As I said in the post: we've done the private-road thing before. Not many people remember the original Turnpikes. Private companies built those, not any highway departments. Those would not come until much later.
Everything that has gone wrong with transportation, you can blame on the government. Distortion of markets, favoritism, you name it, it happened. It's time to get the government out of transportation. Completely.
Privatize streets and roads?
Temlakos~POTL~PWCM~JLA~☆
2012/06/11 02:22:53
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Ayn Rand told Alvin (Future Shock) Toffler that private persons and private companies should own and keep up all streets and roads. The government, she said, should worry only about using force when it had to, against those who wrongfully use force against others. That’s what police, armies, and law courts are for.
Obviously she never said that people would neglect to plow the streets in the winter, or keep bridges up. So why would anyone think that they would? Because they forget that public streets, roads, and bridges do not spring into being out of nothing. Someone builds them.
History of road building
For most of human history, governments built roads. Kings and
emperors built the most famous and longest-lasting roads. Ancient Rome’s
roads are the most famous.
All roads lead to Rome.
Those roads did not come out of nothing. Roman magistrates built the first of Rome’s roads. For much of their history,
local townsfolk kept up the roads that passed through their towns. At
other times, an ambitious Roman Senator (e.g., a young Julius Caesar)
would volunteer to keep up a road. Keeping a long road in good
repair earned him votes. That system hasn’t changed much since then.
Details have changed, but fundamentals have not.
But people have almost completely forgotten that private enterprise and private initiative
once played prominent roles in road-building. The Industrial Revolution
in England might never have been, except that several Turnpike Trusts formed to build long-haul roads in England. In America, the first good long-haul roads were also private turnpikes. The first of these was the Lancaster Turnpike in southeastern Pennsylvania.
More recently, Murray Rothbard (no friend of Ayn Rand), in For a New Liberty (1973), wrote the most comprehensive treatment yet of how to build, run, and price roads privately.
Read the rest of the article (see link below) for details, and some exquisite ironies about all the things that critics of Ayn Rand say are wrong with American road-building projects. Things that, in the Ayn Rand world, would not happen.
Read More: http://www.conservativenewsandviews.com/2012/06/10...
There is a better probability of public roads being maintained, although with an admittedly much higher cost because of the unavoidable "strings" attached.
Although, I have to admit, that the outstanding national interstate highway system (the "I" numbers-north/south odds, east/west evens) was started during the Eisenhower (Republican) administration and we don't pay "per use" tolls on them like we have to do on the turnpikes (we just do it with our tax dollar donations).
"To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;"
Cato suggested doing this in lieu of the gas tax. If the gas tax was set as a persentage of the barrel price of oil, it wouldn't be a problem since it would fluctuate with inflation. However, we know the mentality of most of the lawmakers. They tend to be arrogant and stubborn. The never seem to admit they made a mistake untill they are up to their eyeballs in excrement.
Sorry, this is one Ayn Rand is way out of orbit on. I would have chosen the "NO" answer except it was stipulated that public roads under our states, cities, and counties would be accessible and well-kept. The best thing I can say there is at least they are "there"! Could you imagine asking a small company, or even several small companies to build and maintain a road? What happens if they go out of business? Who picks it up then?
They aren't geared toward creating a sound private market environment.
Why would private companies fix the roads? With the government, people that aren’t satisfied can at least vote for new management. You voted with your feet and moved out.
The problem with San Diego is that people are more concerned with lining their pockets with welfare programs then they are about descent roads.
The street where you live would be an extension of your house. Or so you would make clear before you signed a deed.
In either case, of course the private companies would keep those roads in repair, to please their clients. Their clients are either the home or business owners along the road, or the motorists who use them.
Indeed the whole "natural monopoly" theory fails when you stop to consider: What did people do before they built the road, or whatever?
If one company owns all of the roads then you have a monopoly. If two companies own all of the roads you will have a mess.
Before they built roads they walked on dirt or whatever Nature laid down.
1. Companies should not own a road. They should bid on the maintenace of that road and any repairs. Very easily done, since I manage millions of dollars of assets I can tell you that outside resources are more efficient and cost effective.
2. Your right about San Diego, the Mayor's race has Brian Billbray in the lead and if he gets in, stand by. Can you say Detroit?
3. Last, no one understands about maintenance of roadways. You need to maintain them in order for the roads to last. The longer you let them go, the more it costs to fix them. A good maintenance program is really what is needed.
Just my 2 cents worth.
That has been going on in America for ever.
The city sometimes fills in potholes but the government does own the roads except roads on private property.
Not likely...IMHO
What would motivate a private company to build a road to hook up a business to the current road system? The government would be motivated because they get tax money from the business. What if two companies decided to build roads right next to each other?
Then you have sewer systems, different pipes, and under ground cables crossing roads. Who is going to decide where the lines go?
Private companies are motivated by profit. You don’t want them to have a monopoly. Roads to serve a community have to be a monopoly or you are going to have a mess.