tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post8637639058447779893..comments2024-03-23T12:05:13.464-07:00Comments on Ideas: Special Pleading and How to Recognize ItDavid Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-60160176701297298482022-10-29T16:22:43.237-07:002022-10-29T16:22:43.237-07:00@Geech:
I was giving the figure for the net subsid...@Geech:<br />I was giving the figure for the net subsidy — goverment expenditure on highways minus highway taxes and fees.David Friedmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-86455455979534736272022-10-29T07:13:40.279-07:002022-10-29T07:13:40.279-07:00Thomas: Motor fuel taxes are charged per gallon to...Thomas: Motor fuel taxes are charged per gallon to pay for highway maintenance. These taxes exist on both the state and federal levels. Although the per-gallon tax is not directly related to road usage, there should be a significant correlation. So, Walmart's fleet of trucks is definitely contributing a lot of taxes as they move goods over the highways.<br /><br />Obviously, any road funding beyond these excise taxes would not have the same features, and your comment would still apply.Geechhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07833008553890245685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-42471335483544345402022-10-27T16:14:01.450-07:002022-10-27T16:14:01.450-07:00Fruo: The subsidy per mile depends on how much is ...Fruo: The subsidy per mile depends on how much is used — it's the total subsidy divided by the number of passenger miles. The effect is to make the cost of urban transit lower by a dollar a mile, of highway driving by something under a penny a mile — since some of the subsidy should be allocated to trucks.<br /><br />Mugwump: Interesting point. California requires overtime for anything more than eight hours in a day — the Federal rules is more than 40 hours in a week. So the California rule punishes a four day/40 hour week, which would be attractive for someone with a long commute.<br /><br />Martin: The Africans who captured the slaves were enriched by selling them. It isn't clear that anyone, African or American, is richer now due to slavery having happened.David Friedmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-60105594617436009562022-10-26T17:34:55.344-07:002022-10-26T17:34:55.344-07:00One could argue reparations has to do with unjust ...One could argue reparations has to do with unjust enrichment. If this is so white America would probably pay more than Africans who were less enriched.Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11762689961982382966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-66334581690107521342022-10-26T11:23:12.935-07:002022-10-26T11:23:12.935-07:00There are definitely effects in the opposite direc...There are definitely effects in the opposite direction - large ones, I think.<br /><br />Overtime pay rules (50 to 100% wage premium/hour) drive a lot of urban sprawl. Many hourly employees would like to work more than 40 hours/week, but employers are unwilling to pay the jacked-up overtime wage rates. <br /><br />So, instead of working more hours, employees commute long distances from suburbs, where housing is cheaper. It's a way of trading time for a larger disposable income that's not effectively prohibited.<br /><br />I’m willing to bet that the growth of urban sprawl closely tracks the introduction of wage-and-hour regulations.<br /><br />(I must credit my lovely wife for this theory, who discovered it by experience with her own employees.)Modern Mugwumphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17893227760361314933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-62492245938627677842022-10-24T18:00:23.430-07:002022-10-24T18:00:23.430-07:00"The subsidy to highways, if entirely allocat..."The subsidy to highways, if entirely allocated to passenger transportation, was about one cent a passenger mile. The subside to mass transit, the urban alternative to automobiles, was about a dollar a passenger mile. Insofar as government subsidies affected the choice between automobiles and transit it biased it in favor of transit, suggesting that abolition of government would lead to more suburban living"<br /><br />Doesn't the effect depend on how many subsidies are actually taken and used, as well as how much people use public transit?Fruohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18280074451815097027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-12745037205694905632022-10-24T12:30:46.184-07:002022-10-24T12:30:46.184-07:00The distortion in favor of automobiles is in not c...The distortion in favor of automobiles is in not charging marginal cost (including congestion) for use of streets and roads including.<br /><br />I think the Lockean argument for redistribution or reparations is really just a refutation of the argument that "what I have was obtained without fraud or violence." OK Now let's START the conversation about redistribution. Thaomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14747215297590200584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-79764819560765556732022-10-24T00:57:04.855-07:002022-10-24T00:57:04.855-07:00The argument against Walmart is defective in other...The argument against Walmart is defective in other ways as well.<br /><br />"[T]he low prices we enjoy at Wal-Mart in our capacity as consumers are thus made possible in part by our having already indirectly subsidized Wal-Mart's operating costs in our capacity as taxpayers."<br />This argument is not quantitative enough. If I pay $1 in taxes in order to save $20 at Walmart, then it's still a good deal for me. The guy who hates Walmart needs to cover this point.<br /><br />The tone of the anti-Walmart argument makes it sound as if Walmart is at fault for the roads being partially subsidised by general government funds. Yet, government, not Walmart, sets the tax rates.<br /><br />So the roads are partially subsidized by general revenues. It is relevant who pays the taxes that contribute to these general revenues. Most taxes are paid by rich guys. Who benefits from the low prices at Walmart? Mostly lower-income guys. So there may well be a flow from rich to poor via these road subsidies. The tone of the anti-Walmart argument makes it sound as if Walmart (its shareholders?) are ripping off the average guy, via the road subsidy. Doubtful. The guy making the anti-Walmart argument bears the burden of proof to establish his own point.<br /><br />Elizabeth Warren did a similar spiel about how the success of the rich man is paid for by the "rest of us". "You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for." Etc. The problem with her argument is that the rich factory owner, through his higher taxes in the progressive tax system, probably has already paid for more than his share of the roads, education, etc. She claims that the "rest of us" paid for the road, failing to credit the contribution of the rich man himself, through his taxes. When you fix Warren's incorrect accounting, her argument vanishes.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-26446217069330007532022-10-21T15:27:09.061-07:002022-10-21T15:27:09.061-07:00Very nice, tight reasoning. Thank you.Very nice, tight reasoning. Thank you.David R. Hendersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02927325694778972407noreply@blogger.com