Oil was heavily subsidized even in the 1920's when cheap oil was flowing

Joint Committee on Taxation was already flagging oil and gas subsidies in the 1920s | Earth Track: "The text below has a refreshing honesty, particularly in comparison to the bland bureaucratic language that pervades government documents today.  The note to the in-process study reads:

The 1926 act in regard to depletion on oil and gas wells includes a radical change from the 1924 act, consisting of the substitution of an arbitary 27 1/2 per cent of gross income for a depletion deduction in lieu of the depletion, on discovery value previously allowed.  It is most important to study the effect of this change as it was made on insufficient data."

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Congress, full of oil trolls, cuts unemployment benefits, gives welfare to cars

Why should drivers get bigger subsidies than mass-transit riders? - The Washington Post: "One of the things lawmakers failed to do before adjourning this year, The Post’s Jia Lynn Yang reported, was adjust the program that allows workers, through their employers, to set aside pretax income to offset the cost of their commutes. As a result, starting Jan. 1, commuters who use mass transit will be able to set aside only $130 a month, down from $245 a month, while drivers will be able to increase their monthly parking set-aside from $245 to $250. Never mind that the increased use of public transportation benefits everyone, including those who continue to drive, giving them less traffic to contend with."

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Climate Change Risks Are Hiding in Investment Portfolios, Gore Says

Bloomberg: "We see the cost of carbon in multiple extreme weather events, in the melting ice and rising seas and the movement of tropical diseases into temperate latitudes, and climate refugees threatening the stability of governance in the developing countries of the world. So we're paying the cost of carbon every day."

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Social isolation - hidden cost of #autosprawl

Strong Towns: "But, what about the elderly?

Many of the elderly cannot (or should not) drive. Unlike children, it is not a phase that they will eventually grow out of. Are we to throw them into a retirement home, just because they are no longer able to drive and maintain their independence? Should we keep forcing them to drive, when we know that in their advanced age, their vision, judgement, and alertness is not what it use to be? Should we impose the burden of carting them around to their children?

In my opinion, all of those are cruel and humiliating options, yet they remain our only options, as long as we keep prioritizing the automobile in the way we design and build our environments."

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Cars ad dependency crowds out real news

Billions of dollars are spent advertising cars. This money produces nothing, so it is a complete waste. It comes from the car buyer, so it is not strictly a subsidy. But the rest of us are giving up access to real news and information when editors are compromised by car ad money. Can't even put a dollar number on that subsidy.

Why Newspapers *Love* Cars: "Next time you flick through a newspaper, or look at a news website just take note of how much of the advertising is for cars, or car-related products, such as insurance. It’s truly remarkable, but not when you look at the stats:"

A Tale of two Subsidies

Strong Towns: "we spend lavishly to promote homeownership and to ensure that private automobiles remain as inexpensive and convenient as possible."

$450 Billion in Federal Subsidies Tilt U.S. Real Estate Market Toward Sprawl | Streetsblog Capitol Hill

$450 Billion in Federal Subsidies Tilt U.S. Real Estate Market Toward Sprawl | Streetsblog Capitol Hill: "Overall, the report suggests, federal real estate interventions undermine market trends toward the development of more walkable places. About 85 percent of federal housing subsidies flow to single-family housing over multi-family, although only 65 percent of American households are homeowners and the majority of renters live in multi-family buildings. This has hampered the market for rental housing even as demand for multi-family rental housing has soared following the housing bust."