TRANSPORTATION - Miscellaneous - Independence Institute

California HSR Fading Fast 0
- May 25, 2011
You know you are in trouble when a liberal bastion such as the Washington Post questions your big-government program. So last week’s editorial questioning the California High-Speed Rail Authority for being “bound and determined to start building the railroad before its long-term funding is clear” should be one more sign that the rail project is […]
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Top Down or Bottom Up?0
- May 24, 2011
America’s transportation system needs more centralized, top-down planning. At least, that’s what the Brookings Institution’s Robert Puentes advocates in a 2,350-word article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. If that seems like an unlikely message from America’s leading business daily, perhaps it is because Puentes couched it in terms such as “spending money wisely,” solving congestion, […]
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Halting TIF’s Rapid Growth 0
- May 23, 2011
Tax-increment financing (TIF) costs taxpayers around $10 billion per year and is growing as fast as 10 percent per year, according to a new report, “Crony Capitalism and Social Engineering,” published by the Cato Institute. Though originally created to help renew “blighted” neighborhoods, TIF today is used primarily as an economic development tool for areas […]
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When Is a Fee a Tax?0
- May 20, 2011
Years ago, Oregon voters approved a ballot measure that required a vote of the people before any local increase in taxes or user fees. As the Antiplanner supports user fees as a way of improving government efficiency, I asked one of the measure’s authors why he included user fees in the measure. “You know if […]
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Are Auto Accidents a Disease?0
- May 19, 2011
Somebody thinks they are. The Centers for Disease Control just released a study saying that crash-related deaths cost $41 billion a year. This smells to me like a government agency seeking more funding by jumping into an area outside of its core mission. The first thing to note about this study is that it is […]
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Market Asymmetry 0
- May 18, 2011
Along with Michael Lewis’ The Big Short, Gregory Zuckerman’s The Greatest Trade Ever shows that at least some investors were aware that the housing bubble of the mid-2000s was likely to collapse, with severe repercussions on the economy. The book (whose alternate subtitle is “How One Man Bet Against the Markets and Made $20 Billion”) […]
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