1. Author Joan Didion referred to our highways as America’s only communion. Would it be a social/ethical wrong to adopt widespread “congestion fees,” privately operated toll roads, and “Lexus Lanes” that would permit those with money to avoid the democracy of the highways? Explain.
2. Governing Magazine labeled golf courses “perhaps the most non-essential of the non-essential public services.” Studies show that payrolls for city-operated golf courses are about 13 percent higher than for privately operated courses. Why do we subsidize golf, and should we continue doing so? Explain.
3. a. The U.S. Postal Service currently loses a few billion dollars annually. Should we privatize the postal service?
b. Would UPS, for example, want to assume responsibility for delivery to every home in America? Explain.
Should users pay fees for access to highways? Private companies are building, maintaining, and operating new toll roads in places such as northern Virginia and suburban San Diego to the Mexican border. Taking the privatization movement a step further, state and local governments are selling or leasing existing roads to private companies. Indiana, for example, leased its 157-mile Indiana East–West Toll Road to an international group for $3.8 billion for 75 years. The new operators can raise tolls each year by 2 percent, the inflation rate, or the increase in GDP; whichever is higher.