie.  Your bill has no chance in hell, but thanks for the heads up on what the GOP “fix” for the Highway Trust Fund is. Austerity for all the kids and trees and dogs and probably you too, because mass transit is the communist devil.

(Bonus: the Mass Transit Fund part of the Highway Trust Fund was created by Congress and signed into law by…*drum roll*…that known socialist collectivist Ronald Reagan in 1982. Orange Julius and the Gang That Couldn’t Legislate tried to kill the Mass Transit Fund in 2012 as part of their “JOBS” Act, which burst into flames the moment it was exposed to air and died miserably. Looks like they’re at it again.)

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Reader Interactions

95Comments

  1. 1.

    Belafon

    March 19, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    And the Department of Defense is obviously only meant to defend against attacks on the US.

  2. 2.

    c u n d gulag

    March 19, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    GOP POV:
    Mass transit is for “Those people…”
    The filthy masses.

    The people we care about, drive limo’s – when they’re not on private planes or helicopters, that is!

  3. 3.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 12:44 pm

    I’m amazed their plan isn’t to fund the highways by selling them to their cronies for pennies on the dollar privatizing them. That seems like the properly libertarian approach.

  4. 4.

    scav

    March 19, 2015 at 12:45 pm

    Hey, get rid of funding for sidewalks and then ticket / arrest / shoot people for walking in the streets. Increase cash in city coffers and get an additional pretext for getting rid of undesirable elements. Win all around!

  5. 5.

    JPL

    March 19, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    @Roger Moore: A few years ago, they tried to privatize a new road in GA. The investors wanted a guaranteed income and the state dropped the idea. That’s free enterprise for you.

  6. 6.

    NonyNony

    March 19, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    @Roger Moore: Eh – private highways tend to lose money for the folks who operate them. Unless they can sucker the government into “guaranteeing” the income and paying them off when they don’t hit that mark.

    ETA – I see that I was ninja’d a bit by @JPL…

  7. 7.

    Central Planning

    March 19, 2015 at 12:54 pm

    Do the mass transit operations buy tax-free gas? If they do, I could understand their reasoning for not giving highway trust fund money to the mass transit operators. However, if they are paying the taxes on that gas they should be able to get money to improve/maintain that.

    Mass transit is great, why wouldn’t we want to help make them more efficient and easier for tax payers to use? Must be the S word

  8. 8.

    pseudonymous in nc

    March 19, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    Another member of the Creating Ridiculous Acronyms Project.

    You’d think that Rep. Assie would prefer federal spending to keep Those People on buses so that they’re not clogging up his highways.

  9. 9.

    Zandar

    March 19, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    @pseudonymous in nc: Oh trust me, the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky does a fabulous job of clogging the roads itself most days.

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    @JPL:
    I was sort of assuming that the plan was:
    1) Sell the newest, best maintained parts of the Interstate Highway System for next to nothing.
    2) Charge tolls.
    3) Skip the maintenance.
    4) Declare bankruptcy when the road has degraded to the point it starts needing expensive maintenance.
    I’m pretty sure you could make money that way.

  11. 11.

    scav

    March 19, 2015 at 1:03 pm

    Notice the Developing Rural Internet for a Vibrant Economy is emphatically not a part of their idealized government’s economic infrastructure remit, just the paved stuff. Must be because pavement is the only thing keeping back a vibrant economy, fuck that digital / mail-based flash-in-the-pan vaporware stuff. Doesn’t exist. Lay that Pavement, They Will Buy.

  12. 12.

    Belafon

    March 19, 2015 at 1:03 pm

    @pseudonymous in nc: Without buses, Those People can’t get to the jobs that Real Americans are more qualified for.

  13. 13.

    Bobby B.

    March 19, 2015 at 1:04 pm

    “Never trust an acronym. Never, never never…”
    -Winston Churchill

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    March 19, 2015 at 1:06 pm

    Capital idea! Let’s get rid of public transit and pedestrians, get everybody using them into cars, trucks, SUVs and then build more roads to handle the huge spike in passenger vehicle miles simultaneous with fixing today’s decayed roads and bridges. That will be a money-saver for sure!

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    March 19, 2015 at 1:08 pm

    @NonyNony:
    IIUC the trick in SoCal is to slow down the routes parallel to new toll roads and force more cars onto them. And then there are the “Lexus lanes.”

    Is there nothing libertarianism can’t fvck up?

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 19, 2015 at 1:18 pm

    The stupid. IT BURNS!

  17. 17.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 19, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    signed into law by…*drum roll*…that known socialist collectivist Ronald Reagan in 1982.

    The demographic timer was not ringing then. Racist whites felt thoroughly in charge and could afford to be magnanimous and compromise.

  18. 18.

    boatboy_srq

    March 19, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    “Currently, gas tax revenue is diverted from the federal Highway Trust Fund for bike paths, sidewalks, mass transit, and other local projects,” said Congressman Massie. “But due to inflation and fuel efficiency improvements of today’s vehicles, there is no longer enough money in the Highway Trust Fund to maintain our nation’s critical highways and bridges while also funding local projects that have no federal nexus.”

    That there’s some serious hippie-punching. Any good Righteous Xtian Hetero Patriotic Real Ahmurrcan hates bicycles, mass transit and fuel efficient vehicles all about the same because they diminish God-Given Exceptional Ahmurrcan Consumption. So in one hit this idjit has swatted cyclists, walkers, transit-riders and anyone using an at-least-reasonably-efficient car, just so he can put more federal dollars into more tarmac for the Right Kind of People in their Hummers. Notice that he’s looking to save budget dollars and not actually invest in the infrastructure that is needed because the HTF can’t cover it and the states can’t be arsed to attend to it. At a time when more infrastructure spending is desperately needed, this genius is more interested in scoring points with people who think anything less than their own personal gas-guzzler is proof of some Soshulist United Nations plot. Any word on what his take on the CAFE standard is – besides Obummer preventing Good Upstanding Citizens from consuming their recommended daily allowance of petroleum?

  19. 19.

    boatboy_srq

    March 19, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    @trollhattan: That is how they sold Los Angeles on perpetual gridlock.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    @trollhattan:
    The toll roads in Southern California are still losing money. The underlying problem is that transportation is a public good, so you’ll never be able to completely recoup the costs based on use fees.

  21. 21.

    chopper

    March 19, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    why can’t we just pave the roads with the corpses of the poor?

  22. 22.

    chopper

    March 19, 2015 at 1:31 pm

    @Bobby B.:

    …said the PM of the UK.

  23. 23.

    Linnaeus

    March 19, 2015 at 1:31 pm

    Slightly OT, but am I the only one who dislikes these legislation titles that are made to sound “snappy” and form silly acronyms? I confess that I like the boring names like “Roads Act of 2015” much better.

  24. 24.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 1:32 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    That is how they sold Los Angeles on perpetual gridlock.

    It’s not perpetual. You can totally avoid gridlock by driving at 3 AM.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 1:36 pm

    @Linnaeus:

    Slightly OT, but am I the only one who dislikes these legislation titles that are made to sound “snappy” and form silly acronyms?

    Not at all; I feel the same way. Good laws can sell themselves based on what they accomplish. It’s only real stinkers that have to resort to clever naming gimmicks to convince people they’re doing something worthwhile.

  26. 26.

    Zam

    March 19, 2015 at 1:37 pm

    If we just remove efficiency standards, banned bikes, and got rid of transit systems people would be using more gas, and thus the income from the gas tax would go up. What could possibly be bad about that?

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 19, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    @Roger Moore: This is pretty much the Max Bialystok method of getting rich on Broadway.

  28. 28.

    Belafon

    March 19, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    @Zam: We could also require that every drive at least 30 miles to their job.

    While we’re at it, we could also require everyone to buy the same stuff this year that they bought last year.

  29. 29.

    Tenar Darell

    March 19, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    One of the most annoying/disturbing/infuriating (I don’t know how to describe this feeling) things about gambits like this is that elderly who live in cities can actually (except during snowpocalypses) get around better because of public transportation. Eliminating support for transit actually creates a housebound elder population who cannot reach services! (okay, now I’m mad)

  30. 30.

    SatanicPanic

    March 19, 2015 at 1:53 pm

    @Roger Moore: Anytime we’re taking a trip up north we usually leave SD around 3 AM so we can get past LA and the OC before traffic gets bad. That mostly works. I love LA, but sometimes your fine city is basically a big speedbump on the way to better places.

  31. 31.

    Brendan in NC

    March 19, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    @Roger Moore: @Roger Moore: They’re trying something like that here in Charlotte.
    Governor McCrory (aka Gov. Conflict of Interest) was mayor here during the boom years. He “helped” local and state DOT by underestimating the growth rate and need for new infrastructure by building 2 lane highways when current 2 lane highways were already overcrowded.

    Now that he’s Governor, he wants to “help” us by only building toll lanes to relieve overcrowding on I-77 and the I-485 loop. He’s got a contract in place with a foreign company to manage the lanes for 50 years. And the State’s on the hook for the difference between actual revenue, and projected revenue.

    On I-485, they’ve got an extra lane all ready to go. But if they stripe it for regular traffic, they can’t make it a toll lane later on. So it sits, unused, behind orange barrels – laughing at commuters.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    @Tenar Darell:
    Actually, everyone in big cities can get around better thanks to public transportation, even people who don’t use it. Moving people out of private cars and into public transit frees up space on the roads for everyone else. As bad as traffic is now, it would be far, far worse if we shut down public transportation.

  33. 33.

    raven

    March 19, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    @Roger Moore: Traffic was great during the 84 Olympics, maybe Ueberroth has some ideas?

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 19, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    @Tenar Darell: Well, those elderly should have gotten a loan from their parents to start their own business so they could afford a car and driver, or should have cashed in some of that wedding gift stock to pay for a car and driver.

  35. 35.

    Brendan in NC

    March 19, 2015 at 1:59 pm

    @Roger Moore: I agree. But the devil in me would love to see Democrats create a bill that spelled out GOP PR BS

  36. 36.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 19, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    @chopper: And can’t some “high-test” petroleum product be created from the bones of the people we bomb overseas?

  37. 37.

    SatanicPanic

    March 19, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    OT, but if you’re depressed about the transit situation in your state, you should read about the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel in Seattle. Talk about a dumbass use of money. Would have been better off giving the Seahawks another stadium

  38. 38.

    raven

    March 19, 2015 at 2:03 pm

    @SatanicPanic: The ain’t messin with the bridge troll are they?

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 19, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    All together now:

    “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”

  40. 40.

    SatanicPanic

    March 19, 2015 at 2:08 pm

    @raven: no, they’re trying to get their borer unstuck and hoping the whole area doesn’t sink. I don’t know why I get so much pleasure out of seeing people fail.

  41. 41.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    Lack of mass transit is a factor in:

    unemployment
    chronic health problems
    road deaths
    pedestrian deaths
    chronic poverty

    I know people who went to jail because they wouldn’t stop driving on their suspended license. I know guys who walk 3 miles on the weekend to the bus stop so they won’t be trapped in the house but they have about 3 dozen neighbors who are.

    Or just this:

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/03/10/377566905/a-sheriff-and-a-doctor-team-up-to-map-childhood-trauma

    Just by the way they mention it takes TWO HOURS (on a good day) to get to the health department from Linton Oaks.

    That’s because the county and the city refuse to fund decent transit service, and the university which does fund most of the service refuses the fuck to fund a bus out there. (There was a push a couple of years ago but Machen took care of that by making UF unaffordable to non-rich kids.)

    But you know who COULD fund shit? Oh yeah, the federal government. But with a few exceptions they refuse to do so. Even though it would be good for the environment and fight poverty. Fuck you, disabled people. Fuck you, old people without a huge kitty or kids in town to drive you around. Fuck you especially, poors. Hope your kids are good at dodging cars and that person you pay to drive you to work doesn’t rape you.

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 19, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    @SatanicPanic: Unfortunately, there is a subset of Seattleites who are as wedded to their autos as any Angeleno, and can’t imagine a downtown Seattle with fewer autos offset by mass transit.

  43. 43.

    raven

    March 19, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    @SatanicPanic: Holy smokes!

  44. 44.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    @SatanicPanic: That was fucked up, but didn’t it survive politically because the eastern half of the state wanted specifically to fuck with Seattle?

    It is sad. And stupid.

    It also goes against the notion of projects coming from the MPO priority list. If the city doesn’t want it how is it the priority project?

  45. 45.

    Mike J

    March 19, 2015 at 2:13 pm

    The house is controlled by districts that are out in the sticks. There’s no mass transit in a town of 10,000, so they don’t understand why you need it in a city of four or five million. And that’s the generous interpretation.

    I’ve seen it in Virginia and in Washington. The deadbeat bumpkins think it’s unfair that the teeming hoardes in the evil big city get any money at all spent on their projects, and never think about the fact that the vast majority of the state’s income comes from the city. It’s a microcosm of the way the blue states pay all the bills for the backwards states.

  46. 46.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:16 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Well, transit in Seattle is only good for going in and out, but, hey, last time I was there me and my friends, including the preggers lady, just walked up and down, from Space Needle to Chinatown. Fuck yeah. It’s a great city to walk. The auto jockeys are missing out.

  47. 47.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:17 pm

    @Mike J: They actually need transit in the sticks, very badly, so it’s cut off nose to spite face in action.

  48. 48.

    SatanicPanic

    March 19, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: I don’t know what the motivation was, just enjoying seeing a bad idea end in total disaster. At this point I’d just bury the borer, demolish the viaduct and sell off the waterfront land to recoup some money. But I don’t think that’s going to happen so I have years more pointing and laughing to do.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    March 19, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    @Tenar Darell:

    One of the most annoying/disturbing/infuriating (I don’t know how to describe this feeling) things about gambits like this is that elderly who live in cities can actually (except during snowpocalypses) get around better because of public transportation. Eliminating support for transit actually creates a housebound elder population who cannot reach services! (okay, now I’m mad)

    OTOH Buick sales would skyrocket.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    @raven:

    Traffic was great during the 84 Olympics, maybe Ueberroth has some ideas?

    They told everyone that traffic was going to be horrible, so they should only drive when absolutely necessary. That will work when there’s some temporary traffic issue that people can avoid by postponing things or avoiding unnecessary trips- and it’s continued to work for other temporary traffic hassles, like Carmageddon and Jamzilla- but it’s not a permanent solution. We actually have a very aggressive public transit construction program, with construction underway on 5 new or extended light rail lines, that should help substantially with traffic.

  51. 51.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    @Roger Moore: If you take a class in transportation network theory, the only rational use of user fees at point of use is to influence route or mode choice. So, for example, daily fees on cars in the Northeast corridor influence some commuters to use the bus or train. Tolls influence commuters to stay off the toll road (hence the selling point of the toll road being faster). Manhattan has a problem because all the bridges are tolled but one, and the one that isn’t tolled gets a stupid amount of traffic that negatively impacts the neighborhood. Unfortunately when they did make a push to toll it (and exempt local residents!) the usual suspects who have fear and loathing of anything changing fought it off. Enjoy your pollution sandwich.

    Of course, if you WANT people to take public transit, WHY are you charging them every time they get on? Hmm. Hmmmmm.

  52. 52.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    Notice that he’s looking to save budget dollars and not actually invest in the infrastructure that is needed because the HTF can’t cover it and the states can’t be arsed to attend to it. At a time when more infrastructure spending is desperately needed, this genius is more interested in scoring points with people who think anything less than their own personal gas-guzzler is proof of some Soshulist United Nations plot.

    Yup. Note that on the state level, states are trying to find ways to get back the revenue that Prius drivers, etc, are denying them by sipping gas.

    I think in Virginia they tried to straight up slap a sumptuary tax on hybrids. That went over like a lead balloon (but probably sounded great to those dicks in the Piedmont region).

  53. 53.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 19, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    Massie seems to be more concerned with moving cars around than with moving people around.

    Which is is primary failing with this legislation.

  54. 54.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    @Belafon:

    Without buses, Those People can’t get to the jobs that Real Americans are more qualified for.

    This is a plan that could not possibly fail!

  55. 55.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    @JPL:

    A few years ago, they tried to privatize a new road in GA. The investors wanted a guaranteed income and the state dropped the idea. That’s free enterprise for you.

    That is a truly shocking attack of sanity by the Georgia lege.

  56. 56.

    sparrow

    March 19, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    @boatboy_srq: I just hear a really good argument for raising the gas tax.

  57. 57.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    @Mike J: For some reason I thought you meant the state house, but of course you mean the US House. This is so true. Year after year they propose to eliminate all transit (and get rid of bikes because “Agenda 21” argle bargle). The states long since told them to stop building shiny new highways if there’s no money to maintain them, but the GOP isn’t interested in solving problems … for citizens. They’re even blowing off the US Chamber of Commerce and other GOP-leaning groups on this one.

    Nope, time to get your tribalism on. Never mind that rural areas for years have relied on paratransit services for their most vulnerable residents (which are horribly underfunded or in the case of Florida just straight up getting cut–and people are going to die because of this, because there goes their access to health care), including special funding pools (implemented by Reagan) because even the Feds know these rural communities can’t find the dosh themselves, nope, it’s a rural-exurb alliance to punish the city people for living in the city and being so urban and social and shit.

  58. 58.

    boatboy_srq

    March 19, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Worse even than that. Governor Ultrasound tried using the “usage fee” styled tax premium for low-consumption (hybrid/electric/high-efficiency) vehicles to roll back penalties for guzzlers.

  59. 59.

    NonyNony

    March 19, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Actually, everyone in big cities can get around better thanks to public transportation, even people who don’t use it. Moving people out of private cars and into public transit frees up space on the roads for everyone else.

    I have tried explaining this to people and they always react like I’ve grown a second head.

    How hard is it to understand that for every 50 people who normally drive their own cars taking a bus instead, that’s 50 fewer cars on the road? Investing in making a low cost bus system is GREAT for drivers who want to cut down on their own commute times even if they have no intention at all of riding the bus themselves.

    And yet – they can’t see that argument. At all. Like they literally do not understand that helping someone else might actually help them too, if only indirectly. Or maybe it’s the basic math they struggle with – I dunno.

  60. 60.

    boatboy_srq

    March 19, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    @sparrow: True. But raising taxes is verboten by the Teahad’s 12th Commandment (the 11th being Thou Shalt Not Enable Brown/Queer/Female People) so there’s no way Massie would advocate that. The Reichwing would even hold of on Norquist’s excommunication long enough for him to lobby against it.

  61. 61.

    WereBear

    March 19, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @NonyNony: Like they literally do not understand that helping someone else might actually help them too, if only indirectly.

    It’s true. They literally do not understand it. There should be a new item in the DSM: “Zero Sum Thinking Disorder.”

    There’s a diagnostic category for people who never get past a very early ego stage. Known as splitting, it’s a known problem with people who will be your best buddy one second, but you disagree with them even slightly and now they want to hunt you down.

    I believe this extends to an understanding of human cooperation, economics, traffic management… all kinds of modern structures are completely alien to them. Because their brains literally do not work as well as they should. They can’t conceptualize.

  62. 62.

    Zandar

    March 19, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @boatboy_srq: Not only that, but Massie’s clearly signaling that he’ll work to stop any effort to raise the gas tax. He takes his marching orders from Rand Paul and Justin Amash whenever possible.

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    March 19, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    @NonyNony:
    If I really want to set them off, I bring up bicycle commuting. Onliest thing worse than a moocher in a city bus or light rail is an aging DFH or hipster on a bike.
    “I saw a bike on the sidewalk Tuesday. They’re all arrogant!”

    And, scene.

  64. 64.

    Botsplainer

    March 19, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    The sniveling little shitnugget is the pasty-faced, rosy-cheeked Kochsucker who allegedly represents me (I live in a pulsing red pustule of an exurb outside The People’s Democratic Socialist Republic of Louisville, and eagerly anticipate moving back into that socialist hellhole of high quality eateries, creative bars, bike lanes, sustainable development and awesome nightclubs).

    He has no real knowledge of the area, has no concept of specific projects beyond “Ah’m agin’ ’em – they’s socialistical communism”, and simply parrots the national conservative line.

    Used to be that rural and exurban GOPers knew how to bring home pork, and knew their districts. The current Congressional Kochsuckers only know to snowball their masters Chuck and Dave.

  65. 65.

    Roger Moore

    March 19, 2015 at 3:00 pm

    @NonyNony:

    Like they literally do not understand that helping someone else might actually help them too, if only indirectly.

    It’s the indirectly part that gets them. They certainly believe that building more roads would help them, and they’re perfectly willing to accept that it would help other drivers, too. I assume that the big problem for them is that they assume the only reason somebody would use public transportation is because they’re not able to drive. The idea of voluntarily getting out of one’s car to use the train or bus is beyond their comprehension, and that has to happen for public transportation to help drivers.

  66. 66.

    catclub

    March 19, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    The Reichwing would even hold of on Norquist’s excommunication long enough for him to lobby against it.

    How is that ex-comm going?

  67. 67.

    Chris T.

    March 19, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    I have one of those newfangled plug-in hybrids and when I drive electric I pay no gas tax.

    (As it happens I drive at least half on gas anyway but that’s not the point here.)

    The state of Washington had a proposal to tax EVs an extra $100/yr. This is the wrong answer: the right one is to tax all vehicles, electric or not. If you’re going to add some sort of scaling factor (EV-vs-not) the #1 scale factor should be the weight of the vehicle since it’s primarily heavy vehicles that “wear out” road surfaces. You could also add “miles driven”, which is of course imperfect since not all miles are driven in that particular state, but easy to do since odometer readings can be taken at each smog/safety check (during re-registration): “easy and slightly better” is, well, better, than “easy and worse”.

    It’s true that if you drive strictly electric you pay less gas tax … but it’s also true that if you buy a 40+ mpg vehicle you also pay less gas tax. WA state’s gas tax is $.375/gal, so an average (25mpg) vehicle driven an average (12k mi/year) amount brings in about $180. At 40 mpg that same driver pays $112.50, and at 50 mpg (non-plug-in Prius), only $90.

    I’m not sure how one could set up a Federal “vehicle on roadway” tax, but separating it from fuel source is a good idea (what happens when 18-wheelers have all converted to CNG or LNG powered hybrid drives?).

  68. 68.

    boatboy_srq

    March 19, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @catclub: I haven’t heard anything since Beck lobbied the NRA to kick him off the board, but apparently they hate Muslims more than they hate taxes or they wouldn’t be doing this.

  69. 69.

    Calouste

    March 19, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    That is a truly shocking attack of sanity by the Georgia lege.

    Some people see an attack of sanity, other people assume that the bribes campaign contributions weren’t high enough.

  70. 70.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 3:23 pm

    @Botsplainer: Sounds like the angry suburban trash is getting dumber, too.

    ‘Burbs suck. Maybe they actually drive people mad. Would explain the global resurgence of right wing politics. 2-3 decades of suburb building world wide.

  71. 71.

    Calouste

    March 19, 2015 at 3:23 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    It’s the indirectly part that gets them.

    I’m not so sure about that, I think it’s the helping someone else part that gets them, or at least that’s the part where their thinking* stops. Once resources go to someone else, they don’t go to them so they lose. It’s all about zero-sum, win-win is a concept they don’t grasp.

    * Might not be the technically correct term.

  72. 72.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    @NonyNony:

    I have tried explaining this to people and they always react like I’ve grown a second head.

    I’ve seen people, without a touch of irony, argue for transportation like Atlanta, GA. And no, they didn’t mean MARTA. They meant the other thing. Giant, ‘hood dividing highways. And they thought it would make commutes better. If they were arguing for racist reasons (which is what shaped Atlanta transpo policies) there would at least have been some connection to reality.

  73. 73.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 3:29 pm

    @boatboy_srq: I knew there was something I was forgetting. Yeah, that was classic.

  74. 74.

    Tenar Darell

    March 19, 2015 at 3:34 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Oh, but that doesn’t matter! Even if the elderly have even a little money, they may have Depression era saving ingrained in their souls to the point that they can’t get their hands out of their pockets enough to take a cab combined with the idea of the freedom and independence a car is supposed to bring…. /sigh

    One of those big transitional conversations between children and their elderly parents is always when to give up the car. The sadder one is the one between children about when mom or dad should stop driving, or how to stop them driving.

    Our parents and grandparents created their own version of No Exit, didn’t they?

  75. 75.

    Tommy

    March 19, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    @Mike J:

    The house is controlled by districts that are out in the sticks. There’s no mass transit in a town of 10,000, so they don’t understand why you need it in a city of four or five million. And that’s the generous interpretation.

    I live in a town of 5,700 and we have rail and bus. So it is possible.

  76. 76.

    Cervantes

    March 19, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    @Tommy:

    How are your rail and bus infrastructure and services funded?

  77. 77.

    WereBear

    March 19, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    @Tenar Darell: Gosh, I hear you. I was the one who rode with Grandma and later had a cousin come over and snitch the distributor cap out of the car.

    Between selling the car and saving on gas and insurance, she would have gotten back enough money to take cabs for the rest of her life… and then some.

    Wouldn’t do it.

  78. 78.

    caroln

    March 19, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    @boatboy_srq: Except sales tax. See Michigan.

  79. 79.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    @Tenar Darell: Or in my family, where they don’t communicate, just silently cringing as the person they know IS FUCKING BLIND is still driving around.

    Well, blame the state if you will, but every time states try to implement vision testing for older drivers people go ballistic.

    16yo males and 70+ are the biggest demos for collisions.

  80. 80.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 3:56 pm

    @Cervantes: Blue state.

  81. 81.

    raven

    March 19, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    So I have UAB in our Calcutta which pays nice money on the 1st round upset. Georgia State, also a 14 seed, beats Baylor by one and the margin of victory is the tiebreaker. UAB also won by one.

  82. 82.

    JoyfulA

    March 19, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    @Tenar Darell: Gah, we’re having that conversation now.

  83. 83.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 19, 2015 at 4:08 pm

    NYTIMES:

    JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Thursday tried to walk back his pre-election declaration that no Palestinian state would be established on his watch, but his new assertions appeared to do nothing to assuage an infuriated Obama administration.

    In an interview on MSNBC, Mr. Netanyahu also said he had not been trying to suppress the votes of Arab citizens with an Election Day video warning that they were heading to polling stations in large numbers.

    Mr. Netanyahu said that he still wanted “a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that he had not intended to reverse the position he took endorsing that in a 2009 speech at BarIlan University. “I haven’t changed my policy,” he said in the interview, his first since his resounding victory on Tuesday, which handed him a fourth term. “What has changed is the reality.”

  84. 84.

    Tommy

    March 19, 2015 at 4:08 pm

    @Cervantes: Statewide. People all over the state are paying partly for the system I have here in southern Illinois. In fact a few years ago politicians from Chicago and the surrounding burbs wanted to cut our funding. Politicians from my part of the state, in a totally bipartisan thing, said we’d shut down Springfield and the Capital if they tried. We won.

  85. 85.

    Tommy

    March 19, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: That is clearly part of it. Of course there is debate between the left and right about this or that. But funny thing now we have it I am not sure I know of a single politician that is saying let’s get rid of it.

  86. 86.

    Cervantes

    March 19, 2015 at 4:24 pm

    @Tommy:

    Sounds great.

    Are you in one of the following counties? Massac, Union, Pulaski, Alexander, Johnson, or Jackson? Are the funds for the program run through Shawnee or are you talking about something relatively new?

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Yes, thanks.

  87. 87.

    Tommy

    March 19, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    @Cervantes: St. Clair County. Honestly I am not sure where the funding is managed. I would think here locally and also in MO, since the line runs across state lines. From Wikipedia:

    The St. Clair County Transit District is a transit district that serves the townships of St. Clair County, Illinois and Monroe County, Illinois. It was created in 1981 under the Illinois Mass Transit District Act. The Transit District does not operate any buses directly but has executed contracts with others to provide transportation service for the fifteen townships that make up the District.

  88. 88.

    Cervantes

    March 19, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    @Tommy:

    Thanks!

  89. 89.

    Tommy

    March 19, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    @Cervantes: Oh one other thing. My parents have a timeshare condo in Nashville. Been there a couple times. Nashville has some pretty kickass public transportation. It can be done in metro areas that are not NYC or Chicago. It can be done!

  90. 90.

    RaflW

    March 19, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    So sidewalks are not actually part of roads. Got it.

    Why does the GOP hate American children!?!

  91. 91.

    Cliff in NH

    March 19, 2015 at 6:05 pm

    In NH the blue buses were funded by the stimulus act, it’s the only reason they exist.
    http://www.tccap.org/nct_cct.htm

    http://tricountycaptransit.weebly.com/

    http://www.wmwv.com/c-daily-sun-blue-loon-buses-span-carroll-county/

  92. 92.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 19, 2015 at 6:55 pm

    @Cliff in NH: Thanks, Obama!

  93. 93.

    Cliff in NH

    March 19, 2015 at 8:13 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    it also helps all the disabled and old get to doctors appointments, plus they will come to your door if you are within a 1/4 mile of their route. fares are way cheaper than a taxi if you don’t have a car in the north country.

  94. 94.

    Cervantes

    March 19, 2015 at 9:59 pm

    @Cliff in NH:

    In NH the blue buses were funded by the stimulus act

    Glad to hear about such a good use of funds.

    Thanks for the links!

  95. 95.

    Zinsky

    March 19, 2015 at 10:25 pm

    These assholes don’t seem to get that oil and its derivative, gasoline, are finite, dirty resources. They will not last forever. In fact, even if we frack every shale deposit on the planet, we might have 50 years supply at current usage rates. We wouldn’t want to begin planning for the complete loss of this resource, now would we? For fucks sake, these conservative sphincters can’t see two minutes into the future, can they??

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