News commentary

Selectively Enforcing the Law 0
- June 4, 2012
Last week, Andrew asked why the Antiplanner hadn’t commented on the federal shutdown of dozens of “Chinatown bus” companies, and the simple answer is that I hadn’t heard about it until then. Although my friends at the American Bus Association, whose members do not include the Chinatown bus companies, are happy about the shutdown, I […]
READ MORE
Poverty Reduces Congestion 0
- May 24, 2012
The soviets had a successful policy for minimizing traffic congestion: keep people too poor to drive. Environmentalists today want to use the same policy: tax the heck out of gasoline; prevent the development of Alberta tar sands (“keep the tar sands oil in the soil” says one group); stop the development of natural gas. The […]
READ MORE
Ho Hum, Another Airline Merger 0
- May 21, 2012
American and US Air are thinking of merging, so naturally it’s time for a scare story about how mergers will lead to higher prices. Not likely. A few years ago, there were six big airlines, but four of them–Delta & Northwest, United & Continental–merged into two. But Southwest is now one of the big four, […]
READ MORE

Dirty Politics in Lane County 0
- May 18, 2012
In Oregon’s primary election this past Tuesday, Andy Stahl, who frequently comments on this blog, lost his bid to become Lane County (Oregon) commissioner. It is hard for me to tell this story, as I am one of the reasons he lost. His opponent was Pete Sorenson, a four-term incumbent. I’ve known Pete for about […]
READ MORE
Obama Plays Hardball with California 0
- May 16, 2012
The Obama administration is threatening to take back the $3.3 billion high-speed rail grant to California if the state legislature fails to approve the state’s high-speed rail plan by the end of June. Legislators had planned to hold some hearings this summer so they could base their decisions on actual facts rather than politics. Ironically, […]
READ MORE
Why Didn’t He Take a Stand on Pot?0
- May 11, 2012
When a president takes a stand on a highly controversial issue like gay marriage in an election year, you know he is doing it solely to motivate his base. How so? The job of the president has nothing to do with who can and cannot get married, so in announcing that he supports gay marriage, […]
READ MORE

Contribute