Nine Shift

Are you subsidizing others to drive?

One of the arguments people make against trains is they don't want taxpayers to subsidize trains.
But a new report out indicates that highways are being subsidized more than trains.
So instead of subsidizing trains, it looks like train riders are subsidizing drivers.
Here's a great story on it.   And here is another source.

Today only 51% of highways is paid for by users (gas taxes, vehicle taxes).  In 1970, that figure was 71%. The reason for the drop is that gas taxes have not been raised in decades. By comparison, train riders from Milwaukee to Chicago pay 62% to 65% of the cost, far more than the cost of driving.

You are subsidizing car drivers if:
If you are under 30
You are over 65
You telecommute
If you drive less than average.

Basically, baby boomers are only 46% of the population, but they drive 59% of the miles. So the rest of society - - your children included - - have to subsidize your driving. 

 

Can Scott Walker Save Suburbia?

The answer is no.  But here in Wisconsin, there is enormous consternation over trying to save the Industrial Age of the last century. Large industrial companies like Mercury Marine and Harley Davidson are going into decline, slashing wages of workers towards a meager $13 an hour, and taking millions of local and state tax dollars to keep those low wage jobs in the state.

Walker is running for governor from the high income suburban area around Milwaukee. The issue with the highest profile in the campaign is Walker's stance opposing high speed trains - - the essential travel system for knowledge workers of the 21st century.  The rise in trains means the decline of suburbs.

If he succeeds, Wisconsin will become like Mississippi 100 years ago: huge out migration from the cotton fields to the northern industrial cities. Only young knowledge workers only have to go to Minneapolis or Chicago from neighboring Wisconsin today.  Already Wisconsin has high school graduates entering the state, and college graduates leaving, creating a huge brain drain and leaving this state behind in the 21st century.  Wisconsin is a classic case of making the transition, or not, into the new economic era.