Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections,talk.politics.misc,tx.politics
From: mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman)
Subject: Re: The end of the Reagan Era
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 03:31:24 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <1992Nov15.142212.14448@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>In <1992Nov12.174739.25513@watson.ibm.com> johniac@austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti/100000) writes:

>>fred j mccall 575-3539 (mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com) wrote:

>>: 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?

>And what happens if a couple of guys who live at the end of the block
>don't want to 'chip in'?  Anyway, you must live in a very wealthy
>neighborhood, if people can afford to 'chip in' and will collect
>enough money to pave your whole street.

>Of course, then there's the problem of the next block, etc., all the
>way to where you work.  Will you let other people from outside your
>block drive on 'your' street?  If so, how will you collect from them
>for using it?

Fred, there is a very simple proof that you have you're head up your
butt.  Quite simply, people who live on private roads (and there are
plenty of them) manage to get together and pay for this kind of thing.
My old boss used to live on a road like that when I lived in Vermont.
They had a dirt road shared by about forty families.  They paid for it
to be plowed in the winter, groomed in the spring, and maintained with
sand and gravel during bog season.  There were periodic rows over
whether payments should be proportional to distance from the public
road or equal, but they always managed to come to agreement.

Places with enough outside traffic to justify it would institute
tolls.  Others would just put up with the outside use.

>>: 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?

>Do the phrases 'startup costs' and 'initial investment' mean anything
>to you?  You can 'need to build a road' and yet not have sufficient
>traffic to justify THE INITIAL INVESTMENT (compared to other, faster
>return projects).

Do you mind explaining that?  The usual economic justification for a
project is that the return on investment (that's all investment,
including startup costs) is as large or larger than that available
from other equally risky projects.  You seem to be claiming that the
decision to build a road should ideally not take into account the
initial investment.  This seems like a bizarred idea.

>>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.

>And what about businesses that can't afford 'their share', do not want
>to pay 'their share', since for the business down the road from them
>to get any benefit they will have to have a road to them, too, or
>which move in or out?  How do you propose that this would work?

The developer who initially builds a block or a subdivision just puts
a restrictive covenant into the deed.  Alternately, the price of the
land can include a perpetual maintenance fee like the ones most
cemetaries have.  

>>: 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.

>Well, 'whatever it costs' is a pretty loose answer.  How do you know
>whether your libertarian proposals are even feasible if you don't
>consider what they cost?

Well, it can't cost more than it does now, so what's the problem?
-- 
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