The cost will just be passed to the consumer

Why can't corporations pay taxes for things like #publictransit? One argument you still hear goes like this.

We can't force corporations to pay their taxes because they will raise prices and pass the cost on to the consumer and that will hurt the economy.

But prices are determined by the market, are they not? If they raise prices they will be lose business to competitors. Not being able to pay for the cost of doing business means you should go out of business.

So what we have is the elimination of public investment -- education, parks, transport, in order to allow corporations to avoid taxes. Taxes are the price of civilization. No taxes, no civilization.

Cities with the best #publictransit are the best places to live and work

Report Names Best Cities for Public Transit | Tampa Bay Times: "When finding the right place to live and work, the availability of public transportation can play a major role in the decision-making process. Commute times and stress can be reduced substantially when public transit is available, and with the rising costs of gas, it can be economical as well. "

People of Brazil would rather have #freetransit than FIFA

https://www.facebook.com/passelivresp

https://www.facebook.com/events/1406932819587323

#Degrowth is here, just a matter of how painful it will be

EcoWatch: "With less useful energy available, the global economy will fail to grow, and will likely enter a sustained period of contraction. Increased energy efficiency may cushion the impact but cannot avert it. With economies no longer growing, our current globally dominant neoliberal political-economic ideology may increasingly be called into question and eventually overthrown."

Waiting for collapse is not acceptable. What can be done right now? We need to undo sprawl. Sprawl is subsidized, and the auto has critical mass in transport. When people are no longer car-dependent, they will no longer support sprawl subsidy. This is the Achilles heel of sprawl. Free buses are the arrows that can break the critical mass of the auto, and its sprawl.

Isis rise manufactured by insatiable oil addiction

@NafeezAhmed : "The meteoric rise of Isis is a predictable consequence of a longstanding US-led geostrategy in the Middle East that has seen tyrants and terrorists as tools to expedite access to regional oil and gas resources."

Here is a chart to help you understand US foreign policy

Zory, Poland, wins opportunity and sustainiblilty award for introducing unconditional free buses

BEZPLATNA KOMUNIKACJA MIEJSKA: "Award for courageous approach in implementing innovative solutions in the management of the city, including free public transport"

#Freetransit campaign gains traction in Italy

More people are discussing the idea of free public transport in Italy as the new mayor of Livorno makes it his objective. To keep up, follow: http://fptitaly.blogspot.tw/2014/06/lovorno-e-il-free-pubblic-transport.html

World Cup shows what is wrong with the world

Grown men paid millions to play a game. People burning through millions of gallons of jet fuel to watch them. Luxury hotels and limousines. Millions spent on media coverage.

Meanwhile people are hungry. People are being bombed. Floods and drought are everywhere.

Children who died to make room for the World Cup

Let's spend our money on a transition away from waste and inequality. Make public transit fare-free, make cities carfree, urbanize, degrow, and de-carbonize.

The free fare movement in Brazil is protesting the world cup and calling for free public transit. The international movement for free public transport is calling to people around the world to support these protests.

Blame for global warming goes to the U.S. elite

Global Warming is Economic Imperialism » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names: "
With the U.S. historically being the largest emitter of carbon and other greenhouse gases it is overwhelmingly responsible for global warming.
...The reason why the U.S. is dependent on cars instead of energy efficient mass transit is that a century ago a consortium of connected capitalists decided that getting rid of mass transit was the way to sell more cars, tires and gasoline. "

#Peakoil and pushing on a string

Imagine the economy as a wagon with one string attached to the front and one at the back. When energy is cheap, the wagon is pulled forward by the front string. The string at the rear represents monetary policy. Pulling on the rear string prevents the economy from going too fast.

Cheap energy is over. There is nothing pulling the wagon. Now the 1% is trying to move the wagon by pushing on the string at the back.

It is clear that a new system is needed. We, the 99%, must make it happen. There are things we can do now, under the current system, that will smooth the transition. First, let's stop wasting energy. Autosprawl, the system of cars, highways, and suburbs, is a waste of energy. It seems all-powerful, but in fact it is very weak and getting weaker. If we make buses free in the city, we can break its back.

Printing money can not, will not, solve #peakoil

Feasta: "Over the last few years central banks have had a policy of quantitative easing to try to keep interest rates low – the economy cannot pay high energy prices AND high interest rates so, in effect, the policy has been to try to bring down interest rates as low as possible to counter the stagnation. However, this has not really created production growth – it has instead created a succession of asset price bubbles. The underlying trend continues to be one of stagnation, decline and crisis. The severity of the recessions may be variable in different countries because competitive strength in this model goes to those countries where energy is used most efficiently and which can afford to pay somewhat higher prices for energy. Such countries are likely to do better but will not escape the general decline if they stay wedded to the conventional growth model. Whatever the variability this is still a dead end model and at some point people will see that entirely different ways of thinking about economy and ecology are needed – unless they get drawn into conflicts and wars over energy by psychopathic policy idiots. There is no way out of the Catch 22 within the growth economy model. That’s why de-growth is needed."

Investment in #publictransit pays huge dividends. APTA has the numbers.

Poland steadily adopting #freetransit town by town

http://fptpoland.blogspot.com