April 30, 2014

The 0.1 Percent Solution: To Save Economy Destroyed by High Taxes and Higher Spending, Obama Proposes Even Higher Taxes and Even Even Higher Spending
— Ace

Nice.

Remember all that fuss back in 2009 about Obama being a flexible, supple thinker whose wide-ranging mind was unbound by ideological constraints?

Yeah. Good times, good times.

Shot.

he Obama administration sent to Congress legislation that would provide $302 billion for road and transit projects over four years, a measure needed to keep the U.S. Highway Trust Fund from running dry.

The Transportation Department proposal would boost the highway fund $87 billion above current levels to generate more money for deficient bridges and aging transit systems....

The funding proposal is in line with President Barack ObamaÂ’s February budget request. House and Senate panels are drafting their own bills and there are no plans in Congress to consider the presidentÂ’s proposed way to help pay for it: a temporary tax increase on overseas earnings by companies.

Chaser:

Drivers on the nationÂ’s Interstates could soon be paying more to travel.

A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost.


Trivia: Nazareth wanted to call this song "Heir of the Dog," because, I guess, they couldn't just call it "Son of a Bitch." So Son of a Bitch becomes, kind of wittily, "Heir of the Dog."

But the record company wound up changing the title to "Hair of the Dog," but not before printing some thousands of records with the original intended "Heir of the Dog" spelling.

"Hair of the Dog" has nothing at all to do with this song, but I'm using that title as commentary on this post (that is, Obama is offering the hair of the dog to cure the Obama hangover).

I don't know if anything I just told you is true, but it's Lore, much like Elizabeth Warren's Indian heritage.

Posted by: Ace at 10:17 AM | Comments (302)
Post contains 361 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Obama the "One Trick Pony" of the DemProg world.

Posted by: Old Dog at April 30, 2014 10:20 AM (tQYJH)

2 Obama the "One Trick Pony" of the DemProg world.

Posted by: Old Dog at April 30, 2014 10:20 AM (tQYJH)

3 Doubles down on teh stupid.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:21 AM (T2V/1)

4 Doubles down on teh stupid.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:21 AM (T2V/1)

5 It ain't that they don't know nuthin'....it's just that everything they know is dumbassness.

Posted by: maddogg at April 30, 2014 10:21 AM (xWW96)

6 It ain't that they don't know nuthin'....it's just that everything they know is dumbassness.

Posted by: maddogg at April 30, 2014 10:21 AM (xWW96)

7 So people are going to wind up traveling less the interstates are going to become a massive cluster fuck as new toll booths get put in. Genius!

Posted by: Buzzion at April 30, 2014 10:21 AM (z/Ubi)

8 So people are going to wind up traveling less the interstates are going to become a massive cluster fuck as new toll booths get put in. Genius!

Posted by: Buzzion at April 30, 2014 10:21 AM (z/Ubi)

9 Wile E. Obama, Super Genius.

Posted by: Countrysquire at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (eEBON)

10 Wile E. Obama, Super Genius.

Posted by: Countrysquire at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (eEBON)

11 Soon.

Posted by: Math at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (8ZskC)

12 Drivers on the nationÂ’s Interstates could soon be paying more to travel. A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost. I know that Pennsylvania pols on both sides of the aisle have had boners that could cut diamonds to put tolls on the interstate highways for as long as I can remember.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (mf5HN)

13 Soon.

Posted by: Math at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (8ZskC)

14 Drivers on the nationÂ’s Interstates could soon be paying more to travel. A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost. I know that Pennsylvania pols on both sides of the aisle have had boners that could cut diamonds to put tolls on the interstate highways for as long as I can remember.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (mf5HN)

15 And David Brooks still feels no shame at the pants crease comment. If he did, he would have hung himself.

Posted by: ejo at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (GXvSO)

16 And David Brooks still feels no shame at the pants crease comment. If he did, he would have hung himself.

Posted by: ejo at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (GXvSO)

17 Raising tolls on currently toll-free roads is a dumb idea. That being said, let the dumb states do it. Some D governors may be voted out. Further, the chasm between red and blue states will continue to grow.

Posted by: AMDG at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (eFytx)

18 Raising tolls on currently toll-free roads is a dumb idea. That being said, let the dumb states do it. Some D governors may be voted out. Further, the chasm between red and blue states will continue to grow.

Posted by: AMDG at April 30, 2014 10:22 AM (eFytx)

19 They put up with that toll booth shit in Austin. They are dumbassed leftards. We won't stand for that shit here.

Posted by: maddogg at April 30, 2014 10:23 AM (xWW96)

20 They put up with that toll booth shit in Austin. They are dumbassed leftards. We won't stand for that shit here.

Posted by: maddogg at April 30, 2014 10:23 AM (xWW96)

21 Just what we need, another tax on the highways as they waste gas tax money on BS urban projects.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:23 AM (T2V/1)

22 president .10

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (u8GsB)

23 This has worked well for California. We're taxing productive people and companies right out of the state. WINNING!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (8ZskC)

24 but, But, BUT! The accumulation of air pollution surrounding toll booths is detrimental to the environment and to driver health. Remember?

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (DmNpO)

25 That may be enough to wipe out our meteoric .1% growth.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (LJ7Ze)

26 I thought the Stimulus was supposed to pay for roads, bridges, infrastructure, and Barbara Boxer's Pocket Rocket.

What about the fucking gasoline tax?  Isn't that for roads?  What about all the fucking taxes in general we all pay?

Posted by: bicentennialguy at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (vg8iE)

27 No fear! The Stalwart GOP congresscritters will come to the rescue!!!

Posted by: Y-not on the phone at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (zDsvJ)

28 Oh, and let's not forget the wasted gas spent at toll booths.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (DmNpO)

29 It would be racist not to pay for the Interstate twice - cuz reasons.

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (oDCMR)

30 Somebody's gonna have to go back a get a shitload of dimes.

Posted by: Taggart at April 30, 2014 10:24 AM (8ZskC)

31 It's news like this that makes me wish I had actually experimented with drugs back in college. Because then I'd have something to fall back on besides alcohol to numb the pain.

Posted by: physics geek at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (MT22W)

32 So I've been driving on interstates for free for the pat 30+ years? Who do I see to get back the 18 cents per gallon tax that I've been paying?

Posted by: Countrysquire at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (eEBON)

33 It was the winter that killed GDP. Once it warms up GDP should hit about .3%.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (1Jaio)

34

Makes me feel so good to know my tax dollars are buying free phones for the getto rats in Shitcago.

Posted by: maddogg at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (xWW96)

35 I know that Pennsylvania pols on both sides of the aisle have had boners that could cut diamonds to put tolls on the interstate highways for as long as I can remember.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at April 30, 2014 02:22 PM (mf5HN)


So potentially I could pay a toll to get off the turnpike and then immediately pay a toll to get on I-81? Oh joy.

Posted by: joncelli at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (RD7QR)

36 This is so monumentally stupid that it has to be regarded as malicious.




Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (/29Nl)

37 And David Brooks still feels no shame at the pants crease comment. If he did, he would have hung himself. Posted by: ejo at April 30, 2014 02:22 PM (GXvSO) I find your newsletter interesting and would like to subscribe.

Posted by: physics geek at April 30, 2014 10:25 AM (MT22W)

38 Dems: Shot Dems: Chaser GOP: Zzzzzzzzz

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 30, 2014 10:26 AM (IXrOn)

39 Another day, another moment of "hey, you know what, I found something else we haven't royally screwed up - let's get to work!" Also, re: sidebar on impeachment: American liberals are the new French Aristocracy. One law for you, another, much more lenient law for them.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i][/b][/s][/u] at April 30, 2014 10:26 AM (qyfb5)

40 They want to destroy the interstates.  More shipment and travel by rail.

Oh, and it's another way to make the cost of literally everything go up.  For the children.


Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (/29Nl)

41 Take the 30% share of the highway money back from the urban ruins and actually spend it on highways.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (LJ7Ze)

42 Our governor Dickinpooper never met a fee or surcharge he didn't love, so expect tolls on the I-70

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (RTQgm)

43 I know that Pennsylvania pols on both sides of the
aisle have had boners that could cut diamonds to put tolls on the
interstate highways for as long as I can remember.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at April 30, 2014 02:22 PM (mf5HN)


The last time I drove through PA it was a toll road.  The PA turnpike.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (T2V/1)

44 No more drivers getting away with not paying for roads! Except for all those taxes they pay...

Posted by: Mega at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (hHFOx)

45 Oh, and if this proposal falls through then we go over to a mileage tax calculated based on a GPS device in your car. And God knows the government would never abuse such technology, right?

Posted by: joncelli at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (RD7QR)

46 It's not enough that he gets to be President; the rest of us have to be driven into poverty in order to make him happy.

Posted by: Kensington (@NYKensington) at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (H84UO)

47 So is this Obama's revenge on the ATM?

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (oDCMR)

48 clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost.
==================
You mean the fucking roads we already fucking paid for with the fucking taxes we already fucking paid?

Those same fucking roads we "currently use at no cost?"

When I buy a fucking lawnmower at Home Depot, Home Depot doesn't come by my house in a few years and tell me "pay up bitch, you're currently using that lawnmower at no cost."

And are these not the same fucking roads that our current fucking gas taxes are fucking supposed to cover the fucking maintenance, they suddenly don't have any fucking money for?

And who can forget Clinton's illegal, retroactive gas tax to . . . well, it wasn't to fucking fix any roads now, was it?

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 30, 2014 10:27 AM (VjL9S)

49 So this is the new a d disguised "raising the gas tax and imposing a carbon tax scheme"

Posted by: L, elle at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (p8TAe)

50 Well, that would be the first time David Brooks was ever described as hung in any way.

Posted by: Jaws at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (eKZp1)

51 18 Oh, and let's not forget the wasted gas spent at toll booths. Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 02:24 PM (DmNpO) ---------------------------------------- Nah, just mandated electronic tattlers (that you pay for) on all your cars.

Posted by: irright at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (ZgTjz)

52 more money for deficient bridges and aging transit systems...>>

Most of this new money will go to trains and bike paths for Gaia.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (tf9Ne)

53

"Remember all that fuss back in 2009 about Obama being a flexible, supple thinker whose wide-ranging mind was unbound by ideological constraints?"

 

The subtlty of his thought could only be captured through the mechanism of his wardrobe.  I remember how commentators wanted him to immediately take over after the election - be sworn in on Wednesday - so that this gifted titanic intellect could immediately start righting the ship of state.*  Looking back now I am still aghast at how so many adults had seemingly become teeny-bopper girls swooning over some pop star.  I pray that those who did are gifted with long lives and sharp memories so that they can wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat recalling how they acted like a bunch of high school freshman girls, and do that for many years to come.

 

*Titanic is meant both ways.

Posted by: Mikey NTH - Let the Warmth of Spring Grow your Rage at the Outrage Outlet at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (hLRSq)

54 thank god the gop is there to stop this insanity.

Posted by: rev dr der commisar miller at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (MtvPp)

55 In a just world, the talk of reinstating tolls would result in a bloody battle between the tax-first crowd and the green-agenda folks. I WOULD pop corn.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (DmNpO)

56 Zero growth is the strongest single  indicator  that an economy is super healthy! Things could not be better!  All hail King Golf's A Lot!

Posted by: The MSM at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (25HWz)

57 "The last time I drove through PA it was a toll road. The PA turnpike. " =============== Yeah, but I-80, the main East-West interstate highway, is NOT a toll road in Pennsylvania.

Posted by: Kensington (@NYKensington) at April 30, 2014 10:28 AM (H84UO)

58 So potentially I could pay a toll to get off the turnpike and then immediately pay a toll to get on I-81? Oh joy.

Posted by: joncelli at April 30, 2014 02:25 PM (RD7QR)



I-81 in NY came to mind immediately. There are a lot of on/off ramps that would be very difficult to booth-ize due to terrain.

So look for an EZPass-or-nothing rule soon.

Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (/29Nl)

59 Shot Chaser Hmmm Where's the nightcap(s)?

Posted by: Boehner at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (IXrOn)

60 Call this heresy if you like, but I'm fine with funding road construction and maintenance with tolls. Let the people who make use of the roads pay for them, and leave the people who don't alone.

Of course, once the government has a revenue source (and tolls are often very lucrative), that money tends to get used for other things. I don't mind my tolls being used to keep the roads safe, build new roads, or even to finance mass-transit projects, but that money should be walled off within the transportation budget. It can't be allowed to leak out to pay for bigger government elsewhere.

Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (xN1DB)

61 Obama's and Elizabeth Warren's entire economic thesis, back in the "You didn't build that" days, is that entrepreneurs use the infrastructure -- in particular roads, mentioned by Fauxcahontas and Mr. Dunham-Soetero repeatedly -- as the basis for growing their businesses. And yet -- they didn't pay to use the roads! No, the roads are a "public good" paid for by taxes. And without those roads you use for free -- "You didn't build that, sucka!" Well, now we come to today. Obama is proposing that people -- truckers, companies, businesses -- DO pay to use the federal roads. So: If his budget is adopted, will he now give a speech acknowledging that from this moment on, you DID build that?

Posted by: zombie at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (mizYg)

62 Still amused that some here think they have a choice in the burning.

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i][/s] at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (pASf2)

63 "use at no cost"

They don't buy gas?  Or buy gas without paying the gas tax?  Where?

Only people driving electric cars are using them at no cost.

Fucking irony.

Posted by: Dang at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (MNq6o)

64

The 1980s called, they want their internal passports back. 

The left is itching to impose heavy fines on anyone who dares to leave blue-controlled cities other than by government-controlled and operated rail systems that only lead to other blue-controlled cities.

Posted by: Milo Moire at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (tIvOy)

65 Well, yeah. That's why he loves to photo himself with his feet on the Oval Office desk.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (RTQgm)

66 They put tolls up around Richmond that were supposed to get removed once the roads had been paid for. Not only did that not happen, they upped the tolls multiple times. The powers that be then instituted the Smart Tag, giving a discount to users as automated toll collections are much cheaper than using people. Eventually the discount went away, which was fine, but then the state decided to start levying a $50-$100 tax on people who used the fucking Smart Tags. Why? Because "fuck the people", that's why. I removed my e-tag and make sure that I take my own sweet time counting out change when I'm forced to use a toll road. Oh, and the previous governor started working on exits tolls on I-95, so you get to pay a big fee for leaving. And that guy was a Republican. To be fair, he was better than the current bag man running VA, but that's a really low bar.

Posted by: physics geek at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (MT22W)

67 Oh... drivers!!!!! I thought you meant a tax on "drivers".

Yeah, go ahead and sign that shit through.




FORE!!!!!

Posted by: Bambi at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (hHFOx)

68 A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost. Really? When did the federal gas tax get repealed, and why did nobody tell me?

Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (SY2Kh)

69 At some point, you've taken enough of the peoples money!

Posted by: Kreplach at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (TRyfo)

70 Ahhh, immigration reform nightcap.

Posted by: Boehner at April 30, 2014 10:29 AM (IXrOn)

71 BTW, I don't know how the PA Turnpike is now but in 1970 it was falling apart and full of potholes.So all those tolls we were paying were disappearing into some shit hole.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:30 AM (T2V/1)

72 Pay up, bitch.

Posted by: Home Depot at April 30, 2014 10:30 AM (zDsvJ)

73 Anybody want to take a bet on whether the toll booths will take EBT cards?

Anyone?

Posted by: B at April 30, 2014 10:30 AM (5OEha)

74 I'm torn between thinking they're pissed that the number fudging ended up so close     to zero, or that they're pissed that the number is in positive territory     after   everything they have done to destroy us.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 10:30 AM (eoeps)

75

a temporary tax increase on overseas earnings by companies.

 

A temporary tax increase!  It's only temporary.  And it's a tax increase.  Har, that one never gets old.

 

Awkwardly, however, my job depends entirely on the overseas earnings of my company. So, um, fuck no.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 30, 2014 10:30 AM (JtwS4)

76 The **you can't "triple down" on stupid** rule is apparently not in effect.

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:30 AM (x3YFz)

77 everyone should know that all the dollars you currently give to the govt are simply transferred to people who dont work. thats the scam in a nutsehell. who is actually working in these bombed out cities? no one. all those goddamn toll booths in chicago...where does that money go? the roads SUCK SHIT.

Posted by: rev dr der commisar miller at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (MtvPp)

78

Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete at April 30, 2014 02:29 PM (xN1DB)

 

 

 

 

Bet you felt that way about Social Security too, didn't you? Ummm, guess whut....

Posted by: maddogg at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (xWW96)

79 Social and economic justice does not always come cheap, you stupid racist haters. American automotive culture is bad for the environment. And it allows you dumb rednecks to live outside cities and towns where you can be controlled and supervised.

Posted by: Mary Cloggenstein from Brattleboro, VT at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (TKwk8)

80 16 I thought the Stimulus was supposed to pay for roads, bridges, infrastructure, and Barbara Boxer's Pocket Rocket.
==========
"I guess those 'shovel-ready' projects weren't so shovel-ready after all. Har-dee-har-har-har!"

/s/
The Jug-Eared Fucking Fuck that is Fucking Fucking Over America

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (VjL9S)

81 But the Keystone Pipeline is still stonewalled.    By the way enviromentalists,  the Keystone Pipline will result in 100% less deaths  of  bald eagles and other protected birds  than  your  precious Wind Turbines.  

Posted by: polynikes at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (m2CN7)

82 Remember the toll on the George Washington bridge? Yeah, that's just to be collected for a few years until we've paid for the construction. Honest.

Posted by: Your Betters at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (hHFOx)

83 50 So they will repeal the gas taxes then?

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:31 AM (LJ7Ze)

84 The toll booth, the Obama rest stop.

Posted by: redenzo at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (WCnJW)

85 So Obama is creating opportunities for cronyism (think of all the kick-backs!) AND screwing taxpayers, especially the ones who have to commute to work. Fa-bu-lous! Bonus: He'll also get everyone on smart passes so their movements can be monitored!

Posted by: Lizzy at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (8zTpe)

86 50 Call this heresy if you like, but I'm fine with funding road construction and maintenance with tolls. Let the people who make use of the roads pay for them, and leave the people who don't alone. Of course, once the government has a revenue source (and tolls are often very lucrative), that money tends to get used for other things. I don't mind my tolls being used to keep the roads safe, build new roads, or even to finance mass-transit projects, but that money should be walled off within the transportation budget. It can't be allowed to leak out to pay for bigger government elsewhere. Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete My naive child: There is no "walling off" of money when it comes to the federal government. The number of times they've made that promise, and the number of times they've broken it, would, if printed on tissue paper and stacked, reach from here to Alpha Centauri and back 18 quadrillion times.

Posted by: zombie at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (mizYg)

87 Add a little tea party trashing, then shake vigorously.

Posted by: Boehner at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (IXrOn)

88 Good thing I don't buy anything that is delivered by trucks using US highways,  cause that shit would be getting expensive!

Posted by: Dang at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (MNq6o)

89

remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost.

 

 

---

 

We don't use it at no cost - we paid for it        with gas taxes.  We are currently paying for maintenance of it vias gas taxes - that portion which hasn't been diverted to subsidize the transportation of people who don't have jobs to go to, or who pay negative income taxes.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (eoeps)

90 So all those tolls we were paying were disappearing into some shit hole.

Posted by: Vic at April 30, 2014 02:30 PM (T2V/1)


Union foreman Winnebagos and vacation cottages, with 90% retirement at 50.

That shit hole.

Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (/29Nl)

91 I never sleep.

Posted by: The Law of Unintended Consequences at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (5ikDv)

92 In 1989 Jacksonville voted in a half-cent sales tax in order to remove tolls from the I-95 bridges in Jax. That's a tax we won't see rolled back.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (DmNpO)

93 Great song, btw, Ace. I propose we offer it up as the official song of AoS. There are so many, but this one captures it nicely.

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:32 AM (x3YFz)

94 Cicero,

Not counting bridges, I know of only one toll road in California (Orange County).


Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 30, 2014 10:33 AM (V70Uh)

95 They built the Jersey Turnpike in the Fifties, they said they would take down the tollbooths once the bonds were paid off. The tolls keep going up 60 years later

Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 10:33 AM (nCSwS)

96 "The government will always have a great reason for needing just a little bit more of your money."

Posted by: The Golden Book of Clever Political Axioms at April 30, 2014 10:33 AM (8ZskC)

97 Would this decrease the number of yankees coming south?

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at April 30, 2014 10:33 AM (oDCMR)

98 It is about that time for money laundering via unions to the dem coffers. Elections coming up and all that.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 30, 2014 10:33 AM (IXrOn)

99 Oh, so they don't want a carbon tax? Then we'll give 'em another tax... straight up the *ss!!!!!

Posted by: Bambi at April 30, 2014 10:33 AM (hHFOx)

100 >> Remember the toll on the George Washington bridge? Yeah, that's just to be collected for a few years until we've paid for the construction. Honest Same thing with the Mass Turnpike. They just keep going in to debt (remember The Big Dig?) to justify their existence.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 30, 2014 10:34 AM (8zTpe)

101 The Houston Beltway Toll Road was to do away with Tolls once it was paid for.    They kept their promise .  The toll  was done away with and replaced with a more expensive toll. 

Posted by: polynikes at April 30, 2014 10:34 AM (m2CN7)

102 I never sleep.  Posted by: The Law of Unintended Consequences at April 30, 2014 02:32 PM (5ikDv)

Me neither

Posted by: God of the Copybook Headings [/i][/b][/s][/u] at April 30, 2014 10:34 AM (MPIX5)

103 The 'big' city near me is proposing a raise on income tax to help pay for roads and repairs, heard an ad that reamed them saying the State pays for the roads, just another slushfund for shitty spending practices.

Posted by: Bruce Lee's Fist at April 30, 2014 10:34 AM (M+evy)

104 1970's Nazareth lead singer is kind of hot. Is it bad, as a female, to admit that if it was the 70's and I was of age at the time, I might have let that hit me?

Posted by: shibumi who is exceptionally cynical today at April 30, 2014 10:34 AM (25HWz)

105 72 Remember the toll on the George Washington bridge? Yeah, that's just to be collected for a few years until we've paid for the construction. Honest. Posted by: Your Betters Golden Gate Bridge: Remember how we said back in 1934 that it would be completely paid for a free? Well, ummm, now here in 1937, we're realizing that we went a little over budget, so we propose a TEMPORARY 50¢ toll to last for three years until 1940. [Fast-forward 75 years] "That'll be $8 please. Thank you. Come again."

Posted by: zombie at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (mizYg)

106 Let the people who make use of the roads pay for them, and leave the people who don't alone.

If you buy anything, you use the roads. Whether you have a car or not.

Use your head.

Posted by: Mega at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (hHFOx)

107 They won't install toll booths, they will mandate transponders on all cars, and you will have your taxes...er, tolls deducted automatically. Then they will monitor your speed and deduct speeding violations automatically too. And they will know where you are going, all the time. As long as you are not a Repub, that won't hurt anything, right?

Posted by: PJ at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (ZWaLo)

108 This might be a good time to remind/tell people how much they pay per gallon of gas compared to how much the oil companies make off each gallon.


Posted by: Dang at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (MNq6o)

109 In a related development, yet another pol gives away the people's money to criminals: http://preview.tinyurl.com/n7krxot Why not just make them the President seriatim? It would save a little money, after all. Enlightened governance into the next century!

Posted by: April 19, 1775 at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (1/4XQ)

110 They built the Jersey Turnpike in the Fifties, they said they would take down the tollbooths once the bonds were paid off.
The tolls keep going up 60 years later
Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 02:33 PM (nCSwS)

Same with the Massachusetts Turnpike

Posted by: Sean Bannion [/i][/b][/s][/u] at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (MPIX5)

111 Pull my finger.

Posted by: the invisible hand at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (QupBk)

112 I offer asylum.  I don't have much room, but

- freeways
- the one toll road actually is faster, well maintained, and more convenient
- decent public transit
- government that is not yet malicious and adversarial

Sure, there's socialism, but it's not out to kill me yet.

So hey, the beacon of freedom has moved northward.

Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (/29Nl)

113 I only like ATM if I'm with Reggie.

Posted by: Barack Obama at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (mx5oN)

114
Thanks... jerks.

you left me in the last thread, all alone..... with Moo Moo.

Posted by: fixerupper at April 30, 2014 10:35 AM (nELVU)

115 It's a stealth gorebull enwarmening scheme to separate you from even more of your hard earned cash. Americans will not give up their cars until the government makes it too expensive to drive to the corner grocery. That money that they'll take in at the toll booth? High speed rail and mass transit, y'all!

Posted by: LFW - Honorary Pointy Eared Vulcan at April 30, 2014 10:36 AM (+hPIb)

116

I don't mind my tolls being used to keep the roads safe, build new roads, or even to finance mass-transit projects, but that money should be walled off within the transportation budget. It can't be allowed to leak out to pay for bigger government elsewhere.

 

--

 

The    whole point of this argument is that user fees were diverted to other uses, so they need tolls to make up for the     taxes you paid being spent   elsewhere.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 10:36 AM (eoeps)

117 It IS funny that the Libertarians among the Hoard are against Toll Roads.  C'mon, "let the folks who use the roads pay for the roads." 

Personally, I see roads and highways as contributing to the "General Welfare."

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 30, 2014 10:36 AM (V70Uh)

118 I heard a report recently that state transportation fund was being depleted because people drive less and cars are more efficient - thereby reducing the primary source of funding - the gas tax So now they have to think of other ways to tax people. They get their money one way or the other . . .

Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 10:36 AM (nCSwS)

119

Obama's solution to every problem seems to be harder and faster....

Posted by: The Gorn at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (/EkKm)

120 The whole point of this argument is that user fees were diverted to other uses, so they need tolls to make up for the taxes you paid being spent elsewhere. Which is pretty much always the case.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (mx5oN)

121

Call this heresy if you like, but I'm fine with funding road construction and maintenance with tolls. Let the people who make use of the roads pay for them, and leave the people who don't alone.

 

----------

 

The thing is...EVERYONE makes use of the roads, even those who don't drive.  They go to the store and buy things that are delivered on those roads.

 

Tolls don't just impact drivers.  They have a highly regressive and nearly universal effect on everyone.

Posted by: @JohnTant at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (eytER)

122 50 If I thought the government was capable of walling off money collected from tolls, I'd be in agreement. But they're not.

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (4Ryku)

123 Democrat mantra: There is no problem too big that it can't be solved with higher taxes.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (6n332)

124 They don't even need transponders on cars, anymore.  The toll road here takes a picture - at speed, mind you - and then sends the bill to your registered address.

Don't let your buddy borrow your car.

Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (/29Nl)

125 Remember the toll on the George Washington bridge? Yeah, that's just to be collected for a few years until we've paid for the construction. Honest And the Spanish-American War has been over for, um, quite some time now. Heh heh.

Posted by: The Federal Telephone Excise Tax of 1915 at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (8ZskC)

126 I remember the signs on the highways saying "Paid for with the Stimulus money" or whatever. And, that was all there was, a sign.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (IXrOn)

127 and Ace?  This is the Horde-approved video of Hair of the Dog:

try to keep up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgIwcXGtKgI

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:37 AM (x3YFz)

128 50 That's priceless. A transportation lock box just like we have for Social Security. Yeah, the empty one.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:38 AM (LJ7Ze)

129 you left me in the last thread, all alone..... with Moo Moo.
Posted by: fixerupper

Shit,  man.  Sorry.  Here,  have a soda.  *digs through almost empty cooler* Is diet okay?

Posted by: Dang at April 30, 2014 10:38 AM (MNq6o)

130 I used to hate toll booths.  At least the NY Throughway did it right.  You pick up a stub and pay at the exit.  The NJ Turnpike had a booth every two damn miles.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:38 AM (T2V/1)

131 Apropos of nothing, here's an article about invisible (transparent) jumping spiders: http://tinyurl.com/m3avtkf You're welcome for the nightmares.

Posted by: physics geek at April 30, 2014 10:38 AM (MT22W)

132 Speaking of bridge tolls that went away, when the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge was paid-for, the toll takers were laid off.  No toll anymore.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 30, 2014 10:38 AM (V70Uh)

133 108 I heard a report recently that state transportation fund was being depleted because people drive less and cars are more efficient - thereby reducing the primary source of funding - the gas tax So now they have to think of other ways to tax people. They get their money one way or the other . . . Same thing happened in CA with water rationing. People cut back on their consumption and the utility was forced to raise rates to cover their fixed costs of operation. Genius.

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at April 30, 2014 10:39 AM (oDCMR)

134 I'm sure Berkshire Hathaway will be pleased as more goods ship via rail This would be a good way to increase monitoring of Americans movements though wouldn't it Ya know an added bonus for our NSA friends WASS

Posted by: ginaswo at April 30, 2014 10:39 AM (VGpgb)

135 "Remember all that fuss back in 2009 about Obama being a flexible, supple thinker whose wide-ranging mind was unbound by ideological constraints?" No, actually I don't remember that.

Posted by: Old Ned at April 30, 2014 10:39 AM (JkyLU)

136 heh....

**fistbumps Dang**

Posted by: fixerupper at April 30, 2014 10:39 AM (nELVU)

137 I used to hate toll booths. At least the NY Throughway did it right. You pick up a stub and pay at the exit. The NJ Turnpike had a booth every two damn miles.
Posted by: Vic at April 30, 2014 02:38 PM (T2V/1)

That's the Garden State now.  The NJ Turnpike has booths only at exits.

Posted by: Sean Bannion [/i][/b][/s][/u] at April 30, 2014 10:39 AM (MPIX5)

138 You'd just use that money you earn for something stupid- better give it to us as tolls on roads you drive now for free. XXOX Your Betters

Posted by: naturalfake at April 30, 2014 10:39 AM (0cMkb)

139 Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at April 30, 2014 02:22 PM


Yeah...and the tax-fattened hyenas up on Beacon Hill just indexed our gas tax to inflation a while back.*  They'd put up tolls on the interstates faster than you can say 'where's my commuting per diem?'   Those hack relatives need their phoney baloney jobs, after all....

*currently the subject of a ballot initiative to undo the damage.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (knoK7)

140 A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost.
***
Isn't it interesting that for the productive class taxes only go up, and services only go down?

Posted by: 18-1 at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (78TbK)

141 Freedom of anonymous mobility is unique to the American experience, and must be crushed.

Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (/29Nl)

142 The NJ Turnpike had a booth every two damn miles. Vic - maybe you meant the Garden state Parkway. bottlenecks every 20 miles to pay tolls - stupid

Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (nCSwS)

143

They won't install toll booths, they will mandate transponders on all cars, and you will have your taxes...er, tolls deducted automatically. Then they will monitor your speed and deduct speeding violations automatically too. And they will know where you are going, all the time. As long as you are not a Repub, that won't hurt anything, right?

Once everyone has an EZPass to use the interstate highways, then why not simply add tracking stations to other major roads? Voila, we now have enough data to start instituting a mileage tax.

Posted by: Milo Moire at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (tIvOy)

144 you left me in the last thread, all alone..... with Moo Moo.


Posted by: fixerupper

Shit, man. Sorry. Here, have a soda. *digs through almost empty cooler* Is diet okay?

Posted by: Dang at April 30, 2014 02:38 PM (MNq6o)

as long as you don't have a quarter in your hand and your ass doesn't hurt, you'll be fine.

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (x3YFz)

145 Taxes rarely get repealed. The more lucrative the tax, the less likely the repeal. That's why I vehemently oppose proposals for a VAT: It's a VERY lucrative tax and it will NEVER go away.

Posted by: joncelli at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (RD7QR)

146 What will they do as the Tobacco Tax Revenues fall due to E-Cigs?

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (LJ7Ze)

147 You mean the fucking roads we already fucking paid for with the fucking taxes we already fucking paid? Those same fucking roads we "currently use at no cost?" - RoyalOil ---------- How about the bridges & tunnels in my area that were paid for with tolls DECADES ago being tolled anew so our ex-"R" governor can say he didn't raise taxes? Yeah, we paid for them already, Bob. And we still pay daily through taxes. You want to build a new tunnel? Find the money, or let a private firm build it. Don't toll the two decrepit tunnels we have already paid for to finance your new pet project. Then the fucker put everything in private hands of a foreign company. F You.

Posted by: shredded chi at April 30, 2014 10:40 AM (ko4zy)

148 Remember the toll on the George Washington bridge? Yeah, that's just to be collected for a few years until we've paid for the construction. Honest


Same thing with the Mass Turnpike. They just keep going in to debt (remember The Big Dig?) to justify their existence.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 30, 2014 02:34 PM (8zTpe)




they said the same thing about the Illinois tollways, God knows how many decades ago. Now all they do is keep raising the tolls

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (1Jaio)

149 How about we outlaw roads in CA, NY and IL? That would be the only way to save the planet.

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (oDCMR)

150 What a great plan!!

It's not like the rich have the resources and the smarts to just pack up, leave the country and renounce their citizenship (after the final fisting from the IRS of course).

Oh wait, they do....

http://tinyurl.com/cggjtgj

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (AC0lD)

151 I love the "currently use at no cost," I think Ii remember signing two checks to the state and feds just days ago.

Posted by: traye at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (Cuxwj)

152 >>The whole point of this argument is that user fees were diverted to other uses, so they need tolls to make up for the taxes you paid being spent elsewhere. My favorite one w/the Mass Turnpike: They used the tolls to fund fancy new buildings at each toll stop for the toll booth workers (to go and get warm during breaks, before/after their shift). Again, this is how they continued their debt in order to justify the tolls - spending millions to comfort toll booth workers.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (8zTpe)

153 136 What will they do as the Tobacco Tax Revenues fall due to E-Cigs? Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 02:40 PM (LJ7Ze) Start taxing the shit out of e-cigs, of course.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (mx5oN)

154 Has the JEF ever submitted a budget that wasn't a complete clusterfucking joke?  And that even the donks have laughed at as they were wiping their asses with it?

Posted by: Captain Hate at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (a6Pc1)

155 You must first spend all of your money to find out you have none.

Posted by: dananjcon at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (NpXoL)

156 For those advocating the tolls, you do realize all the food in the USA travels on refrigerated trucks right? This will increase FOOD costs

Posted by: ginaswo at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (VGpgb)

157 A big chunk of your gas taxes, a huge fucking chunk, goes to any city over 200k.

For what?

Buses.

You get to fucking pay for all those empty buses because . . . fuck you, that's why.

Not a single damned public transportation system in the country is self-staining, profitable.

And here we all are: Day after day forced at the point of a gun to pay for the housing, the food and the transportation of a class of people who hate us, hate our very existence and at every turn put into power politicians who mean to grind us under the heel of government.

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (VjL9S)

158 127  That's the Garden State now. The NJ Turnpike has booths only at exits.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at April 30, 2014 02:39 PM (MPIX5)\



Maybe it was the Garden State Parkway then too.  I just remember that it was in NJ.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at April 30, 2014 10:41 AM (T2V/1)

159 @117 Oh, yeah. A hard tummy, but with enough curves to let her float in the pool. Mm, mmm, MMM!

Posted by: April 19, 1775 at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (1/4XQ)

160

DC is the beast.  It is rapacious.  It is merciless.  And it will eventually start to kill us.  Bet on it.

Posted by: Soona at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (ECnGp)

161 Too many of you teabaggers were driving instead of getting ass raped by the TSA.

Posted by: SpongeBobSaget at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (L02KD)

162


Tolls don't just impact drivers. They have a highly regressive and nearly universal effect on everyone.

 

The rich can afford to fly moderate distances.  It's the middle-class and poor who drive three states to see grandma at Christmas.

Posted by: Milo Moire at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (tIvOy)

163 This will increase FOOD costs Posted by: ginaswo

Um,  this will increase EVERYTHING costs.

Posted by: Dang at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (MNq6o)

164

I heard a report recently that state transportation fund was being depleted because people drive less and cars are more efficient - thereby reducing the primary source of funding - the gas tax

 

--

 

The funds are being depleted because the money is being spent on ever larger urban bus lines and     especially light rail.  Pick up a copy of Randal O'Toole's book about transportation - we have been robbed.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (eoeps)

165 ooh, ooh. Toll booths on the I-285 around Atlanta. It would look just like Chicago!, but without the snow and ice. Wouldn't that be cool?

Posted by: Old Ned at April 30, 2014 10:42 AM (JkyLU)

166 Trucks already pay tolls to use the interstate. The rest of us pay through gas taxes. Contrary to the belief of Obama and Warren, the roads were NOT built "by government." Eisenhower did not actually get down there with his own little shovel and own bag of asphalt and build them. They were built by construction companies paid with tax dollars wrung out of the people. WE built that, and the WE most definitely includes businesses.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (dfYL9)

167 I really hate toll roads

Posted by: Max Power at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (q177U)

168 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a malignant traitor.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (PYAXX)

169 Where my flying car at, bi**h?

Posted by: April 19, 1775 at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (1/4XQ)

170 146, I am against anything that would raise food prices. 

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (V70Uh)

171 @117

Now I want to dye my hair red and buy stompy boots.

/is this a good or bad thing?

Posted by: shibumi who is exceptionally cynical today at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (25HWz)

172 Off, weird "artist" sock.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at April 30, 2014 10:43 AM (tIvOy)

173 And here we all are: Day after day forced at the point of a gun to pay for the housing, the food and the transportation of a class of people who hate us, hate our very existence and at every turn put into power politicians who mean to grind us under the heel of government. Posted by: RoyalOil I think you just concisely summarized the entire ethos motivating the Tea Party.

Posted by: zombie at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (mizYg)

174 Posted by: RoyalOil at April 30, 2014 02:27 PM (VjL9S) Speaking of that, you pay a gas tax to use your lawnmower. So technically I'm paying for road usage I don't do

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (HDwDg)

175 They won't install toll booths, they will mandate transponders on all cars, and you will have your taxes...er, tolls deducted automatically. Then they will monitor your speed and deduct speeding violations automatically too. And they will know where you are going, all the time. As long as you are not a Repub, that won't hurt anything, right?

Once everyone has an EZPass to use the interstate highways, then why not simply add tracking stations to other major roads? Voila, we now have enough data to start instituting a mileage tax.

Want: Revenue to build and maintain roads, paid proportionally by those who use them.

Settle:  A tax-tracking transponder in every car.

Get: A mandatory transponder installed inside the head of every man, woman and child. 

Posted by: Phinn at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (i5GO4)

176 By simple extraction, all Democrats want to put tolls on our highways

Posted by: Secretary Syphilis at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (e8kgV)

177 http://tinyurl.com/mp5bsof

Posted by: Obamanonics at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (N3Al8)

178 Now I want to dye my hair red and buy stompy boots.

/is this a good or bad thing?

Posted by: shibumi who is exceptionally cynical today at April 30, 2014 02:43 PM (25HWz)

 

Are you an 'ette?  Then it can never be wrong.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (tIvOy)

179 So how many commercial trucking jobs will this kill as Sysco et al switch to rail? No stone left unfxcked by these clowns

Posted by: ginaswo at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (VGpgb)

180 161 @117 Now I want to dye my hair red and buy stompy boots. /is this a good or bad thing? Posted by: shibumi who is exceptionally cynical today at April 30, 2014 02:43 PM (25HWz) Assuming you're an 'ette, it's a very good thing, as long as you send us pictures.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (mx5oN)

181 You know, I wouldn't mind the toll roads if my gas taxes were removed. Drop the price of gas by... what, $1/gallon? and I could afford toll roads pretty easily.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at April 30, 2014 10:44 AM (PYAXX)

182 Old Shaftner was right. EzPass is gonna be BIG!

Posted by: Old Ned at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (JkyLU)

183 Perhaps an EZPass on Air Fore One

Posted by: Secretary Syphilis at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (e8kgV)

184 In IL virtually all the money raised through tolls goes toward the budget of running the toll authority with virtually nothing for road maintenance. It's a way to manufacture AFSCME member Dem voters and to fill Dem coffers. The money flows from driver -> toll authority -> toll employees -> union -> Dems. With bad traffic and potholes thrown in just to rub it in our faces.

Posted by: somebody else, not me at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (29vnO)

185 Nice, this is the depressing quote of the day: "And here we all are: Day after day forced at the point of a gun to pay for the housing, the food and the transportation of a class of people who hate us, hate our very existence and at every turn put into power politicians who mean to grind us under the heel of government. "

Posted by: Max Power at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (q177U)

186 Posted by: joncelli at April 30, 2014 02:40 PM (RD7QR)

This IS a VAT.

Posted by: Mega at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (hHFOx)

187 Obama's mind is not constrained by logic or cause and effect.

Posted by: Conservative Crank at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (b2cFu)

188 I'm sure Berkshire Hathaway will be pleased as more goods ship via rail ** The per mile margins on OTR trucking is extremely thin and ever-increasing green regulations have forced many into intermodal (piggyback). The loss of driving time due to delays along with the increased costs associated with toll which, naturally, are passed on to the beneficial cargo owners will, indeed, force more shipments onto rails. Shippers and receivers are increasingly dictating how their freight moves and in lanes greater than 500 miles, when moving between metro areas, truck service is nearly matched by intermodal with prices that are hard to beat. PLUS... capacity.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:45 AM (DmNpO)

189 <<A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost.>>

This is a flat out lie. Federal gas taxes are what pays for infrastructure upkeep. Don't give me this "no cost" bullshit.

Posted by: SGT York at April 30, 2014 10:46 AM (FqBlL)

190 For those advocating the tolls, you do realize all the food in the USA travels on refrigerated trucks right?

This will increase FOOD costs

Posted by: ginaswo at April 30, 2014 02:41 PM (VGpgb)

right?  A box of cheerios costs $5.00! Go buy a steak...on your credit card.  Baked beans?  $3.00 a can.  Bread that you can see through for $3.00 a loaf.

It's insane.  Now I know what the Russians were putting up with for 70 years.

We started milling our own grains and growing our own food years ago.  Saw it coming, we did.

I'd suggest ya'll get on it most ricky tick.

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:46 AM (x3YFz)

191 175 Nice, this is the depressing quote of the day: "And here we all are: Day after day forced at the point of a gun to pay for the housing, the food and the transportation of a class of people who hate us, hate our very existence and at every turn put into power politicians who mean to grind us under the heel of government. " Posted by: Max Power at April 30, 2014 02:45 PM (q177U) It's depressing because it's 100% true.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 30, 2014 10:46 AM (mx5oN)

192 The White House ‏@WhiteHouse now At 3:10pm ET, President Obama speaks on why it's time to raise the minimum wage. Watch → http://go.wh.gov/erPaQa #1010Means

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:46 AM (DmNpO)

193 A turnpike was built in the mid-60's between Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas. It had toll booths but word was the tolls and booths would go away in about 20 years. They did. But then, we are talking about Texas.

Posted by: Meremortal. at April 30, 2014 10:46 AM (1Y+hH)

194 What's a 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean ... a good start.


A Federal Election Commission attorney has resigned after the employee tweeted “dozens of partisan political tweets,” including soliciting campaign contributions for President Obama’s 2012 election, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

The unnamed FEC attorney also participated in a Huffington Post Live internet broadcast using a webcam in an FEC facility. During the broadcast, the employee criticized the GOP and then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Tuesday, the OSC announced a settlement with the offending FEC employee following an investigation of the employeeÂ’s violations of the Hatch Act, which bans all federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty or in the workplace.

Posted by: Secretary (You Can't Touch Me) Syphilis at April 30, 2014 10:46 AM (e8kgV)

195 Posted by: somebody else, not me at April 30, 2014 02:45 PM (29vnO) I think that's basically what happens with our own North Texas Tollway Authority here in DFW.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at April 30, 2014 10:47 AM (PYAXX)

196 Hot Damn, boys! We're back in business.

Posted by: The Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike at April 30, 2014 10:47 AM (l3vZN)

197

I might be  in favor of limited toll roads if they wouldn't become a parking lot during rush hour.   The  original purpose of the toll road , at least here , was to   have a bypass  and decongest traffic.

 

 

Posted by: polynikes at April 30, 2014 10:47 AM (m2CN7)

198 In Ireland, for many year's (perhaps even still) you had to pay an annual TV license fee just to own a TV.

Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 10:47 AM (nCSwS)

199 I just had a thought.  Amazon will not be happy about this.

The shipping companies pass along the costs to them.  They pass them along to the customer. 

If that happens enough, the customer says fuck it, and takes the car down to Best Buy or Target.

This has the potential to change the calculus - right now Amazon is worth it for many because of the convenience and cost savings.

When the cost savings eventually cease to exist, people may start to go "local" again.

Posted by: grognard at April 30, 2014 10:47 AM (/29Nl)

200 182 The White House ‏@WhiteHouse now At 3:10pm ET, President Obama speaks on why it's time to raise the minimum wage. Watch → http://go.wh.gov/erPaQa #1010Means Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 02:46 PM (DmNpO) Fucking cocksmoker.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 30, 2014 10:47 AM (mx5oN)

201 Oh, and: Corrected: A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost which have already been paid for by taxes.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at April 30, 2014 10:48 AM (PYAXX)

202 And a nifty little dig is hidden in that proposal as tolls will force big rigs onto local roads and thus raise local taxes for repairs while at the same time degrading their roads for their own people.

But then most of that will take place in fly over country bitchez, so?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 30, 2014 10:48 AM (JS0vr)

203 They do love their roads and trains. Can we just call it The Second Five-Year Plan and be done with it?

Posted by: t-bird at April 30, 2014 10:48 AM (FcR7P)

204 Posted by: Conservative Crank at April 30, 2014 02:45 PM (b2cFu)

Oh, but it is.

Posted by: Mega at April 30, 2014 10:48 AM (hHFOx)

205 I just had a thought. Amazon will not be happy about this. Quad-copter drone deliveries, baby. They'll even deliver your new washer & dryer pair. One component at a time.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (PYAXX)

206 They get their money one way or the other . . . Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 02:36 PM (nCSwS) Hold on a minute, I need to take some notes.

Posted by: The Iron Bank Of Bravos at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (TIIx5)

207 @136 - Don't worry - they are planning to tax those too.

Posted by: bicentennialguy at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (vg8iE)

208 @117

Now I want to dye my hair red and buy stompy boots.

/is this a good or bad thing?

Posted by: shibumi who is exceptionally cynical today at April 30, 2014 02:43 PM (25HWz)

you will fit right in.

Can you shoot?

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (x3YFz)

209

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 30, 2014 02:27 PM (VjL9S)

------------

 

Fuckin' A.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (6n332)

210 Oh, and just for the record:  Your gas taxes go to build urban bus lines and light rail systems, and the politicians who    vote for them not only trade on inside knowledge to buy up land and sell it at great profit, but also take kickbacks from the developers who build the systems.  Nice racket.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (eoeps)

211 LOL just noticed we are past the half way mark headed towards 18 T in debt (17.55) Gotta increase that spending

Posted by: Max Power at April 30, 2014 10:49 AM (q177U)

212 This won't sit well in the Atlanta metro.  Ever since the Atlanta extention of Georgia 400 opened in 1996, it's been a toll road.  The taxpayers were told that the toll would be removed when the road was paid for. Guess what? After the road was finally paid for, they kept the tolls....until so much stink was raised that they did away with them just last October.


Posted by: Mike at April 30, 2014 10:50 AM (Rk8LS)

213 So would these be the 'Shovel - Ready' jobs we've been waiting for ? or will the money be spent on environmental assessments that take 7 years before we could build any roads or bridges

Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 10:50 AM (nCSwS)

214 Take two fuckitall's and call me in the morning.     http://tinyurl.com/42v58or

Posted by: Obamanonics at April 30, 2014 10:50 AM (N3Al8)

215 So this is really Agenda 21 - making it co costly to commute that you are forced to live in/closer to the cities.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 30, 2014 10:50 AM (8zTpe)

216

In Ireland, for many year's (perhaps even still) you had to pay an annual TV license fee just to own a TV.

 

--

 

That's all over the UK.  They also have trucks with monitoring systems that drive around looking for signal reception at homes where the tax was not paid.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 10:50 AM (eoeps)

217 "... a measure needed to keep the U.S. Highway Trust Fund from running dry." This word, "Trust Fund". I don't think it means what government thinks it means. Remember back when we paid general taxes that were used to fund specific and limited responsibilities of government, like building roads and maintaining a military? Since taxes weren't specifically allocated, it left our Elected Betters to decided what the money should be spent on... and they decided it was better spent on buying votes. So then we starting to have taxes that were created to fund specific functions. Gas taxes to build roads, etc. Then these taxes were diverted to fund other stuff that is not the function of government, like buses and trains. You see, our Elected Betters needed more votes from "The Poor" and "The Middle Class" who didn't have cars, so rather than build roads for buses to run on, we built buses. Now all the specifically allocated money was spent on everything but what it was allocated for and general funds were spent on votes and buses had no roads. On the flipped side, the same people to created this problem were successfully reelected for life. Trust Fund indeed.

Posted by: Damiano at April 30, 2014 10:51 AM (j0wOO)

218 Nazareth lore?

Posted by: eleven at April 30, 2014 10:52 AM (GXZgZ)

219 Only one way to avoid paying tolls on interstate highways: Jet cars!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at April 30, 2014 10:52 AM (z/dJ6)

220 The Pennsylvania Turnpike was supposed to go toll-less once all the bonds used to build it had been paid off.

The story is that the Turnpike Authority just kept issuing new bonds for enlargements, etc.

Posted by: Ron Jeremy at April 30, 2014 10:52 AM (e8kgV)

221 So would these be the 'Shovel - Ready' jobs we've been waiting for ?


or will the money be spent on environmental assessments that take 7 years before we could build any roads or bridges

Posted by: McCool at April 30, 2014 02:50 PM (nCSwS)

the Prius crew is F'd.  The F-250 folks, not so much.  Guess who owns what and where they live.

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:52 AM (x3YFz)

222 Maybe a license plate blocker unblocker unit?

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (LJ7Ze)

223 This word, "Trust Fund". I don't think it means what government thinks it means. ** Lockbox!

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (DmNpO)

224 Okay, who doesn't want to put a couple of rounds in that bloated whale carcass?

Posted by: Sir Pug A Lott at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (8c12T)

225 Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.

Posted by: Bigby's Roshambo at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (3ZtZW)

226

Oh, and just for the record: Your gas taxes go to build urban bus lines and light rail systems,

 

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 02:49 PM (eoeps

 

Anyone else here from Houston that has never ridden  our light rail?

 

I've almost got hit by it,  but never rode it.  

Posted by: polynikes at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (m2CN7)

227 So how many commercial trucking jobs will this kill as Sysco et al switch to rail? They gotta get the shit from the railhead to the stores somehow. Second look at mule teams? Let the teamsters earn their name.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (9Gy49)

228 That's okay; I wasn't using that disposable income anyway!

Posted by: Kensington (@NYKensington) at April 30, 2014 10:53 AM (H84UO)

229 If we don't start charging tolls on interstate highways, the fat cats in this country will be getting off without paying their fair share.

Posted by: Dr Spank at April 30, 2014 10:54 AM (5UteM)

230 This idea of "you're not paying for that" as a way to extract money for you out of others is really pervasive and I predict will only get worse. I remember in college, after I become a commuter student. They passed a rule that said every commuter had to buy a meal plan. The meal plans for commuters were stupid: $300 for $250 worth of "credits." Basically a $50 overhead built right in. I objected loudly. I was told that it was time for commuters to "stop stealing for the residents." I went "What the hell are you talking about?" They said "haven't you ever used one of your girlfriend's meals in the dining hall to eat with her?" I said "well yeah, but she pays for X meals a week, how she uses them should be up to her." "Well that's how the dining service makes money, unused meals." "Then they deserve to go out of business." "And don't you eat in the food court." "Well yes, but I pay cash to eat there." "They can't survive off of that." "what the hell are you talking about? They're franchises and they charge more than the regular franchise restaurants, and they don't pay rent. How can't they survive?!" "Stop stealing." "You're really an idiot aren't you? Or maybe you're getting a kickback from the dining service. Or more likely they want to raise rates and you're selling me out to save your own hide you pitiful lapdog." (I was told I couldn't contact the student government after that one.) Point is, idiots think like this and it's only going to get worse and they find ways to funnel more money to themselves away from us.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at April 30, 2014 10:54 AM (HDwDg)

231 Maybe a license plate blocker unblocker unit?

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 02:53 PM (LJ7Ze)

been pondering this tech for a bit.  visible for police to do their job, not visible for elevated cameras.

$$ there.  Lots of $$

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:54 AM (x3YFz)

232 Oh, and just for the record: Your gas taxes go to build urban bus lines and light rail systems, and the politicians who vote for them not only trade on inside knowledge to buy up land and sell it at great profit, but also take kickbacks from the developers who build the systems. Nice racket.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 02:49 PM (eoeps)



Land use "comprehensive development planning" is a Statist's wet dream.  They get to decide how all the Little People will live. 

It's also the reason we're obligated to drive cars, and have a dwindling small-town life, and freeway-based suburbia culture -- so we all go out and buy an overpriced house with a federally-subsidized mortgage, so we can drive to work in our EZPass-tracked car, and earn money to pay income taxes. 

Someone has to, after all.  America only has about 80 million full-time private sector workers, who  generate all of the wealth for the other 150 million benefits-takers. 

Posted by: Phinn at April 30, 2014 10:54 AM (i5GO4)

233 Anyone else here from Houston that has never ridden our light rail?

I've almost got hit by it, but never rode it.

Posted by: polynikes

Have only seen it whoosh by silently, with 3-5 people on board.

Posted by: Countrysquire at April 30, 2014 10:55 AM (eEBON)

234 I don't mind my tolls being used to keep the roads safe, build new roads, or even to finance mass-transit projects, but that money should be walled off within the transportation budget. It can't be allowed to leak out to pay for bigger government elsewhere.

Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete at April 30, 2014 02:29 PM (xN1DB)


You mean like a lock box? Sounds great.  It is working so swimmingly with our Social Security "contributions"

Posted by: George Orwell at April 30, 2014 10:55 AM (Vv4Go)

235 @168
Oh yeah, 'ette through and through.

Posted by: shibumi who is exceptionally cynical today at April 30, 2014 10:55 AM (25HWz)

236 pops a 5 Hour Energy for I hope a not longer than 1 hour meeting Who's ready for fun, fun mass transit?!?

Posted by: RWC at April 30, 2014 10:56 AM (fWAjv)

237 I understand that Obama is proposing a fapping tax. (Ha HAH! I bet you grabbed for your gun too!)

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at April 30, 2014 10:56 AM (BZAd3)

238 Vic - maybe you meant the Garden state Parkway. Yes, it was the GSP, and the tolls were like 20 cents at each booth. Yeah, all to employ more unionized toll takers and not even find their lucrative pensions and health benefits.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at April 30, 2014 10:56 AM (z/dJ6)

239 227 From my cold dead hands.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:57 AM (LJ7Ze)

240 The vast majority of everything made, bought, or sold is transported over Interstate Highways. So, let's implement tolls on all the highways... when we've been in a recession for about 8 years... and have stagnant growth.... and costs of products are skyrocketing... and consumer spending is declining. Sure. Let's do that. Implement MOAR TAXES!!! Pass a budget, as is required by law? Nahhhh... we don't need a stinking budget, we just need more "revenue". We'll figure out where to spend it as we go.

Posted by: Damiano at April 30, 2014 10:57 AM (j0wOO)

241 It is so unfortunate that virtually everything this administration does hurts the middle and lower class, yet enough bones are thrown to keep the serfs in line and voting for socialists.

Posted by: Meremortal. at April 30, 2014 10:57 AM (1Y+hH)

242 been pondering this tech for a bit. visible for police to do their job, not visible for elevated cameras. Use a grate, just like how they hide traffic lights from other lanes.

Posted by: t-bird at April 30, 2014 10:57 AM (FcR7P)

243 I am beginning to think Obama is dumber than dirt, my apologies to dirt everywhere.

Posted by: Killerdog at April 30, 2014 10:57 AM (Zdgjo)

244 Don't forget all - Dear Leader to speak at 3:10 about how the conservatives are fucking up the economy.

Posted by: RWC at April 30, 2014 10:57 AM (fWAjv)

245 You must first gouge your eyes out to find out if you are blind.


Posted by: dananjcon at April 30, 2014 10:58 AM (NpXoL)

246 >>Anyone else here from Houston that has never ridden our light rail?


I haven't rode it.

Posted by: Dr Spank at April 30, 2014 10:58 AM (5UteM)

247 Of course, these days all kinds of GPS devices are everywhere, on almost every car. They could give you a generic speeding ticket if you simply arrive at a toll booth too soon after paying your toll at another.

Posted by: navybrat at April 30, 2014 10:58 AM (JgC5a)

248 Here's a $64,000,000,000,000,000 (2055 US dollars) question!

Are the politicians in Washington truly that out of touch, and so incapable of doing math, that they can't see the results of their policies OR are they just sadistically testing how far they can push people?

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at April 30, 2014 10:58 AM (AC0lD)

249 Luckily most don't have to commute any more due to no jobs.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (LJ7Ze)

250 Drivers on the nationÂ’s Interstates could soon be paying more to travel.
======
Private citizen drivers, that is.  The war against  the private ownership of vehicles continues; along with the wars against privately owned firearms, private schools, privately-owned health care factilities, privately-owned land....

Obama, Inc: Fundamentally changing America since January, 2009

Posted by: mrp at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (JBggj)

251 Nood.

Posted by: AMDG at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (eFytx)

252 136 What will they do as the Tobacco Tax Revenues fall due to E-Cigs? Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 02:40 PM (LJ7Ze) Regulate and tax e-cigs, natch! Do try to keep up.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (z/dJ6)

253 I wonder if this is part of the plan. Getting people so wound up and pissed off that they get sick of being wound up and pissed off. I'm certainly tired of it, but I wonder if they might underestimate and the law of unintended consequences takes over... just like it does for every other damned thing they do to us.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (BZAd3)

254 Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at April 30, 2014 02:54 PM (HDwDg)

Thanks for relating the story.  You were right, but you made the mistake of confronting them head on.

You can't do that, it never works.  It might be therapeutic in the moment but when you leave you know you didn't gain any ground.

Asymmetric warfare.

You have a PhD.  Think.  And think deceptively.

When dealing with the dumb force of stupid, you don't face it head on.  Find it's weak spot and kill it with the flick of a finger.  And leave ego and emotion home; they're not useful.

Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (x3YFz)

255 would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing Interstate highways, alright, time for the pitchforks and torches

Posted by: brak at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (iEoiA)

256 That's all over the UK. They also have trucks with monitoring systems that drive around looking for signal reception at homes where the tax was not paid.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 30, 2014 02:50 PM (eoeps)

 

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

 

Germany too.

Posted by: Soona at April 30, 2014 10:59 AM (ECnGp)

257 They could give you a generic speeding ticket if you simply arrive at a toll booth too soon after paying your toll at another. Posted by: navybrat at April 30, 2014 02:58 PM (JgC5a) Go on...

Posted by: .Gov at April 30, 2014 11:00 AM (fWAjv)

258 Are the politicians in Washington truly that out of touch, and so incapable of doing math, that they can't see the results of their policies OR are they just sadistically testing how far they can push people?

Posted by: Stateless Infidel

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Why can't it be both?

Posted by: Countrysquire at April 30, 2014 11:00 AM (eEBON)

259 Superhighways, coast to coast, easy taxin' anywhere
On the transcontinental overload, only the rich behind the wheel
How does it feel when there's no taxation that's too far?
While that asshole in DC is chipping in his par?


Posted by: Zombie James Brown at April 30, 2014 11:00 AM (/29Nl)

260 Are the politicians in Washington truly that out of touch, Are they getting wealthier and more powerful or are they not? They are comPLETEly in touch.

Posted by: t-bird at April 30, 2014 11:00 AM (FcR7P)

261 Are the politicians in Washington truly that out of touch, and so incapable of doing math, that they can't see the results of their policies OR are they just sadistically testing how far they can push people? I think they already know. Nobody's gonna do shit til their bellies are empty.

Posted by: eleven at April 30, 2014 11:00 AM (GXZgZ)

262 Actually I think that has already been done, on the PA turnpike.

Posted by: navybrat at April 30, 2014 11:01 AM (JgC5a)

263 Are the politicians in Washington truly that out of touch, and so incapable of doing math, that they can't see the results of their policies OR are they just sadistically testing how far they can push people? Posted by: Stateless Infidel at April 30, 2014 02:58 PM (AC0lD) Great minds and all that. See my last comment.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at April 30, 2014 11:01 AM (BZAd3)

264 Nood

Posted by: Y-not at April 30, 2014 11:01 AM (zDsvJ)

265 Is it bad, as a female, to admit that if it was the 70's and I was of age at the time, I might have let that hit me? -- Ok, I lol'd.

Posted by: Lady in Black at April 30, 2014 11:01 AM (GzUSr)

266 186 Hot Damn, boys! We're back in business. Posted by: The Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike at April 30, 2014 02:47 PM (l3vZN) ---------- Wait for me! I'm ready to go, too!

Posted by: Route 460 from Norfolk at April 30, 2014 11:02 AM (ddhPP)

267

now that the interstate highways system has been built, would it make sense just to give the roads back to the states and let them maintain them?

not to a liberal i realize...but to a normal person?

 

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at April 30, 2014 11:02 AM (SO2Q8)

268 It is so unfortunate that virtually everything this administration does hurts the middle and lower class, yet enough bones are thrown to keep the serfs in line and voting for socialists.

Posted by: Meremortal. at April 30, 2014 02:57 PM (1Y+hH)

*


Got his shit down to a science. It almost as if I've been studying Socialism all my life. 

Posted by: Barack Obama at April 30, 2014 11:02 AM (NpXoL)

269 Anyone else here from Houston that has never ridden our light rail? The silent killer for a $300 million capital cost, light rail significantly increased the costs of operating Houston transit while it killed the growth in transit ridership and significantly reduced passenger miles. If you are an empire-building bureaucrat, transit employee seeking higher pay, or rail contractor, then you would probably consider HoustonÂ’s light rail to be a success. From the point of view of taxpayers and transit riders, if this is a success then I would hate to see a failure.

Posted by: Velvet Ambition, the guy that will push that button at April 30, 2014 11:02 AM (R8hU8)

270 The interstate toll will make our state legislators multi-orgasmic. They put a toll on one of our bridges to raise money to widen the bridge and saw a huge drop in the number of drivers using that bridge so they aren't making the money they need to. They really desperately want to toll the I-90 bridge in order to get their money.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at April 30, 2014 11:02 AM (+0txR)

271 Posted by: tangonine at April 30, 2014 02:59 PM (x3YFz) Actually I condensed that. I was arguing with my commuter rep to the student government to stop the fucking bill. He blew me off. I called him a lap dog. However it did boil down to the meal plan company basically threatening the residents to jack up prices on commuters or do it for them. And the student government was rigged. Commuters (which depending on how you counted was anywhere from 25-40% of the undergrad enrollment) got 3 of 30 reps. Each resident hall had more reps than the entire commuter contingent. Then each college had just as many reps, who were mostly residents (since the government met in the evening.) So we were outnumbered by a factor of 9 basically. And institutional memory is short at a university. Try telling that story to any kid there now and they won't even know the new meal plans are only 8 years old .

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at April 30, 2014 11:03 AM (HDwDg)

272  So this is really Agenda 21 - making it co costly to commute that you are forced to live in/closer to the cities.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 30, 2014 02:50 PM (8zTpe)

 

 

----------------------------------------------

 

 

Yes.   This is Agenda 21.  Right now they're just nudging us.   But give it another year and Baraka and the regime will start pushing us.

Posted by: Soona at April 30, 2014 11:04 AM (ECnGp)

273
The ones who'll really get shafted are the truckers. Of course, they'll just pass the costs along to their customers, so who cares?

Posted by: Brown Line at April 30, 2014 11:05 AM (VrNoa)

274 The vast majority of your transportation funds are eaten up by labor and pension costs and the pension costs are far outstripping sucking dry the coffers.

Posted by: Kreplach at April 30, 2014 11:05 AM (TRyfo)

275 Will this be a marketing bonanza for slug manufacturers?

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at April 30, 2014 11:05 AM (oDCMR)

276 Someone has to, after all. America only has about 80 million full-time private sector workers, who generate all of the wealth for the other 150 million benefits-takers. Posted by: Phinn at April 30, 2014 02:54 PM (i5GO4) One little quibble there. The use of the word "other" is not accurate. The 80 million workers are also benefit takers in various ways. And million of workers pay no federal income tax due to the current tax structure. Too many taking benefits is one problem, and too few paying taxes is another, related problem. Earned income tax credit, remember? Some workers get a $4-6k refund and don't pay anything in except a few hundred in SS taxes.

Posted by: Meremortal. at April 30, 2014 11:06 AM (1Y+hH)

277 Are the politicians in Washington truly that out of touch, and so incapable of doing math, that they can't see the results of their policies OR are they just sadistically testing how far they can push people?

It's control-freak-ism. 

It's a disorder, sort of like an addiction.  They have a deep psychological need to exert power over people, largely owing to their near-total inability to make their way in the world on mutually-voluntary terms. 

To do so would require skills like negotiation and consistent productivity, which they lack. 

Posted by: Phinn at April 30, 2014 11:07 AM (i5GO4)

278 "...clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost." Don't we pay a fucking federal gas tax???? The NYT is staffed by fucking idiots.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at April 30, 2014 11:10 AM (vd7A8)

279 All of this really kind of fits with the ideology, when you think about it. Even with Alinsky, the goal was to sew so much strife and discontent and that would lead to civil strife that would lead to insurrection and then the radicals could come in, pick up the pieces and set up shop. Baader Meinhoff and the Red Brigades attempted this strategy. I would think it would be somewhat simpler if the government was the instigating agency.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at April 30, 2014 11:10 AM (BZAd3)

280 carney thread up

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 30, 2014 11:11 AM (DmNpO)

281 268 Idiots who don't own cars.

Posted by: Boss Moss at April 30, 2014 11:11 AM (LJ7Ze)

282 Rumor has it Obama's transportation proposal includes a tax on the use of cowbell.  Specifically, 1970s era cowbell.

Posted by: Fritz at April 30, 2014 11:12 AM (UzPAd)

283

Ignorance and Progressive nuttiness is not limited to politics or Italian Justice.  You can also find it in science (AGW) and even in Cultural Anthropology. 

 

This is pretty hilarious.  An  academic  scholar studied an Amazon tribe for decades and arrived at some conclusions the progressive mafia find unsettling, like that violent men in the tribe kill each other so that they can capture the babes, or just because its  Wednesday, and weaker people have no defense against stronger people (no Second Amendment).   Rousseau seems  to have missed the mark, just by a wee little bit.

 

So the academy decided the guy was racist.  Not joking;  he didn't arrive at Progressive-Approved conclusions and so he must be drummed out of the guild.

 

bit.ly/1n2SsaD

 

Posted by: MTF at April 30, 2014 11:16 AM (LISuA)

284 (Off, damn toll inspired sock!)

Posted by: shredded chi at April 30, 2014 11:16 AM (ddhPP)

285 You people who think installing tolls will create a backlash?  Hah!  It'll just lead to calls for tollfare for the poor.  We're implementing Marxism once tax increase at a time.

Posted by: SFGoth at April 30, 2014 11:25 AM (T0vLH)

286 By all means, bleed the arteries of commerce and transport. The underpants gnomes assure me of profit.

Posted by: LizLem at April 30, 2014 11:42 AM (yRwC8)

287 God, you wingnuts are stupid. If you are so anti-government, then maybe you shouldn't use roads, bridges, teachers, or firefighters...which makes up the majority of what Obama has focused during his 5 years of golfing. And if your stupid sky friend sends a tornado to smite you because you don't believe in global warming...the global warming which caused tornado alley to appear in America for the first time ever, then you should die without receiving any federal help. Also, clean up the national discourse. You should be nicer to obama.

Posted by: joeindc44 at April 30, 2014 11:46 AM (FQLT3)

288 a flexible, supple thinker whose wide-ranging mind was unbound by ideological constraints? **** I guess that only applies to hiring lobbyists.

Posted by: joeindc44 at April 30, 2014 11:47 AM (FQLT3)

289 Is he trying to spend all the money by 2016 ? Is anyone else working on plan C . Mass migration of fiscal conservatives and other rational individuals to Canada . Locking that border down .

Posted by: DrDrill at April 30, 2014 12:00 PM (sOFZs)

290 Put your "Heir of the Dog" story on wikipedia. If it sticks, it will become true.

Posted by: Ken in NH at April 30, 2014 12:03 PM (MqjGP)

291 What roads and bridges will he be fixing this time? Weren't we supposed to have them fixed with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? Or was that funding just for the signs?

Posted by: Ken in NH at April 30, 2014 12:05 PM (MqjGP)

292 215 Doot do do do do doot doot Living in the U.S.A. Doot do do do do doot doot Living in the U.S.A. Posted by: Bigby's Roshambo at April 30, 2014 02:53 PM (3ZtZW) "...Somebody give me a cheeseburger!!!!!!!!!!"

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 30, 2014 12:08 PM (CMkNk)

293 What roads and bridges will he be fixing this time? Weren't we supposed to have them fixed with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? Or was that funding just for the signs? *** remember, another symptom of liberal pathology is that any negotiation is taken to be hatred of the other side of the table. Therefore, WHY do you hate roads and bridges???? do me a favor wingnut and stop using roads to go to work because that's what the government does!!!!

Posted by: joeindc44 at April 30, 2014 12:16 PM (FQLT3)

294 Put your "Heir of the Dog" story on wikipedia. If it sticks, it will become true. Already done. Wow, almost 40 years, and that pun never occurred to me.

Posted by: HD at April 30, 2014 12:26 PM (FK+kQ)

295 Can't help but think of the movie "Robin Hood". Rise and rise again until the lambs become lions....

They've gotten most of us to the point where we can barely afford to eat or clothe ourselves. Destroyed most of the jobs. Restricted out rights to bear arms. Spied on at every turn. Quieted the press. And used government agencies against us. And now to restrict our travel....

Hopeless.


Posted by: dc at April 30, 2014 12:35 PM (nOLbs)

296 I'm back baby!

Posted by: Route 66 at April 30, 2014 12:35 PM (nsOJa)

297 Boy these chaps sure feel confident in their ability to just get away with anything they want.

Wonder what else they plan to do.

This is a problem.

Posted by: Simon White-Thatch Potentloins at April 30, 2014 12:50 PM (NnjE8)

298 Under Obama, everything you used to do now costs more... from new tolls for driving to mandated Obamacare just for being born against your will.

Posted by: AAA at April 30, 2014 01:05 PM (fG412)

299 Didn't the colonists rebel for less?

Posted by: elaine at April 30, 2014 01:57 PM (YNYXJ)

300 Boy these chaps sure feel confident in their ability to just get away with anything they want.

That's because the "opposition" is nothing of the sort.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at April 30, 2014 02:27 PM (vd7A8)

301

The economy has been very good for Obama's one-percenters.

Posted by: burt at April 30, 2014 02:49 PM (1+kJ5)

302 50 Call this heresy if you like, but I'm fine with funding road construction and maintenance with tolls. Let the people who make use of the roads pay for them, and leave the people who don't alone.

Posted by: Masturbatin' Pete at April 30, 2014 02:29 PM (xN1DB)

*************************
I've funded them once already. I don't particularly care to fund them a second time, especially knowing that the toll money most certainly will NOT go to road construction, or even to maintenance. We've got dedicated funds now (road taxes, gas taxes, weigh stations, etc.) that never go near roads.

And tell me, who doesn't use the roads? Do you think sidewalks are private? Are bike paths privately funded? Some, yeah, but mostly they aren
't because private companies can't get the eminent domain that governments can, unless they partner with the government - and then we're right back in the same hole. Sheesh.

Posted by: I lurk, therefore I amn't at April 30, 2014 08:45 PM (ab+jQ)

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