On Your Survival Guy’s recent trip to Paris, one observation was the traffic. Driving in Paris is a contact sport, but with the mayor closing roads to encourage biking and walking, the snarled traffic was a nightmare. Is it any wonder Parisians are up in arms? Look at the groundswell against the elites taking place around the world. Look at what’s happening in New York City. After New York State and City officials wanted to force commuters from New Jersey and the suburbs of NYC to pay for the privilege of sitting in Manhattan traffic with “congestion pricing” downtown, the people revolted. Daniel Henninger explains in The Wall Street Journal:
The most compelling political issue of our era is voters’ belief that they are being poorly governed. The social contract—we convey authority to public officials, and they run government with something resembling competence—is fraying. This, as much as anything, is the “sour mood” issue. Joe Biden may be its national poster boy, but a more particular case study in the demise of governance is occurring in New York City.
You may believe the biggest issue in New York the past year was the influx of illegal migrants. Not even close. It is—or was—congestion pricing.
The word “gridlock” was invented for New York. In the Manhattan borough, most streets are laid out in a grid—parallel avenues bisected with side streets across the island. Much of the time traffic chokes the grid and barely moves.
Our subject, though, isn’t New York’s grisly traffic. It is money. Money is the lifeblood of the public sector, and in many jurisdictions governed by the Democratic Party they are finally running out of it. The federal government, as a printer of money, anesthetizes the public against the reality of revenue shortages. But in New York City, the effects of fiscal misgovernance have become tangible.
New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority says it needs some $15 billion every year to repair the city’s deteriorating subway and public-transportation system. It came up with the idea of congestion pricing—charging cars or trucks between $15 and $36 anytime they enter Manhattan below 60th Street. After an arduous hearing process and despite lawsuits against the plan filed on behalf of commuters by New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, the plan was supposed to start this month. Tolling cameras were installed above the streets. Despite grumbling, all systems were go.
Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pulled the plug on congestion pricing, announcing it was indefinitely suspended. Let’s set aside for a discussion over drinks why commuters (aka voters) drive daily into Manhattan streets reduced to single lanes by construction, bike lanes, bus-only lanes, scaffolding, restaurant sheds, Amazon delivering the mountains of boxes New Yorkers order, long red lights and pedestrians oblivious to everything.
Gov. Hochul’s unexpected shutdown of the proposed solution to this gridlock defaulted immediately to one question: Where will the MTA come up with the $15 billion it says it needs annually to rebuild the city’s public transportation system, admittedly crucial to a functioning New York? The current answer from officialdom is no Plan B exists for producing the billions in revenue that, for instance, would repair subway stations where water pours through ceilings and down walls and steps during heavy rain.
Tellingly, when Gov. Hochul floated a payroll-tax increase to compensate for the loss of congestion pricing, the Democrat-controlled state legislature shot it down. This could be a long-overdue reality check on the taxing impulse.
Action Line: Is it any wonder so many New Yorkers took the first opportunity to leave during Covid and moved to greener pastures? If you’re looking to escape the city, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2024 Super States. If you’re planning a move, let me know. In the meantime, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter so we can stay in touch.
P.S. Read more about my recent trip to Paris here:
