[paraclete]

yes it is difficult to cut the cloth when your policies don't fit, I expect China looked like a good idea once to counter the Russians, not such a good idea now, still you still have India and Pakistan to exploit next. You should take a leaf out of the chinese book and build public housing, toll roads and beautiful bridges

[Catsmine]

You should take a leaf out of the chinese book and build public housing, toll roads and beautiful bridges

Been there, done that.


Public Housing: Home - The Cabrini-Green Projects

Toll Roads:The I-95 Exit Guide | Highway, Bridge and Tunnel Tolls

Beautiful bridges: Bridge to nowhere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Just about got the sky cleaned up from doing it. Still working on the water.

[paraclete]

ah but you have to admire the chinese scale, it takes care of unemployment and provides growth, but it costs money. they have mortgaged their future and it may work out for them

[smoothy]

THey use their complete lack of safety in the workplace as a form of population control. How many CHinese workers die per day during a major construction project? Nobody cares so records aren't kept.

[paraclete]

But you are different full of concern for the individual

[smoothy]

Yeah... damn my western values.

[tomder55]

re toll roads .. The emperor is opening the door to tolling the interstate system. They used to fund the highway system with gas taxes. But as fuel efficiencies increased ,they are finding that the funding comes up short. So now they are looking for more creative ways. With the advent of EZ PASS ,they can toll just about anything .

[paraclete]

as a comment because I don't have personal experience of your road system, tolls are a effective way of providing inferstructure, (user pays principle) and as long as toll roads are maintained at a high standard and reasonable price they are cost effective for the motorist reducing transit times and fuel consumption. In China toll roads are used as a control mechanism as every journey is logged and every intercity journey is taxed, it's a thought, no need for the NSA to spy

[tomder55]

here in NY the toll system is oppressive. An independent trucker can pay a toll of up to $102 /per trip across the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey to NYC .

For me to travel from the Hudson Valley to Long Island takes . $26 dollars to cross over the George Washington Bridge and the Throgs Neck Bridge . If you travel the full length of the NY Thruway (an interstate road ) ,you pay another $25 . NY City has some bridges across the East River and Harlem River that were toll free. But they are experimenting now with using cameras to record the cars crossing ,and then they submit a bill through the mail . So now it cost $5 to cross the Henry Hudson Bridge. I'm sure once they iron out the details ,the rest of the bridges will be similarily tolled.
NYC voted down Nanny Bloomy's idea to charge congestion toll rates in down town Manhattan. But I'm sure that plan aint off the table yet.

[paraclete]

Well our tolls arn't as impressive as yours and our toll roads work well with the drawback that you need to possess an E-tag to use them economically. Not fun for long distance travellers who can't join in. One thought though, with tolls like that it is no wonder your economy is sluggish that is an extortinate level of extra taxation

[tomder55]

indeed . Thousands of trucks have to cross the bridges to get in and around NYC daily . The toll cost get passed on to the cost of doing business which in return gets passed on to the consumer.

[paraclete]

and your point is. just think if they used rail they could avoid the cost

[smoothy]

Ever been to Manhattan? It's a LOT bigger than you think. And rail access into it isn't a viable option, what rail exists is the subway... designed for moving people not the merchandise and materials needed for the area. You still have to move the product to the end user. Without trucks... it would be a ghost town inside a week.

[paraclete]

No I haven't had the pleasure, but that's what you get for putting a major city on a island. I understand Manhatten is large even the street numbering system tells you that. Given the volume those trucks must gridlock your transport system, look Sydney isn't much better, it might as well be on an island, it is actually on a peninsula so I understand the problem

[smoothy]

For grins... the World trade center site in lower Manhattan to Central park might take you an hour or more to walk one way and you would be feeling it after you did. I've done it once... I took the subway the next time. Which actually is not very hard to figure out.

I've only been there three times......I figure thats enough to last me for the rest of my life.

[paraclete]

Yep all big cities are like that