Why don't we raise the gas tax?

[BlackCat]

Um...all education is liberal brainwashing. Unless you're at a school that is deliberately feeding you misinformation.

Mods, someone has taken control of DaShi's login - he has just stated something reasonable Please close it

[Guynemer]

She appears on three audio programs for the NEA’s Big Read program (played on NPR) devoted to writers Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, and Marilynne Robinson.

literature of the former Soviet Union

I fail to see your point here.

[Guynemer]

In truth though, I personally believe that believing that you are answerable to a higher authority is a good thing for a leader.

Is not a leader answerable to the higher authority of the nation at large?

[PLATO]

Is not a leader answerable to the higher authority of the nation at large?

I think that is a very good question. One that is not as easily answered as it once was.

[BlackCat]

The second part of your statement I totally disagree with. A persons "trust in God" or lack thereof does not, to me, have any bearing on his/her political ability to lead the country. In truth though, I personally believe that believing that you are answerable to a higher authority is a good thing for a leader.

I don't buy the "answerable to a higher authority" since that could also be deliverng a sufficient number of human sacrifices.

The real problem is that you can be the president of US if you are a christian (high), jew (medium), hindu, muslim, shinto etc. (low), but never if you are atheistic.

[PLATO]

The real problem is that you can be the president of US if you are a christian (high), jew (medium), hindu, muslim, shinto etc. (low), but never if you are atheistic.

Well...I guess this is the beauty of elections then. I don't see this as a real problem. I really see it as a non-issue. Each person should vote their concience. If the collective will of the people is to have a non-atheist, then okay. If it is to have an atheist, then okay. My personal preference is that they are Christian, but I certainly respect others right to disagree with me on that. That is, afterall, why we vote.

[Dinner]

Tolstoy wasn't Soviet, Al. He died in Tsarist Russia and he happens to be one of the best authors in history. You ignorant dolt.

[The Mad Monk]

Is not a leader answerable to the higher authority of the nation at large?

In theory, but reality has a way of lagging.

[Felch]

Classes at Temple University were of definite liberal persuasion. I never encountered, even in the economics department, a decidedly conservative ideology. At best, a professor was neutral. I recall myself and an Austrian School-influenced student having arguments in class with our Keynesian intermediate macroeconomics professor. My humanities courses (philosophy of art, moral philosophy, African-American philosophy, modern European history, poli sci, etc. I took over a dozen) were definitively of a liberal persuasion.

Just as you assume that every city is like Philly, you assume that every University is just like Temple? Sounds like good old Alby logic.

[Imran Siddiqui]

If your coworker loves boiled cabbage and beans, does he owe you money every time he farts?

Those must be some amazing farts if you are equating them with air pollution which can reduce your life span and cause respiratory problems.

[Egbert]

Because we're trying to discourage personal car use which is, per person, more costly to society than bus and train usage is per person. We want to transfer people from using their personal cars to using the train. You don't accomplish that if you make train usage as costly as car usage!

If we give them no cost-beneficial alternative, they'll just keep driving to their detriment or won't be able to travel (which includes to their place of employment).

I believe that government policies leading to economic collapse would significantly reduce the use of personal cars. I present North Korea as an example of a country with very low per capita car usage. North Korea has successfully made nearly everyone far too poor to afford a car thus, presumably, leading to a significant upsurge in walking, cycling, train catching and bus catching. *

* North Korea had a devastating famine in the 1990's which made a significant contribution to NK inability to afford gas guzzling cars. (The lack of cars is thus not entirely due to government).

[Felch]

Those must be some amazing farts if you are equating them with air pollution which can reduce your life span and cause respiratory problems.

While our own farts smell like roses, other people's farts stink and impact our quality of life. Beans and cabbage are cheap food, and their cost doesn't factor in the externality of flatulence.

Farms using chemical fertilizers can have issues with runoff that pollute waterways. Should we raise the price of food, and make it more difficult for low income families to eat, in order to counter this negative externality?

[Jon Miller]

Actually, there are huge problems caused by the US (and other first world countries) significant agricultural subsidies.

Yes, they should end.

They are probably one of the worst subsidies in existence.

JM

[Imran Siddiqui]

What Jon said. I am in favor of ending agg subsidies.

And as to the specific issue about chemicals leaking into water, I wouldn't be averse to higher taxes on those particular chemicals.

As for low income eaters, I believe that we have different views of how much to help out the poor in our society (I would prefer the government to do a lot more).

[Felch]

You obviously do want the government to do more. You want the government to raise the price of food, and make it even more difficult for the poor to eat.

Bear in mind that if the poor aren't paying more for their food, then the policy of pricing externalities is compromised. While I agree that our ag policy is flawed (I'd prefer cheap veggies over cheap corn and meat), that's not the issue we're discussing. We're talking about making poor people pay the price of your social engineering schemes. Gasoline taxes are inherently regressive, and while a lawyer might not feel much of a pinch, others certainly will.