The fate of mass transit in an age of deficit hysteria

[marmar]

from Grist:



The fate of mass transit in an age of deficit hysteria

by Tom Philpott
11 Aug 2010 9:30 AM


A month ago, with the climate bill still on life support, I argued that greens needed to move on from climate legislation and get seriously engaged in economic policy.

My argument went like this: The economy is stalled at 9.5 percent unemployment and desperately needs a jolt of government stimulus; interest rates on government borrowing are at rock bottom; to create the new energy and food systems in a carbon-constrained future of dwindling fossil fuels, we'll need new infrastructures; therefore, it's time to push for a green stimulus plan to put people to work and build out those infrastructures.

In the weeks since then, the climate bill officially died. Meanwhile, the bad economy is starting to prove disastrous for what little green-economy infrastructure we have. Last week, the New York Times' Michael Cooper published a jaw-dropping piece on how cash-strapped states are slashing vital public services. Writes Cooper:

Faced with the steepest and longest decline in tax collections on record, state, county, and city governments have resorted to major life-changing cuts in core services like education, transportation and public safety that, not too long ago, would have been unthinkable. And services in many areas could get worse before they get better.

The cuts to education budgets are probably most chilling, but for our purposes, let's look at the case of mass transit. "Public transportation has taken a beating during the downturn," Cooper reports. "In most places, that has meant longer waits for more crowded, dirtier and more expensive trains and buses." Of course, when you take a generally underfunded and inconvenient mass-transit system, slash its funds and make it less convenient, you're sending a stark signal to the citizenry: mass transit sucks. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-08-11-forget-deficit-hysteria-we-should-be-investing-in-mass-transit/

[Billy Burnett]

1. No school, police, fire brigades, etc demonstrates America's rugged individualism.

Freedumb, babay. Freedumb.