Why You Should Be Excited About National Bankruptcy

Zerohedge ^ | June 7, 2012 | Simon Black

[SteelToe]

One of the great absurdities of our modern financial system is that a nation living within its means, i.e. spending less than what it confiscates in tax revenue, is no longer the norm.

Living within your means is now considered ‘austerity’. And unfair.

Whether in the UK, Europe, or North America, many voters have become so accustomed to the government’s massive role in the economy, they can’t begin to imagine how it could be scaled back.

You usually hear heavy objections from people like– “What about roads? If we start cutting budgets, there would be no more roads!”

The ‘road argument’ is one of the most widely misused defenses of government… as if there are no private roads in the world.

Chile comes to mind as a great example– the country’s very modern toll-based highway system is privatized, and the operators have a huge profit incentive to keep the roads in top condition.

In fact, the 2 1/2 hour ride from Santiago to our farm is along one of these roads, and it’s smooth sailing the whole way.

A few years ago when Chile had its major earthquake, portions of the highway system were damaged. This meant that the operators were missing out on toll revenue… so they found a solution and were back up and running in a matter of days.

[Hogblog]

You must not have driven on Oklahoma’s turnpikes.....pay to destroy your car......

[Crazieman]

Oklahoma’s POS turnpikes are an exception. I have driven them and I know how horrific they are. However, ever driven on the Kansas Turnpike? Its cheap, exceptional in condition, many parts of it you could conceivably travel at 90mph quite comfortably (if allowed).

Is there some sort of corruption involved in OK’s turnpike system?

[BobL]

I’m perfectly happy to have roads that are a bit rough when I pay the government 2 cents per mile to drive (state and federal), rather than nice shiny roads at 30 cents per mile (toll rate for a Canadian private highway).

[HiTech RedNeck]

At least Canada does it right. You ought to see Illinois’ excuses for toll quality roads.

[BobL]

“At least Canada does it right. You ought to see Illinois’ excuses for toll quality roads.”

The Canadians might take issue with that. They had to go to court just to get a copy of the secret, crony-capitalism contract, Ontario had signed with the company. Then they read it and found out they were TOTALLY SCREWED and the company had complete control of the right-of-way, protection against competition on that right-of-way, and the ability to charge as much as they wanted on that highway (407 ETR).

They weren’t happy, but there is nothing they can do for generations.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And yet Canada gets a nice tollway with a minimum of potholes and construction... wasn’t that the point? Even if paying more than they should for it? Illinois’ tollways were supposed to be free decades ago. And the doggone things are still plagued with destruction.

[Graewoulf]

Thanks for this thread. Lots of food for thought!

[familyop]

But the author diverted from the relevant point by rambling about roads. Many government offices (including local offices funded in part by federal government) are paid to spy on law-abiding citizens, break families and prevent competition against bipartisan constituents, who rule as dictators from shadows.

[BobL]

“And yet Canada gets a nice tollway with a minimum of potholes and construction... wasn’t that the point?”

Actually not. What happens is that the company borrows a boatload of money and then gives it to the provincial government for the right to run the highway and collect tolls. The government gets to play with that money (in the billions)...but then the tolls have to cover that debt (which is huge), the cost of the road (which actually is very small, once the cost of tolling is deducted), and make a profit. Bottom-line is that the drivers get nice roads, but they also have to pay billions for indigent health care in Toronto. It winds up being no different than raising the gasoline tax by $5 to $7 per gallon for those drivers, and giving all but 50 cents to the road.

“Illinois’ tollways were supposed to be free decades ago. And the doggone things are still plagued with destruction.”

I hear you on the first part, we were ‘promised’ our toll roads would become free once paid off here in Houston, so we approved them 25 years ago. Needless to say we kept borrowing against them to finance other crap. As for condition of the roads, you can probably pin that on Chicago Politics, but you would know better than me on that.