From: BillK (bill@wkidston.freeserve.co.uk)
Date: Mon Feb 10 2003 - 07:56:54 MST
Sun Feb 09, 2003 12:55 pm Lee Corbin wrote:
> By *taxing* an activity, however well intentioned, you invariably
> weaken and damage an economy.
Well, yes, all taxes are bad. Shall we have a vote on that?? ;-)
But sometimes no taxes are worse.
The USA has 42,000 (and rising) traffic deaths per year. That is quite a
bit of damage to the economy, and to all the families involved. This
continuing increase in death goes along in line with the increased usage
of large cars like SUVs. Why????????
The large size of the cars is *not* stopping the death toll on American
roads.
It is very cynical to just shrug and say "Well, people are free to kill
themselves if they want to." Over half of these deaths are just
bystanders who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
People who cause accidents don't just kill themselves.
To quote Leonard Evans again:
'U.S. traffic policy since the 1970s has been dominated by the delusion
that safety can be achieved by changing vehicles to increase
survivability in crashes.
As measured by traffic deaths per million registered vehicles, the
U.S. was the safest nation in the world in the early 1970s. Today it is
in 13th place, and still dropping. Better-performing countries have not
done anything that is either extraordinary or draconian -- they have
simply not fallen into the obsessive focus on marginal factors such as
tires, vehicle defects and airbags that dominate U.S. safety policy.'
By being dependent on excessive oil consumption, the USA is handing over
billions of dollars to the oil-producing countries and generating huge
amounts of wealth in those countries. These countries may well not have
the best interests of the USA at heart when spending those billions of
dollars (irony alert!).
This is a national security issue, not just saving a few dollars on
your travel costs.
BillK
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