From: johniac@austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti/100000)
Subject: Re: The end of the Reagan Era
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 17:47:39 GMT
Organization: IBM Advanced Workstations and Systems, Austin, TX
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fred j mccall 575-3539 (mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com) wrote:
:                                                             Describe a
: method that will pave YOUR STREET -- keeping the costs in mind.

If I want my street paved, I'll get together with my neighbors and if they
agree, then we'll chip in and pave it.  Why should YOU have to help pay to
pave my street if you never use it?

: Given a choice between breathing the shmutz and having a job and not
: breathing the shmutz and not having a job (and hence starving to death
: in libertopia), most people would elect to breath the shmutz.

Then obviously there are more important things to them than whether there's
"shmutz" in the air.

: But
: what about the person who DOESN'T work at the factory?  What about the
: guy who doesn't consume any of the product of that factory and would
: just as soon the factory didn't exist, but has to breath the shmutz
: anyway so that those who DO consume the product of the factory get a
: cheaper price (because they don't have to pay the costs of the impact
: of shmutz on the environment)?

There are other alternatives.  He can move, for example.  He can organize a 
boycott of the factory's products.  He can buy a gas mask :-)  Those of you
who don't spew any "shmutz" can cast the first stone.

: But what if there isn't sufficient traffic to justify the initial
: capital investment in the road (in a free market).

If there isn't sufficient traffic, then why do you need to build a road?

: Please describe
: for me a mechanism where a city (say Dallas) would have roads in the
: residential areas so that people could get to work.

The people who use the road can assume the cost.  As for thouroughfares,
why can't the businesses that are located there assume the cost?  They
benefit from making it easier for customers to get to them.

: Also describe
: what the resident on the typical block would have to pay.

I don't know.  Whatever it costs.  The price will of course influence the 
decision on whether to build it or not.

: >Yes, and how convenient the government gets a tax collector free of charge.
: 
: Yes, it is.  However, this is irrelevant to the main point.

Relevent in the fact that the gas tax scheme has it's own full-costing
and free-ridership issues.

: Yes, and your 'specific questions' would require volumes to answer
: adequately,

So answer them inadequately.  Hell, I'd be happy if you would answer them AT
ALL.  Questions like "What are the hidden costs in the gasoline market" or
"What do you mean by 'good citizen'" shouldn't require volumes of explanation.
I think the problem is that you are so busy bashing your "Libertopia" straw
horse, that you're not even paying attention to what people are actually 
writing here.

--
John Iacoletti       IBM AWS Austin       Internet: johniac@austin.ibm.com
        My opinions do not reflect the views of the IBM Corporation
    "Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age" -- TMBG   "I Palindrome I"
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