Should roads be privitized?

[© tweed]

Show me where I insulted Bono or Boss Tweed?

Joke Republic and Scoonie both make asses out of themselves by being hyperpartisans. Al's reponse to everything is "No..." and "You don't understand." He never takes any time at all to explain what he means, or back up his points. I have seriously had better conversations with four year olds, so calling him one should be taken as a compliment.

New Federalist and Ilikeverin are both trolls who have insulted me several times in the past.

NewFeddy and ILV aren't trolls by any means.  Feddy is a great person, a nice old man, he wishes no harm to anybody.  I don't how how to say it more clearly than that.

ILV isn't a troll, he's just 14 and acts very young.  He isn't a troll, he just acts young.

And if you have a problem with the way Al posts, try to refute his posts instead of calling him a 4-year-old.  That's a much more sensible and effective strategy.  The same applies to Joe and Scoonie: just because they disagree with you doesn't make them idiots.  You can't grasp that concept, apparently.

[A18]

No, a tongue in cheek post about Smash's partisanship does not qualify as an attack.

My post was not 'against' Bono. You're too dumb to being calling anything 'inaccurate' or 'nonsense.' Go to http://www.lewrockwell.com/ and do a search for any free market thinker that doesn't completely agree with their 100% anti-government in philosophy other than Grover Cleveland and Calvin Coolidge.

They practically call Milton Friedman a socialist.

I talk to Bono sometimes on AIM. I was not attacking by calling him as "Austrian type," which refers to Austrian school economics.

[Joe Republic]

Oh I'm sorry.  Then that's just seven people you've personally insulted in the last 24 hours.

I don't doubt your intelligence, Philip.  You're clearly a very clever kid.  But these personal attacks on people who disagree with you, or who misinterpret what you try to post, have to stop.  Your immaturity betrays your intelligence.

[A18]

I'll take that as a concession that Austrian types are extreme. Not that I have a problem with extremism.

[Emsworth]

... Austrian types are extreme.

Well, I wouldn't quite put it that way. They aren't extreme in the same sense as (say) Marxists.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

As Goldwater might say, extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

[opebo]

No, they should not.  Also, the government should build fewer of them and tax their use very heavily (a high gas tax).

[John Dibble]

No, they should not.  Also, the government should build fewer of them and tax their use very heavily (a high gas tax).

Oppressing the working class - we see opebo's true intentions at last.

[MaC]

Well, I wouldn't mind buying the street that my house sits on just so that I can use it to block traffic and give everyone a hard time. People can always take another street, even if it adds an additional ten minutes onto their travel time. I mean, it's just like a board game! Annoying people is fun!!!

[/sarcasm]

I hate to take the point counter to the extreme free market position, but Everett has a point.  If there's a highway and an owner buys it from the goverment and doesn't want anyone on it, he could keep the road all to himself.  This would prevent many people from getting where they want, and cause an inconvinience in trying to find another route.  However You could have public roads and have the private sector charge money to maintain them.  Although I hate being moderate, I think this stance might work alright.

[Gabu]

Well, I wouldn't mind buying the street that my house sits on just so that I can use it to block traffic and give everyone a hard time. People can always take another street, even if it adds an additional ten minutes onto their travel time. I mean, it's just like a board game! Annoying people is fun!!!

[/sarcasm]

I hate to take the point counter to the extreme free market position, but Everett has a point.  If there's a highway and an owner buys it from the goverment and doesn't want anyone on it, he could keep the road all to himself.  This would prevent many people from getting where they want, and cause an inconvinience in trying to find another route.  However You could have public roads and have the private sector charge money to maintain them.  Although I hate being moderate, I think this stance might work alright.

What?  That's crazy.  The free market will solve anything!  ANYTHING!!!

[opebo]

No, they should not.  Also, the government should build fewer of them and tax their use very heavily (a high gas tax).

Oppressing the working class - we see opebo's true intentions at last.

No, not oppressing, just asking them (or any driver) to pay the real cost of the drive.  It is more efficient to live in dense urban centers.  It is also far more pleasant and interesting.

[Gabu]

It is also far more pleasant and interesting.

That's a rather subjective thing to assert in such absolute terms.  Why should everyone else be forced to live in dense urban centers purely because of your subjective opinion that they are more pleasant and interesting?

[Bono]

Imagine every street, road, highway and driveway in the country like this.

there are quite a good deal of automatic toll systems.
Herer in Portugal I thibnk more than half of the users use it already.

[opebo]

It is also far more pleasant and interesting.

That's a rather subjective thing to assert in such absolute terms.  Why should everyone else be forced to live in dense urban centers purely because of your subjective opinion that they are more pleasant and interesting?

I never said that.  I merely suggested they should be charged the real price of the drive - say 200% gas tax and a $5,000 fee on a new car.  My comment about how hellish suburban life is compared to the interesting urban life was merely an attempt to emeliorate their sadness at being deprived of the joy of the daily commute.

[muon2]

Well, I wouldn't mind buying the street that my house sits on just so that I can use it to block traffic and give everyone a hard time. People can always take another street, even if it adds an additional ten minutes onto their travel time. I mean, it's just like a board game! Annoying people is fun!!!

[/sarcasm]

I hate to take the point counter to the extreme free market position, but Everett has a point.  If there's a highway and an owner buys it from the goverment and doesn't want anyone on it, he could keep the road all to himself.  This would prevent many people from getting where they want, and cause an inconvinience in trying to find another route.  However You could have public roads and have the private sector charge money to maintain them.  Although I hate being moderate, I think this stance might work alright.

That seems to be the common practice already. In most local jursidictions major repair work is contracted to private firms. In some, usually smaller, jurisdictions minor maintainance is contracted out as well.

In my community the cost of outsourcing is compared to the cost of the work using municipal employees. Costs for overhead are figured in, so it's not just salaries. If the cost is lower for external work, and an appropriate bid come in, it goes to the private firm. There's not a good reason to use public dollars to pay a private firm more than it would cost to do it with paid staff.

For example, my city currently uses external private contractors for major road projects, reconstruction design engineering, traffic and use analysis, and for materials in smaller maintenance work. City staff performs road inspection and prioritization, minor patch repairs, and oversight of contractors from the bid preparation through final punch list.

The tasks do and should differ from city to city based on the cost effectiveness of tasks within the organization.

[MaC]

Well, I wouldn't mind buying the street that my house sits on just so that I can use it to block traffic and give everyone a hard time. People can always take another street, even if it adds an additional ten minutes onto their travel time. I mean, it's just like a board game! Annoying people is fun!!!

[/sarcasm]

I hate to take the point counter to the extreme free market position, but Everett has a point.  If there's a highway and an owner buys it from the goverment and doesn't want anyone on it, he could keep the road all to himself.  This would prevent many people from getting where they want, and cause an inconvinience in trying to find another route.  However You could have public roads and have the private sector charge money to maintain them.  Although I hate being moderate, I think this stance might work alright.

What?  That's crazy.  The free market will solve anything!  ANYTHING!!!

Well, as a general rule, it is a good principle to believe in.  But hey Gabu, I mean, I spout supposed extreme postions and I'm called a crazy libertarian.  I try going more moderate and I still get flak.  I think I'll give up every opinion I have on economics and become a "pragmatist" moderate with a 0.00 compass score, but first I have to follow a trend and move to Louisiana-nah, everyone's doin' that.  Mississippi got hit pretty hard, I'll go MS.