3 ms·

I don’t understand why this example is there at all. This is just a product being sold for a price. Is it unfair that a banana costs the same for Jeff Bezos as

I don’t understand why this example is there at all. This is just a product being sold for a price. Is it unfair that a banana costs the same for Jeff Bezos as it does for the homeless guy he walked past on his way to the store? I mean, you certainly could argue that this is unfair, but at that point you’re basically arguing for a different concept of money and commerce, which is a rather bigger subject than the unfairness of tolls.

kd0amg 8y ago
The "product for a price" idea is a little weird when talking about some service typically provided by a government who deliberately prices it below market equilibrium. If we're going to effectively subsidize this, it's fair to open debate on how that subsidy should be apportioned.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  Depends on the city. There's a lot of paid private parking out there. I agree with you that the price of government-owned parking is generally too low, and that it should be increased to a level to which available spaces nearby are reliably guaranteed.
radicalbyte 8y ago
In the past we solved the problem on the supply side by reducing the difference between Bezos and Homeless Guy. However ideas like that have been made unpalatable to the people who most benefit from them - in a quite frankly brilliant campaign of social engineering - so we're left discussing unworkable "solutions" like this.
- zozbot123 8y ago
  The real difference between Very Rich Guy and Homeless Guy is plausibly lower today than during any other previous era of history, including the mid-20th century. When he isn't working at Amazon or playing with his rockets, Jeff Bezos is, by and large, buying the very same kind of goods and services you or I buy-- his consumption may be larger than mine by some factor, say 3x or whatever, he might pick slightly higher quality stuff, but that's about it. This was very much not the case historically.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    I guess Bezos’s mansion and Gulfstream are basically the same as Homeless Guy’s tarp and stolen shopping cart.
mcv 8y ago
It's just an example of something that's not any more fair than congestion pricing. Congestion pricing puts a price on a scarce product: the ability to commute during rush hour. The article isn't arguing that parking prices should depend on the price of the car being parked, just that having the same parking price for everybody is not any less inequitable than congestion pricing.

kd0amg 8y ago

The "product for a price" idea is a little weird when talking about some service typically provided by a government who deliberately prices it below market equilibrium. If we're going to effectively subsidize this, it's fair to open debate on how that subsidy should be apportioned.

CydeWeys 8y ago
Depends on the city. There's a lot of paid private parking out there. I agree with you that the price of government-owned parking is generally too low, and that it should be increased to a level to which available spaces nearby are reliably guaranteed.

radicalbyte 8y ago

In the past we solved the problem on the supply side by reducing the difference between Bezos and Homeless Guy. However ideas like that have been made unpalatable to the people who most benefit from them - in a quite frankly brilliant campaign of social engineering - so we're left discussing unworkable "solutions" like this.

zozbot123 8y ago
The real difference between Very Rich Guy and Homeless Guy is plausibly lower today than during any other previous era of history, including the mid-20th century. When he isn't working at Amazon or playing with his rockets, Jeff Bezos is, by and large, buying the very same kind of goods and services you or I buy-- his consumption may be larger than mine by some factor, say 3x or whatever, he might pick slightly higher quality stuff, but that's about it. This was very much not the case historically.
- mikeash 8y ago
  I guess Bezos’s mansion and Gulfstream are basically the same as Homeless Guy’s tarp and stolen shopping cart.

mcv 8y ago

It's just an example of something that's not any more fair than congestion pricing. Congestion pricing puts a price on a scarce product: the ability to commute during rush hour. The article isn't arguing that parking prices should depend on the price of the car being parked, just that having the same parking price for everybody is not any less inequitable than congestion pricing.