The reason that there are so many "free for all" speeches nowadays is precisely because people work so hard and have to take on so much responsibility compared to the previous generation and are not getting the return for it. Productivity has increased for decades but wages have been stagnant relative to inflation because the increased returns have gone to the affluent pushing inequality to preposterous levels. Yet when anyone takes issue with this and push to address the root causes, the response is always that the people suffering should just ignore the systemic issues and focus only on themselves and their "responsibility". Yet working class people pay a far greater share of their incomes in terms of taxes. That's incredibly insulting and people are understandably not going to sit back and listen anymore.
In terms of the actual proposal, the argument that people should simply pay something to "help people grow responsible" is a moralistic argument rather than a functional one. Ironically it's often the people who complain about the government being a nanny state who say stuff like this which is actually suggesting that the government should form policy with the condescending intent of teaching people moralistic lessons as if people were children. Everyone known that government services aren't free and are covered by taxes. They also know that they work hard and pay a huge amount in taxes and expect a tangible return.
Fact is, most US transit systems (especially non-rail systems) have a farebox recovery ratio of under 50%. Often significantly so. That means less than 1/2 of operating costs come from fares as it stands, and that doesn't even count capital expenses for the construction of new infrastructure. Yet collecting the fares puts a drag on the performance of the systems by slowing down boarding, requiring expensive staff and infrastructure for collection/enforcement/accounting, and reducing ridership. Therefore, the elimination of fares wouldn't just eliminate a source of revenue, it would also eliminate a major source of operating cost.
Obviously there are valid arguments in favour of maintaining fares but condescending, moralistic arguments are not among them.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw
Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
Last edited by Nouvellecosse; Sep 7, 2019 at 3:46 PM.
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