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I was just remarking about BO's new economic plans to ensure his reelection at Obama job growth proposal grows size of government and taxes to Create a Few Temporary Jobs in Time For Next Election. I was thinking how he is proposing to build roads that local politicians don't want us to drive on unless we're sitting in public transit or a carpool.
Finally the price of oil is dropping, and gas is finally following. It has nothing do with BHO's election. (BTW, the H stands for Hussein.) It has to do mainly with lots of unsustainable bubbles popping, and prices falling to more reasonable levels, if the politicians will allow them to, that is.
I heard a news report yesterday that someone is complaining that public transit ridership is falling, now that people can afford to put gas in their own cars again. People aren't using carpools as much either now that they can afford the convenience of having their own schedule again.
Drat! Why won't the people give up their freedom and become reliant on the public transit systems created by politicians. Could it be because the restrooms are so dirty, the workers so surly, the time so long to get where you need to go, and the bums begging so relentless? Could it be the thought that police can search you and all your belongings whenever they want in exchange for permitting you to use the public transit? Could it be the fear of becoming dependent on a system that when it breaks or goes on strike, really screws up your life for no benefit at all.
Obama proposes to create hundreds of thousands of new government jobs rebuilding roads and bridges. Are there a lot more bridges to nowhere that are needed? You know that politicians wont allow new roads in your area to decrease your commute time, that wouldn't create more demand for their public transit systems. For example, it seems like every new lane they create in the San Francisco Bay area gets tagged as a bicycle lane, or a carpool lane. I love having my commute tied up for months with construction zones creating lanes that I'm not going to be able to drive on once they are finished.
As I was thinking about this, I got a wonderful idea of a way to give entry level do-nothing jobs to thousands of unskilled laborers. One of our biggest problem is lack of starting jobs for our youth, and other unskilled workers. We need jobs for students, ways to give them money why they sit around and study for their classes. I've got a way to partially solve that.
What if when I began my commute, I could pull into a commute parking lot and pickup someone who would sit in my car and do nothing other than be a second passenger so I could qualify to use the car pool lane. They have no job, no need to go anywhere in particular, they would be in my car only to help me qualify for the carpool lane. That would be their job, being a carpool occupant during carpool hours.
Would I be willing to pay $5 to someone so that I could use the carpool lane and have my commute shortened by 15 to 30 minutes? If your time is valuable, that could be a great deal, your productivity gains, or even just the decreased aggravation of sitting in clogged non-carpool lanes, could be well worth it. That $5 sounds like a lot better return than the bridge toll I pay that is used to support a public transit system that I dont use.
I've heard that in some places in the bay area, there are places in front of the toll plazas into San Francisco, where people line up to be taken over the bridge in someone elses vehicle and then dropped off in the city. Because of the carpool occupants, they get free bridge toll. So I would just expand this idea to increase carpool lane ridership.
If that person was unemployed, they would be getting money for doing nothing more than snoozing in the backseat of my car. For some people on public assistance, that's about all their skills might be good for, but at least they'd be supported by someone they are giving a benefit to, rather than being supported only by taking taxes from a society to which they need give back nothing other than their continued "need"....
If one of the carpoolies was really ambitious, he could be using the time to read and study for a better job. Or he could offer me extra services. I'd be happy to pay extra for a carpool rider who could tutor me in Russian or Spanish during my commute. I might be willing to pay him extra to read a book to me, or to scan headlines for me on my laptop and read me news that I want on my way to work. What an interesting idea: Mobile verbal tutors. But, woah, my imagination is taking me a long way down the path of entrepreneurship and invention. Way down the path of supporting one's self by providing a service that someone needs. That's much more difficult than voting for a politician who will provide more entitlements.
When I get to where I am going I let him out at a similar place where someone else needing a carpool lane occupant could pick him up. He could make $40 or more in the morning just sitting in cars, then have a few hours free to himself in some strange place, and then in the evening, offer himself in a reverse commute pattern to get himself back home, making another $40. If he gave tutoring in Spanish or read newspaper headlines, he could get extra for this service and double his take. Maybe one who seemed really trustworthy I'd allow to drive me where I am going so I could sit in the backseat and take my own nap. All these ways to make better pay for a day than a starbucks job.
But I'm certain the politicians have already found some way to make my idea illegal, or overly expensive:
- Could some overzealous politician decide that because some in my car is making money that they could then claim my car needs a special license, or complain that letting someone make money in my car isn't legal because it wasn't licensed to be used as a taxi or commercial transportation
- Could paying someone to sit in my car and making money from doing that require me to buy commercial insurance?
- If the rider is an illegal, would I be in trouble for "hiring" him to sit in my car?
- Would I be liable to pay him unemployment benefits if my job stopped and I was no longer commuting?
- If someone rams into me, would some legal aid society sue me for millions because the rider was in my car and is now claiming whiplash is somehow my fault?
- If I let the carpooler do the driving, and he wrecks into someone, would the other party freak out when they found out I was using the carpooler as a hired driver?
- In some areas, two people isn't enough to use the carpool lane, you now need three people.
- Would I be in trouble if the rider made ten cents less than the minimum wage for doing nothing but sitting in my car?
- If the rider was on public assistance and didn't report the money they made from snoozing in my car, would I be in trouble?
- I'd probably have to hire an accountant to help me report their income to the various taxing authorities
- If the idea got popular, politicians would demand the right to sell "permits" or "licenses" to the riders, and fine me if I allowed one without a permit or license.
I imagine you could help me think of more ways the government and lawyers can interfere with this wonderful idea.
 | The google ads on this page today are pretty funny: Hire felons. Hire offenders.
Great, just what I was thinking of doing. |
It's such a simple idea. Get paid for doing nothing but being a warm body in a car to help someone decrease their commute time and frustration. Maybe do something extra for them during that time to justify a higher fee. What a wonderful free market solution.
Doesn't it suck that in America there are so many possible rules, regulations, bureacrats, and lawyer roadblocks, to be worried about? Doesn't it suck even more that there are legions who "need" for more government support to come from your paycheck, and are required to give you nothing in return. Isn't it sad that there are so few willing to exert themselves in the old fashioned capitalistic way to find something practical to offer to you in return for your money, instead of voting for politicans who will just steal your money and redistribute it?
Goodbye sweet America!