Opponents of congestion pricing are at full force, and for hours at MTA hearings, tolls in the central business district equate to a “cash grab,” driving including fixed-income earners. They testify that it will disproportionately hit the middle and lower classes.
It is true that small groups suffer. Even if only 1% of the approximately 900,000 drivers entering the CBD each day are low or middle income, that is 9,000 real people whose wages and benefits have stagnated due to inflation. We have to cut tight budgets while we’re at it. The Congestion Pricing Hearings taught me that it is nearly impossible to convince working people that they should pay more for transportation. Even if everyone feels the benefits of doing so will reduce traffic and improve public transport.
But all complaints real ‘Grab the cash’: The silent hand the auto industry and surrounding industries have in our pockets — all in our pocket – every day. That “highway robbery” devours far more hard-earned dollars than the MTA has ever earned. none that it is in the public interest. Instead, that cash will flow into the pockets of a handful of private companies and their owners and shareholders. They are happy to see public transportation die out if it means more consumer spending on cars, oil, and related products.
But there are no hours-long hearings to bring oil, auto or insurance executives to justice for squeezing the working class, cannibalizing public transportation, fueling sprawl and polluting the air. There is no need to write letters to public authorities, denounce middle-level bureaucrats, analyze PowerPoint presentations, or publicly discuss pricing schemes. When layers of intermediaries in 100 different companies make decisions for us in far-flung boardrooms, we see fees, environmental damage, and hidden taxes as the cost of doing business. conditioned to accept.
I am simply overwhelmed by the crowd pricing opponents who profess great concern for poor minorities and who are equally in favor of raising subway fares on which millions of poor, working-class New Yorkers actually depend. It is
They seem to care very little. https://t.co/tdWnZkzxOY
— Shabazz Stuart (@ShabazzStuart) September 5, 2022
The gas company deliberately inflicted the “pump pain” that the car owner recently experienced. Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and other seven U.S. oil companies posted his $43 billion pre-tax profit in 2021. These windfall benefits have not “penetrated” with consumers. Increased supply. Instead, they are blaming Wall Street. A March 2022 survey of oil executives by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that about 60% cited “investor pressure to maintain capital discipline” as a primary reason for not increasing gas production. I mentioned it. Only 11% cited environmental, social and governance issues.
Also, oil company profits are not taxed at a fair rate. The entire 2021 state and federal tax bill (about $3 billion) for the top 10 oil companies would barely cover his two to three months of operating expenses for the MTA.
But meanwhile, political pressure from the drivers’ lobby has led Gov. Hochul to suspend gas taxes for the past seven months, costing state coffers $585 million. During the same period he was MTA.
Even the rare electric car driver is drenched by the car company. America’s collective auto loan debt is seven times greater than medical debt, about $1.4 trillion compared to $195 billion. In New York, banks cannot charge more than 16% interest on loans. However, about 80% of car buyers get loans repackaged as “retail installment sales agreements” directly through dealers. Conveniently, RICs are exempt from state usury laws. Jalopnik said in 2018 that his 57% of his 3,000 RICs opened in New York that year would have violated the usury laws the bank had issued. I discovered that Efforts to legalize this looting have stalled.
Finally, insurance companies need their profits. Drivers in the New York City metropolitan area typically pay the highest auto insurance premiums in the country, over $3,000 annually. It’s not a particularly burdensome expense compared to gas bills and debt repayments, but he’s one bucket that doesn’t come out to the general public. And good luck with a small payout if you get run over by a car driver.
I experienced firsthand the true costs and burdens of owning a car and the freedom that public transportation affords.
I grew up in the suburbs, sharing an old beater with several families. Few destinations were within walking or biking distance. My independence was tied to cars. With two minor crashes costing thousands of dollars in maintenance, gas and repairs, and high insurance premiums, this car left our families financially and emotionally exhausted in our teens and into adulthood. I was. After graduating from college, I needed more self-sufficiency and better access to job opportunities than car sharing could provide. I moved to New York City knowing I had access to institutions.I bought a monthly Metrocard on day one and found a job quickly.
I took the Platform 7 train from Queens to Midtown five nights a week for a year and got my first high paying job. It was a receptionist at a hotel in Manhattan. It was unionized, which meant good wages, but it also meant I was at the bottom and had to work the night shift from 11pm to 7am. was doing. And from work every day. As a 23 year old woman using public transport at night I felt safe.
Over ten years later, I am now working from home. But being freed from the burden of car addiction and being able to join millions of others in public services changed my life.
Public transportation not only frees people from the devastation of the commercial auto industry, but it also gives them a say in how it is done.
It’s precious.
Nicole A. Murray (@nicoleamurray) is a member of the NYC-Democratic Socialists of America’s Ecosocialist Working Group.
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