I love writing here in Goldy’s absence. But I don’t have as much time as I used to to do metacommentary posts on conservative blogs. And that’s something I do enjoy. So here‘s Sharkansky:
“Crowd lines up to oppose Metro bus cuts”
More than 400 people showed up for a sweltering Metropolitan King County Council committee meeting to protest proposed cuts in Metro bus service.
Some urged the council to adopt a $20 car-tab fee that would forestall cuts for two years
Why is Metro proposing to cut service?
Because the bottom fell out of the economy.
Metro’s main revenue source is sales tax, which has declined in an economic downturn.
Unmentioned in this article is the inevitable waste and inefficiency of a union-constrained government monopoly which depends mostly on taxpayer subsidies, not rider fares, to fund the service.
Strong media criticism. If only The Seattle Times would whine about unions! Also, roads get massive subsidies, and are a government monopoly. So I guess Sharkansky will oppose any future road work. What, you want to build a new floating bridge across Lake Washington? That’s constraining private enterprise who might want to build a bridge! Also, also, there’s plenty of waste in the private sector.
Also unmentioned is any suggestion that those who ride the buses could get the service they want if they only start paying their fair share of the fare. The protesting bus riders apparently feel that they’re entitled to have their rides paid for by the people who don’t ride the bus.
We’ve been over the fact that people who ride the buses pay for more of the service than just the farebox. More important, you could make a similar complaint about any government service. I used roads as an example above because it’s the biggest parallel to Metro as far as a way to get around. But you could privatize fire protection as insurance agencies used to do commonly, and still do in some areas, so people whose house didn’t catch fire are paying for the people whose houses did.
Whiny mooching jerks.
Yes, nothing says whiny like people patiently waiting in line for several hours and showing up at a hearing to testify politely. What King County needs is less citizen participation.
Also, it takes a lot of gumption for someone whose investment plan is to sue King County to complain about mooching jerks.