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To: Onelifetogive
I have an idea Sarah. Why don't you raise your own capital, build yourself a railroad, sell tickets and send the government a bunch of money in taxes like the rest of us commuters do?

That's about as silly as Sarah telling you to go raise some capital to build your own private highway.

25 posted on 06/16/2010 6:21:03 PM PDT by Willie Green ("Some people march to the beat of a different drum - and some people polka. ..")
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To: Willie Green
That's about as silly as Sarah telling you to go raise some capital to build your own private highway.

Not such a bad idea!

From wikipedia:

A private highway is a highway owned and operated for profit by private industry. Private highways are common in Asia and Europe; in addition, a few have been built in the United States on an experimental basis. Typically, private highways are built by companies that charge tolls for a period of time while the debt is retired, after which the highway is turned over to government control. This allows governments to fulfill immediate transportation needs despite their own budget constraints, while still retaining public ownership of the roads in the long term.

An obstacle to private highways is that government regulation can stifle price flexibility and introduce negotiation and paperwork requirements that increase operational expenses. In addition, private highways lack some advantages that governments have, such as sovereign immunity against liability for accidents and the ability to issue tax-exempt securities.[1]

Free market roads are advocated by libertarians, who consider them more efficient and safer than public roads.[2]

Seems like a good idea...unless government intervention fouls it up.

I KNOW that Wikipedia is just people's opinions, but there is nothing in this passage that I can diasgree with.

I'd be willing to reduce gasoline taxes and increase the number of toll roads. Let people who use roads pay for them, but don't make people who use roads pay for trains! Let people who use trains pay for trains!

27 posted on 06/16/2010 7:17:52 PM PDT by Onelifetogive (Flame away...)
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To: Willie Green
That's about as silly as Sarah telling you to go raise some capital to build your own private highway.

We've already got those Willie boy. They're called Toll Roads. And the same folks who built them using our tax dollars sold them off to private investors.

You're wrong Willie boy, you're wrong.

You're more than wrong, you're enabling thieves, and that makes you a thief yourself.

28 posted on 06/16/2010 7:20:00 PM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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