To kill a member of #ISIS costs USD 2 million. #Autosprawlsubsidy

To preserve the car-and-sprawl economy of the US, it is necessary to spend a lot of money controlling energy sources and transport routes, especially oil. A big reserve of high net-energy oil is in Kirkuk, Iraq. Consequently the US has to fight the Islamic State (aka ISIS) for control of this oil. It would be a lot easier just to make buses free and gradually dismantle sprawl, but a lot of billionaires would lose money, so they force the taxpayer to continue this subsidy.

ibtimes : "Of the $1.1 billion, more than $60 million have been spent on Navy munitions alone, which include 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by American warships from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The bulk of these missiles targeted al Qaeda-linked Khorasan group near the Syrian city of Aleppo, AP reported. The figures released by the U.S. Central Command reportedly did not provide a cost estimate for ammunitions used by the Air Force, which is expected to be significantly higher."

Auto, oil, and sprawl profits come from the taxpayer, not drivers

Vox: " it's simply not the case that road tolls, gasoline taxes, and other revenues derived from drivers that pay for America's road infrastructure."

#Autosprawlsubsidy killing Florida

The Price of Sprawl: A Florida guide to the taxpayer cost of residential development: "Most Floridians are unaware of the huge amount of housing already approved, but not yet built. It’s enough housing for over 100 million people — over 5 times more than Florida’s current population of around 19 million."

Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Oil Change : "As of July 2014, Oil Change International estimates the total value of U.S. subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at $37.5 billion annually, including international finance.  This does not include military, health, climate, or local pollution costs.  These subsidies have increased dramatically as U.S. oil and gas production has increased."

Cost of cars, health

Study shows public health often ignored in transportation policy: ""The public health effects of heavy traffic are broad," said study author Carolyn McAndrews, PhD, assistant professor at the CU Denver College of Architecture and Planning, one of the largest schools of its kind in the U.S. "Studies have found associations between high-traffic roads and high mortality rates, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, poor birth outcomes and traffic-related injuries.""

Cost of auto collisions $900, cost of #freetransit $100. (per household per year)

New NHTSA Study Shows Motor Vehicle Crashes Have $871 Billion Economic and Societal Impact on U.S. Citizens | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): "WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today released a new study that underscores the high economic toll and societal impact of motor vehicle crashes in the United States. The price tag for crashes comes at a heavy burden for Americans at $871 billion in economic loss and societal harm. This includes $277 billion in economic costs – nearly $900 for each person living in the United States based on calendar year 2010 data — and $594 billion in harm from the loss of life and the pain and decreased quality of life due to injuries."

Study shows Brazil subsidizes cars over #publictransit 12 to 1

R7.COM: A cada R$ 1 investido em transporte público, governo dá R$ 12 em incentivo para carro e moto: "Estudo do Ipea atribui a essa relação de valores o aumento da frota particular no país

A cada R$ 12 gastos em incentivos ao transporte particular, o governo investe R$ 1 em transporte público. A constatação foi feita pelo Ipea (Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas Aplicadas) no estudo sobre a mobilidade urbana no Brasil, divulgado na última quarta-feira (25). A pesquisa considera as três esferas de governo do país: municipal, estadual e federal."

Free parking is car welfare

The Weekly Nabe: "The average cost of residential space in my zip code is $892 per square foot. That means the total value of the street space that the city gives away for free is nearly $9 million. And that’s on my block alone.

comment by Eric McClure:

Based on your calculations, Keith, I worked out the monthly mortgage payment if everyone on the block had to buy a parking space rather than get one for free. Using a Toyota Prius as the average model, and allowing for a little space between cars, I calculated that there’s space for 78 cars on the block. Assuming that everyone had put down 20% for their spots, the monthly payment per spot, at a 4% interest rate, would be about $437. Seems about fair."

Cost of parking, more traffic

A surprising amount of traffic isn’t caused by people who are on their way somewhere. Rather it is caused by people who have already arrived. Our streets are congested, in part, by people who have gotten where they want to be but are cruising around looking for a place to park.



Donald Shoup is professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles (shoup@ucla.edu).

http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/CruisingForParkingAccess.pdf

No money for #freetransit? Arctic warming will cost USD 60Trillion

U.S. Coast Guard

Arctic Warming Could Cost Upwards of $60 Trillion | Climate Central: "The new study focuses on one potential impact of Arctic warming in particular — the release of methane gas, which is a potent global warming agent, from frozen deposits known as “methane hydrates,” located beneath the East Siberian Sea. Studies have projected that as the ocean temperatures warm in response to the loss of sea ice, some of the methane will be released into the atmosphere. Methane is a more potent, but shorter-acting, global warming gas when compared to carbon dioxide (CO2)."

Cost of #autosprawl, your life!

Planetizen : "The ten smartest growth counties have about a quarter of the per capita annual traffic fatality rates of the most sprawled counties. Yet, smart growth is usually advocated primarily for its infrastructure saving and environmental benefits, we fail to communicate its very large safety benefits."

Costs of #autosprawl, regulating corporate cheating

NBC News.com: " As Attorney General Eric Holder announced a record $1.2 billion penalty on Toyota for misleading the public and regulators about issues involving unintended acceleration in its vehicles, questions were raised about another automaker potentially in the cross hairs of the Justice Department: General Motors."

Transportation funding: cars get socialism, others get the sharp pencil

Blog — Kevin Klinkenberg: "Want that $1 billion roadway improvement? Fine, put it to a vote and let's show how it will be paid for over time. An inherent flaw of the current method of transportation funding is that all roadway-based expenses are socialized, but most transit/bike/pedestrian improvements have to justify themselves on a per-project basis. A change in that basic approach can do wonders, without going the routes of heavy sticks."

Electric cars another excuse to subsidize sprawl

Norway Takes The Lead In Electric Cars (With Generous Subsidies) | Delmarva Public Radio: "Holtsmark has crunched the numbers and figures that Norway is currently subsidizing each Nissan Leaf — about half the EV population — to the tune of $8,000 per year."

Government uses false data to justify autosprawl welfare

The Latest - APTA - Advocate: "These inaccuracies need to be addressed, because the forecasts inform lawmakers’ level of ”needed spending,” and could spur overbuilding of infrastructure to support car travel, draining funds from other investments like public transportation, where ridership actually increased in 2013. While funding public roads and highways remains crucial for all forms of transportation, the rising ridership of public transit should trigger increased investments."

Road traffic kills 1.2 million people per year

Afghanistan: The country reports 1,612 traffic deaths per 100,000. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

weather.com: "But in the developing world, traffic deaths are on the rise. Across all countries, traffic kills more than 1.2 million people a year — a number set to triple by 2030, The Washington Post reported, based on the most recent Global Burden of Disease study."

How we subsidize the car -- cost of road collisions

NRMA has analysed the economic cost of road crashes on a number of major highways in NSW. Deaths
and injuries on our roads cost the community on average $2.8 billion each year. The total cost of road crashes over the five-year period was $13.8 billion. The NRMA believes that the cost of deaths and injuries caused by road crashes is a crucial issue that needs greater consideration when addressing road safety in NSW.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies at $2 Trillion, Despite Global Condemnation

mintpress : "WASHINGTON – Global tax breaks, incentives, and various other consumption and production subsidies for the fossil fuel industry are likely topping $2 trillion each year, amounting to 2.5 percent of total gross domestic product for 2012.

After a dip in the immediate aftermath of the global financial recession, these figures have risen in recent years, according to a new report from Worldwatch, a Washington-based think tank. Incentives for renewable energy sources remain tiny by comparison, estimated at just $88 billion for 2011."

Much of US military spending is #autosprawl welfare

Open Letter to 60 Minutes and CBS « Blog « Khosla Ventures: "Fact: The U.S. spent $502 billion subsidizing fossil fuels in 2011. This is the result of directly lowered prices, tax breaks and failing to properly price carbon’s negative externalities.[5] You ignored the fact that energy is far from being a level playing field. Many other subsidies are hard to account for like MLP partnerships, accelerated depreciation and below-market royalties that are never categorized as fossil fuel subsidies that disadvantage cleantech.

Fact: According to a senior U.S. Navy official, last year alone, $80 billion of taxpayer money was spent patrolling just the oil sea-lanes in the Arabian Gulf. There are many sea-lanes we patrol. Globally and over time, the U.S. has spent $7 trillion patrolling them.[6] Such “protection spending” of U.S. taxpayer dollars for the oil industry is a much larger subsidy than any amount spent to support the cleantech industry, a fact CBS chose to overlook despite my statements on camera. This may be the largest U.S. subsidy in history, and it was purposely ignored because it is inconsistent with your agenda. Cleantech subsidies are a miniscule fraction of one-percent of these amounts."

$11.4M for pedestrian bridge to keep #autosprawl going

MiamiHerald.com: "Florida International University was awarded a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant for $11.4 million. The grant may be used starting in February for a project that includes a pedestrian overpass bridge over Eighth Street and 109th Avenue, sidewalks and landscaping improvements."

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