Bushco discourages car pooling. Says build new roads and charge fees.

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070212/pl_nm/bush_economy_report_transportation_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Carpooling won't do much to reduce U.S. highway congestion in urban areas, and a better solution would be to build new highways and charge drivers fees to use them, the White House said on Monday.

"It is increasingly appropriate to charge drivers for some roadway use in the same way the private market charges for other goods and services," the White House said in its annual report on the U.S. economy.

"If a roadway is priced -- that is, if drivers have to pay a fee to access a particular road -- then congestion can be avoided by adjusting the price up or down at different times of day to reflect changes in demand for its use," the White House said. "Road space is allocated to drivers who most highly value a reliable and unimpaired commute."

Critics of such fees argue that road tolls would make new highways reserved mostly for wealthy drivers, who are more likely to travel in expensive, gas-guzzling vehicles.

(end snip)

"The Whitehouse said"... I didn't know the house could talk. Why don't they quote the idiot who said this, rather than suggest that a house can talk.

[IWantAChange]

1. Bushco logic continues to amaze me - what's next? - charge for clean air??

[Union Thug]

5. Libertarians would say YES! Union Thug says, "Try it" :-) n/t

[Union Thug]

2. Um, how about investing in public transportation?

I'm so sick of these greasy bastards. Take your toll roads and shove them right up... yeah.

[redqueen]

3. CA-RAZY!

:crazy:

[LSparkle]

4. The big, fat, greedy White House ...

Social (economic?) Darwinism is their answer to everything, across the board. Why don't these selfish ELITISTS all move to Monaco or start their own "richies only" country and leave us to work for the COMMON GOOD in the U.S.A.?

[jaxx]

6. This must mean we the people quit paying for the roads.

Yeah right. But with so many going to foreign investors to be ran as toll roads, surely dubya doesn't think we will pay for the roads to be built and maintained........or does he? That's a no go.

[liberal N proud]

7. It fits with bu$h's New America - Only those who can afford to pay will drive

The rest will just sit at home while their jobs go overseas.
The roadways will be cleared of congestion and all the Hummers and Limousines can cruise through without the hassle of us common people.

"congestion can be avoided by adjusting the price up or down at different times of day to reflect changes in demand for its use" Who the hell dreams up this shit?

[Tanuki]

8. Bush has never had to commute to work, and sit backed up at the toll booth.

When I lived in Massachusetts and had to commute in to Boston every day on the Mass Pike, the toll booths were incredibly irritating and a monumental waste of time. It is also a stealth tax that is not applied uniformly, as some people drive equivalent distances but their routes don't include a tollway. It is just another example of the type of burden he would so blithely inflict on others, but would never have to bear himself. I often wondered how much money the economy lost in terms of wasted hours of productivity if you added up the time everyone spent sitting there at the tollbooth bottlenecks. "Unimpaired commute" on a tollway? Dream on, Bubble Boy.

[unpossibles]

9. of course. reducing the number of cars will do nothing to cut back on the number of cars

or something equally crazy.

[AllegroRondo]

10. theres no profit in carpooling

if we build new roads, think of all those big juicy contracts!

[cdnwannabe]

11. Why do we always have to go in the opposite direction...

of the rest of the world??? The only smart solution for a future without cheap fossil fuel is more mass transit!!!

[Kadie]

12. .

:kick: