Taking On O'Toole

Ryan Avent at Streetsblog calls Randal O'Toole's anti-transit arguments "transparently foolish."

1 minute read

June 3, 2009, 10:00 AM PDT

"A recent post at Cato's @ Liberty blog provides a nice example. In it, he quotes George Will's description of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as 'Secretary of Behavior Modification' en route to calling LaHood a 'central planner in waiting.' This is one thing I've never understood about the libertarian love affair with highways; they seem utterly blind to the fact that it has required and continues to require massive government action to build and maintain the road network. The interstate highway system is perhaps the single largest government intervention in the economy in the 20th century. Reading O'Toole you'd think it was a wonder of the free market.

The source of his blindness on the issue seems to be due to his belief that roads pay for themselves, and that congestion exists only because governments shift gas tax revenue to pay for transit and other smart growth projects. Nothing could be farther from the truth."

FULL STORY: Randal O’Toole: Taking Liberties With the Facts

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 in Streetsblog

Transportation United States Libertarian Randal O'Toole

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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