Re: shuttle disaster
Gary Turner <kk5st@sbcglobal.net> writes:
> DvB wrote:
>
> >Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> writes:
> >
> >> On Fri, 2003-02-07 at 03:59, James Buchanan wrote:
> >> > > On Thu, Feb 06, 2003 at 11:34:51PM -0600, DvB wrote:
> >> > > > "James Buchanan" <jamesbuch@iprimus.com.au> writes:
>
> <snip whole bunches>
>
> > Once
> >you find a private company or NGO that's willing to provide adequate
> >transportation service to my metropolitan area, without making a profit,
> >I might also be willing to discuss the possibility of giving them my
> >taxes intead of the government.
>
> Now, just exactly why should someone risk their capital to provide you a
> service without expecting a positive return? It looks like what you
> really want is for someone else to pay for what you [want to] use.
That is exactly what the government was created to do. Once you find a
company that's willing to do what the government already does, then you
can talk about getting for profit companies to offer me that type of
service.
> If you're not willing to pay full fare, maybe you don't really want it
> as much as you say.
>
Nobody who uses a car pays the full cost of their mode of
transportation. Nobody has ever suggested turning road building and
maintenance over to a private company that would, in turn, put toll
booths all over the place. There'd probably be rioting if that
happened. It's just sort of an accepted thing that everyone pays for
roads and parking lots whether or not they want them or use them.
This is also without taking into account that tax dollars that are used
to treat people with asma caused by smog or who were seriously injured
in an automobile accident and lack insurance, among other things.
> If government does not create a (private) monopoly, and profits are
> *too* large, competition will arise to create balance.
I assume this is supposed to be an argument supporting privitization of
public transit. When the building and maintenance of automobile
facilities is handed over to a for-profit company and motorists are
paying for the full cost of their transportation, then I'll consider it.
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