"To an economist, most things come down to price. A car that gets 39 miles per gallon is cheaper per mile to drive than a car that gets 18 miles per gallon. Make iPods cheaper, and more get sold. Make the cost per mile of driving cheaper, and people will drive more. How much more? Research says it may be as much as 10-20 percent. People may not loiter on their way to work, but they will make more discretionary trips with their high-efficiency cars. And that has other effects too, like more highway congestion, and even more accidents and deaths."

His recommendation: Increase gas taxes.

Text and podcast on the Marketplace site.

Acutally, funding for schools is being cut 5%, because more and more education dollars are going to pensions and retiree health care thanks to the 22/55, the 2000 pension enhancement, and inadequate employer contributions over a decade.

Funding for parks is also being gutted.

And of course all the MTA money is going to past debts.

Fortunately, bicycles are cheap. But in general, public services are going to degrade on an awesome scale even as taxes rise.

Part of the problem in NYC is many foreign born drivers that learned the rules elsewhere. But also we have many, many part time drivers. Only driving a few times a year or so leaves folks out of practice. It's not exactly like...welll, to use a phrase...riding a bike

Right decision.