Political Inversion on Peak Load Pricing

Strange things are happening. Comedian Red Buttons sung about this in 1953. No truer words were ever said about present occurrences. We live in a world of inverted politics. The left are now singing the praises of peak load pricing, a free marketplace phenomenon, and the right are attacking this very program.

I of course refer to the New York City policy of charging a fee for entering certain crowded parts of Manhattan during rush hours. (You can still drive there for free at 3am for instance.)

The Big Apple is a blue city if ever there was one (shouldn’t we call them reds, or at least pinks, instead?). This jurisdiction has implemented that free market oriented policy which is the exact opposite of their usual socialist endeavors such as rent control, welfarism, egalitarianism, DEI (Didn’t Earn It). As a result the ordinary bumper to bumper traffic moves smoothly, saving hours and hours of productivity, and reducing motorist frustration and road rage.

Ordinarily, this would be considered price gouging by our friends on the left, and bitterly opposed by them. After all prices rose by an infinite proportion, from zero to something slightly less than $10. Of course this is disgusting, greedy, capitalist, profiteering! If this isn’t price gouging, then nothing is price gouging. And yet, during a storm or other such crisis when merchants raise their prices, nothing but howls of outrage emanate from this quarter. How now brown cow?

On the other hand, the Trump Administration is in so many important ways an advocate and embodiment of free enterprise and economic freedom. They are reducing government expenditure, firing entrenched socialist bureaucrats all over the place, decreasing government regulations.

Yet they are taking a hack saw at this New York City congestion-reducing initiative. Our mostly free enterprise president now cavils against perhaps the one good thing NYC has ever done from an economic point of view. He does so on the ground that this small fee will mitigate against the poor. C’mon, give us a break. Before this new policy, the rich and the poor alike, just sat there in hard to believe how bad it was congestion. Surely, the real poverty stricken people cannot afford a car in the first place. So, lighten up.

If Trump wants to attack the Big Apple, and they richly deserve a good spanking, let him threaten them over rent control, rent stabilization, public housing, and all other aspects of housing socialism. Let him demand that they privatize that disgusting subway system of theirs. He can excoriate them for their unemployment producing minimum wage law.

Most people do not realize that the IRT and the BMT (not the IND) were originally built by capitalists and managed by entrepreneurs for years). They were thus initially private railroads. Then these companies were contemplating raising their fares from a nickel to a dime (how’s that for price gouging? A 100% increase!) The then mayor was appalled. So he nationalized, municipalized, this capital good. And guess what he then did? He raised the fare from five cents to ten cents.

Someone ought to give a message to these people: hey, stick to what you do best. Democrats, it is your job to support socialism, dirigisme and regulationism. Republicans, you’re supposed to favor free enterprise. If you invert roles as in this case, it gets more difficult to tell who is who. So, please, cut it out.

Originally published here.