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Stop TTC fare increase
Diemer, Ulli
http://www.connexions.org/SevenNews/Docs/7News-V09N20-Diemer-StopTTCFareIncrease.htmDate Written: 1979-02-24 Publisher: Seven News Year Published: 1979 Pages: 1pp Resource Type: Article Governments apply a double standard. They demand that public transit pay for itself and that health care and education be judged by 'cost-benefit' analyses. But they apply no such standard to industrial policy where billions of dollars are shelled out, supposedly to create jobs, even though in fact corporation are axing jobs, not creating them, while their profits continue to climb. Abstract: - Excerpt: The problem is not lack of money. The problem is that governments are using the taxpayers' money to subsidize corporate profits and business conveniences at the expense of social needs as transit, health care, and education, all of which are being viciously cut back. Governments apply a double standard. They demand that public transit pay for itself and that health care and education be judged by 'cost-benefit' analyses. But they apply no such standard to industrial policy where billions of dollars are shelled out, supposedly to create jobs, even though in fact corporation are axing jobs, not creating them, while their profits continue to climb at an even faster rate than the unemployment figures. In the area of transportation itself, public transit and automobile transit are judged by completely different standards. Public transit is supposed to pay for itself "from the farebox" but automobiles are not expected to pay for road construction and maintenance, let alone for related costs such as pollution and car accidents. Gasoline taxes, the main way in which car use is taxed, are, as the government itself admits, far too low to cover even their share of the basic costs of road construction and maintenance. Subject Headings |