This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
The Discovery Institute’s Cascadia Prospectus blog has an, um, interesting commentary today talking about how much we need to more road capacity, financed by private corporations who will toll us for the privilege.
Apparently the logic goes like this:
1. Gas prices have gone up. Therefore:
2. Driving has decreased. Therefore:
3. Revenue for building more roads is down. Therefore:
4. ??? Therefore:
5. We need to build more roads.
I haven’t quite figured out step 4 of the logic, but the rest looks solid. One might guess that less driving should result in needing fewer new roads, but I’m sure step 4 will clear up that misunderstanding.
I’m having less success with another line of logic in the piece. See if you can figure out what I’m missing:
1. We can’t afford new roads. Therefore:
2. We can have private companies build new roads. And:
3. They can toll us to make their money back. And:
4. Although this will cost us more, they’ll be able to build roads faster.
Maybe the previous step 4 will clear up not only why we need more roads, but also why we need them faster. Oh, and how paying more for them will make them affordable.
(I’ve asked for clarification on this step in the comments, but “comments are screened for tone” and sarcasm might not make it through the filter)