Taxing the Miles You Drive

and even when public transportation is available it's not always good, and, at least in Houston, it's certainly not reliable. Most jobs, including a lot of crappy minimum wage jobs here, REQUIRE you to have your own car. I've missed out on many great job oppourtunties while I've been in school because I didn't have a car and these jobs specifically said in the ads "Must have reliable transportation that is not Houston Metro".

Without a car I had to live in an area far more expensive than I could really afford because it was close to my school. Now that I have one not only can my bf and I finally afford to live without roommates, but without it I would not have been able to get my internship required for graduation.

The public transportation is shit here, and the metro is too busy working on making it better for downtown Houston (where the buses were already decent) and throwing parties to celebrate new rail proposals that will only serve a small percentage of the people who actually need it. They concentrate on downtown and don't bother fixing anything else, when everywhere else is where the money and upgrades are needed.

Not to mention, what about all the shit one needs to carry with them throughout the day? I'm sure a small briefcase isn't that big of a burden but when you've got to carry canvases and massive sketchbooks and hundreds of prints and supplies to class it's certainly a hassle to take a crowded bus, and then another, and then another, just to spend 2-3 hours transferring and walking and nearly having heatstroke just to get to your destination.

My first year or two of school I carted around a huge rolling portfolio over poorly managed streets, and walked a few miles a day in 100 degree weather just to make it to and from class. There are many streets here that don't even have sidewalks, so I'd have to drag it through the grass and dirt. It was exhausting.

And heaven forbid you've got a job interview, because by the time you get there you've sweated all your make up off, your hair is a mess, and if it's raining (or even not, thanks to the heat) your clothes look horrible. And what are you supposed to do, take a back pack and change? It's an option, but it makes you look horrible.

No, in some areas the public transportation may be good enough, but it's certainly not here, and while I strongly believe we need to stop being stupid and relying so much on oil the answer isn't to tax people who drive.

We've got technologies that easily, and cheaply, give us vehicles that can run on little to no oil. It'd be a lot smarter to just get people to drive those vehicles. Stop making cars that have terrible gas mileage and give people who can't afford hybrids and electric cars help obtaining them and it'd help a lot better. And stop embracing a damn culture that thinks gas guzzling trucks and suvs are a fucking requirement.

But until we give up our fascination with these, auto companies aren't going to stop making them, and the problem is just going to get worse.

 

The idea could be to make Americans cut down on gas consumption. It could also mean investing in cutting edge public transportation system that covers the nooks and crannies of the American landscape. It could mean safer property development. I could also mean a long term strategy to allow America cut that its dependency on foreign oil.

The urban footprint, suburban sprawl , loss of agricultural lands that market forces determine its best use though bidding by developers have a huge impact on the society of tomorrow. So as citizens, do you want to be stuck in something familiar or imagine yourselves moving with the future?

These policies can cut that health care costs, cut down road accidents, modernize the roadways, enable government build a well integrated inter-modal transportation system. Most urban infrastructures in America need upgrading for an economy that needs to be competitive so you guys can increase your GDP and have ways to cut cost and add value to the goods you produce that are available for export and domestic consumption.

It is about time you paid down your debts and don't burden the next generation with heavy debt load they cannot afford. Already school has become impossible for most because of fear of debt.

Here you have a take of a foreign observer that is in love with American women, and searching for a white one take one home