The traffic in front was blocked like a long queue, and occasionally it slowly moved forward. I was a little strange, it seemed that the traffic jam in this city was not so serious some time ago, why has it become like this now?
I carefully observed the cars in front and on the other side of the road, and found that there were quite a few high-end cars, but more of them were low-end domestic cars. I immediately understood the root cause of this traffic jam - the automobile manufacturing industry.
Insufficient investment in development and basic facilities.
In the final analysis, urban transportation is still a link in the market value system.
If price cannot play a role in balancing supply and demand, the use of resources will inevitably lead to waste, which is a distortion of resource allocation. Traffic jams on the road indicate that road supply and demand are out of touch, and price does not play a role. To solve this problem, start from
Fundamentally, prices must play their due role in road supply and demand.
Traffic jams in big cities are becoming increasingly serious. Saying "there will never be traffic jams" seems like fantasy. But from an economic point of view, it is possible. As long as the policies are appropriate, it is completely feasible in practice.
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In our country, people have always taken the free use of roads as a matter of course. Especially when people have enjoyed the big pot for decades, it is even more unacceptable to charge for public services. Therefore, when the road charging method was started to be implemented, everyone felt
Not used to it.
It is said that after the opening of the Wuhan New Yangtze River Bridge, many drivers collectively rushed to work to evade fares, and even scratched the hands of toll collectors with knives. However, if you raise funds and borrow money to build roads and bridges, you must repay the principal and interest. If there are no tolls, how can you pay for this expense?
?Since everyone hopes for smooth roads and open bridges, it is logical to charge fees. As time goes by, everyone slowly figured out the problem.
The problem of urban road tolls is not essentially different from highway tolls or any other consumer goods tolls. It is just because of difficulties in implementation that the method of whoever enjoys it has not yet been adopted, and the method of "big pot rice" is still used. The so-called big pot rice,
That is, the government collects taxes from the masses, and then uses the taxes to pay for the cost of road construction. Therefore, the fees that a small number of people who use the roads should pay become the burden of all taxpayers. Unlike in the United States, 8%
More than 10 families have cars, and their incomes are relatively high. It is fair to pay one-third of their wages to pay taxes. It is neither reasonable nor reasonable to ask ordinary people in China to pay taxes to build roads for others.
.
Building roads in cities is very expensive. However, such information cannot be conveyed to the minds of passers-by. Experience tells them that using roads can be enjoyed for free like breathing air. Such huge information distortion has caused problems in road use.
Huge waste.
No one who uses the road has ever thought that he should pay for using the road. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people prepare to buy cars and join the ranks of free road users.
Can this situation be maintained for a long time? It is not difficult to imagine that if there is a free product in the supermarket, no matter how much it is, it will be taken away. The same reason is true for traffic jams on the roads now.
The wonderful thing about the market economy is that producers and consumers can reach an agreement on price to maintain the balance of supply and demand. After road tolls are charged, traffic congestion problems can be solved as long as the price is reasonable. According to the experience of Hong Kong and Singapore, small
The burden that car owners have to pay for road use is more than double the burden of maintaining the car itself, such as interest, depreciation, maintenance, insurance, etc. It is certain that this will suppress people's demand for cars.
However, most of our automobile industry departments are opposed to this measure. Their reason is that the automobile industry is our country's pillar industry. If we have to pay for road use, the automobile industry will suffer a near-fatal blow, which will be very detrimental to our country's macro economy.
One thing I am very clear about is that I think this reason is completely untenable. This is just like we have no reason to ask the country to provide free tapes to ensure the development of the tape recorder industry, or to provide free video discs to promote the development of VCD machines.
.If the development of the automobile industry is hindered because of this, it just means that the people's demand for it is not enough to support its development.
Consumption supported by state subsidies is false prosperity. Relying on ordinary people to bear the cost of building roads for people who buy cars is unreasonable from both the perspective of fairness and efficiency. The price of this false prosperity is too high.
It would be more beneficial to the macroeconomy to develop less of the car industry, reduce traffic jams, and at the same time invest funds, labor, and resources into the production of goods that people are willing to pay for. In the future, the income level of our people will generally increase, and people who have the ability to buy cars will
When roads were built, the prosperity of the automobile industry at that time was the real prosperity.
But this truth is just a truth after all. As the mayor of Shangjiang City, I have to face the development issues of the place under my jurisdiction in a narrow way. Therefore, I have to become a person who accepts this economic law.
The maker of distortion.
The traffic gradually became faster, and there was no need to apply the brakes at any time. After driving forward for a while, I found two cars parked on the side of the road not far ahead. They happened.
Got rear-ended.
Obviously, the traffic flow has become faster because these two cars have been moved to the side of the road. In fact, this is also one of the other factors causing urban traffic congestion. In the city, due to the low quality of drivers,
Driving in the lane, making U-turns illegally, failing to deal with traffic jams in time, etc. These are all factors that aggravate traffic jams.
Although the roads are much smoother now, the speed of traffic is still slow. When I was worried that a call from Shangjiang came in, my cell phone really started ringing.
I looked at it and found that it was an unfamiliar number, and it didn't seem to be local. Although I was a little surprised, I still answered the call, because an out-of-town mobile phone number does not mean that the person must be a stranger, and it is more likely that the person is a stranger.
The thing is, maybe this person came to me because of work-related reasons.
After I answered the call, I immediately heard a strange voice coming from inside. He spoke Mandarin and had a very strong Cantonese accent. His voice was very rich, and I heard his laughter the first moment I answered the call.
, "Mayor Feng, do you still remember me?"
I immediately thought in my mind: Who is this person? At the same time, I said: "Hello. I'm sorry, I didn't recognize who you are. Can you tell me?"
His voice was really rich and friendly, "Mayor Feng, you are such a noble person and so forgetful. Why can't you remember me? We have been old friends for many years, how could you
Have I forgotten?"
The more I listened, the more I felt something was wrong. My memory is very good, but this person's voice was really unfamiliar to me. But how did he know who I was? I felt a little baffled, "Hello. I'm sorry, I really can't remember you.
Just tell me who it is. Now that I'm driving, who are you? What do you want from me? Just tell me."
He immediately said in a very unhappy voice, "Brother Feng, are you too sorry for me? Didn't we often get together in the past few years? How could you forget me?"
In fact, at the beginning, I really believed that he was a friend of mine. I thought it was one of my friends who deliberately pretended to have a Cantonese accent to joke with me. But now I can completely tell that this person is someone I don’t know.
Yes, that is to say, the person I am talking to on the phone is a liar. Because I feel more and more that this person’s Cantonese accent is very authentic, and this person’s voice is indeed unfamiliar to me.
Immediately, I thought of a verification method, and immediately laughed and said to him: "I remember, you are Kang Demao. Where have you been all these years?"
He immediately burst into laughter, "Great! You finally remembered me. Mayor Feng, I was on a business trip in Xi'an recently and am planning to come to Jiangnan in a few days. You have to treat me to dinner then.
oh?"
I almost laughed out loud, but I don’t know why this liar is so bold: He actually wants to come to Jiangnan? If so, wouldn’t I be able to see through it immediately? (To be continued)