j.r. leonard

A single parking space - not including land needed to drive one car - is 200 square feet. There are ~ 500,000 cars registered in San Francisco. That’s $60 billion, just for parking. Now add all the streets. US cities subsidize the auto industry to the tune of trillions.

Why frame this as a subsidy to to carmakers, who historically were located in a few places, as opposed to a subsidy on drivers who live and vote everywhere? This is a good example of we love to blame "the corporations" when the behavior in question quite clearly stems from us

Because the carmakers have lobbyists who determine our transportation budget priorities. The average driver has no idea they’re being so heavily subsidized.

Exactly. More accurate to describe this as a subsidy on drivers. But then you wouldn't get to shoehorn this into a standard anti-corporate narrative.

LOL no that’s not how subsidies work, the money ends up in the pockets of the automakers, not the drivers who lose thousands but thanks for playing

"Thanks for playing?" Who talks like that? Anyway, that's exactly how subsidies work. Lowering the cost of owning and operating a car means drivers pay less. It's fine, if you want to make drivers pay the full cost of operating a car. Just own up to it and make the case honestly

where does the money end up that’s who gets the subsidy you’re not even trying are you

1/ What's the point of Twitter speak? It's neither meaningful nor elegant. And finding who gets the benefit of a subsidy works in the same way as determining tax incidence, but in reverse. It's split btw consumer and producer, with a ratio that has to be determined empirically.