The US is dependent on the private auto, and not just for transportation. The auto is part of autosprawl, a vast system of trillions of dollars in hard, fixed assets: streets, highways, parking lots, cul-de-sacs, pipelines, trucks, tank-trains, refineries, gas stations, and a massive military machine.
At the same time cheap energy has peaked. It now costs more joules to get it to the point of where it can move people and machinery than it the actual amount burned. Don't believe the EROEI numbers you are reading. They leave out the most expensive costs, such as cleaning up the mess, curing the cancer, and de-carbonizing the atmosphere.
No amount of socialism and fairness can reverse this. The laws of physics are in charge.
Only degrowth can save us. But you will never get to vote for it.
The best we can do is to try to eliminate cars as fast as possible. The fare-free bus is the weapon. This can only be done on the local level. No high-profile leaders will be able to do much. If Bernie calls for free transit, they will trash him within a week.
At the same time cheap energy has peaked. It now costs more joules to get it to the point of where it can move people and machinery than it the actual amount burned. Don't believe the EROEI numbers you are reading. They leave out the most expensive costs, such as cleaning up the mess, curing the cancer, and de-carbonizing the atmosphere.
No amount of socialism and fairness can reverse this. The laws of physics are in charge.
Only degrowth can save us. But you will never get to vote for it.
The best we can do is to try to eliminate cars as fast as possible. The fare-free bus is the weapon. This can only be done on the local level. No high-profile leaders will be able to do much. If Bernie calls for free transit, they will trash him within a week.
