The Tragedy of Soviet Economics When Applied to Roads and Parking

By Dom Nozzi

With regard to our transportation woes (excessive road widening, excessive parking provision, crashes, lack of money, congested roads/parking, etc.), I have recently had an epiphany: An extremely important source of the problem is the insanity of applying socialist economics to our transportation system.

Americans rightly reject Soviet-styled economics, but tragically make an exception when it comes to transportation. Americans love Soviet economics when it comes to the provision of roads and parking (both of which we demand be available to us “free of charge.”)

Road widening to “solve” congestion exemplifies the century-long failure of Americans to understand that socialist economics cannot correct congestion problems. Indeed, socialist economics is the source of the congestion.

We all know that socialism fails because it violates basic economics. The Soviets thought socialism was the solution for long bread lines, but their solution of making more free bread did not eliminate the lines (nor did it rectify the empty store shelves), which contributed to Soviet collapse.

One American version of this is our century-long “solution” to congestion: widening congested roads and expanding the provision of “free” parking. But like the Soviets and bread lines, this never eliminates congestion.

For a century, our Departments of Transportation have been spending enormous public dollars to “solve” congestion using socialism. The result? Reduced safety, less transportation choice, increased air and noise emissions, increased taxes, more harm for nearby homes and retail, degraded quality of life, and larger financial woes for the state, county, and city.

Why have we not learned that widening doesn’t eliminate congestion after trying and failing for a century?

Because the socialist solution of widening is so irresistibly seductive. Like other socialist ideas, widening promises to give us “free stuff” (in this case, like “free” health care and “free” education, “free” roads and “free” parking).

Socialism is also popular because it allows us to feel morally virtuous. Socialism promises to “rescue” the downtrodden from “oppression.” In the case of road widening, we protect the downtrodden from “Lexus Lanes” by not tolling roads or providing priced parking that low-income drivers cannot afford.

It is time to stop using socialism to try (and fail) to solve transportation problems.

An important way we can stop using socialism for transportation is to start charging road and parking user fees (ie, tolls and parking meters).

As Pogo said, we have met the enemy and he is us. As Will Rodgers once said, if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

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