Graf Bloomberg von Neuyorkstadt
Bidinotto takes apart Michael Bloomberg's proposal to tax people $8 for driving into his city. And yes, it's his. Bidinotto explains "stolen concept" elegantly, but doesn't make Mikey pay for his. Taxation is capitalism IF NYC and everything and everyone in it belongs to Mikey. Then he's free to charge admission to "his" property, just like any amusement-park owner. Thus, Bloomberg is claiming ownership. You'd think that this would be obvious to NYC residents and that they would act accordingly, but then you would have thought that when Mikey stole all the public buildings in the interest of health. Apparently Mikey is going to have to start claiming the droit du seigneur before residents wake up. And even then, they'll be saying, "Being mayor of the Capital of the World is a stressful job; he needs the relaxation."
If Mikey wants a lesson in capitalism, he should look at how cars are managed now. Having a car in NYC is a royal PITA. Nobody in their right mind drives there unless they absolutely have to. They're surrounded by disincentives already, in time and money. So it's a fair bet that NYC's streets and garages have already found their highest use. In a free market, those who can't afford what a vendor charges will go elsewhere. That's very close to what's happening in NYC in general, just because it's so expensive to live there. Now, what if truckers decided not to spend that $8, sat in their rigs, and watched the citizens barbecue each other to survive?
Beth...Jeff 'n' Elsie...I love you guys, but you're corpses on furlough as long as you stay there. There's a lot of art and artists that I'm going to mourn when (not if) the Big Apple gets cold-pasteurized. But I didn't drink the Kool-Aid Flav-r-aid that one has to be in NYC to have a career.
Thanks to Beck...who personally suffers because of New Yorkers' desire to be owned.
Comments
Posted by: James
Posted on: April 25, 2007 08:57 AM
Congestion charge in London helped reduced traffic by a third in the affected areas. Public use of buses and taxis have gone up. Faster commercial deliveries.
Posted by: Jeffrey Quick
Posted on: April 25, 2007 02:45 PM
Yeah, so? One can make all kinds of pragmatic arguments for Bloomberg's idea, effective to whatever extent pragmatic arguments are effective on the given audience. None of that has to to do with Mikey's strange ideas of what constitutes "capitalism".
Posted by: kishnevi
Posted on: April 25, 2007 09:24 PM
To be fair to Mikey, he was correctly describing how this country has been run for most of its history; the only inaccuracy was the use of the word capitalism. And despite Bidinotto's use of the world alleged, that's how Republicans have been acting since the GOP was a young party. Honest Abe never saw a railroad or a tariff he didn't like--at least not one that I can recall.
Not that I have any desire to visit NYC, much less drive there. Unless it's as a transit point to the deck of a Cunarder getting underway for Southampton.