[ExI] wastefulness, was: RE: shelf life of drugs

[Kelly Anderson]

On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 3:50 AM, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 01, 2012 at 03:16:22AM -0600, Kelly Anderson wrote:
>
>> I think that we should pay for roads at the gas pump. Bigger cars that
>> burn more gas wear the roads out faster. It's the only really fair way
>
> The wear scales exponentially with mass. This is why ultra-heavy trucks
> shouldn't exist.

Really good point. However, it would destroy the American economy
temporarily, until adjustments (appropriate adjustments) were made.
The entire cost of oil needs to be paid for at the pump including the
cost of the oil wars. It will push America in the direction that it
needs to go. Taxes would need to be reduced to compensate. This would
be "repressive" in the sense that the rich would be unfairly
advantaged compared to where they are now, so something would have to
be done in terms of further reducing taxes on the poor to compensate,
but I feel this is a plan that really ought to be given a try. I think
Eugen is right that some of the cost (the part that goes to actually
repair roads, not to fight wars and buy space, for example) should
have an exponential component for heavy vehicles. I think multi-axel
vehicles already are taxed at a higher rate.

>> to do it. I don't even mind giving the electric cars a break for a few
>> years.
>
> The killer argument for EVs is that your carport or your parking lot
> is your refuelling station.

The killer argument eventually (I hope) will be that with fewer moving
parts they'll actually be cheaper in the long run. Eventually, they'll
have to pay road use tolls as well, of course.

-Kelly