Transit: The Urban Parasite
The costs of supporting the nation’s urban transit industry are rising, yet ridership is declining. In all but a handful of urban areas, transit uses more energy and emits more greenhouse gases per passenger mile than the average automobile. Transit no longer serves large numbers of low‐income people, as most of them have purchased automobiles. Transit systems with declining ridership do little or nothing to relieve urban congestion; nearly empty buses often increase congestion. For all these reasons, says Cato scholar Randal O’Toole, it is time to end subsidies to transit and consider privatizing it instead.
The Case for Congressional Regulatory Review
The executive and legislative branches of government oversee the modern administrative state. At present, however, the contest between the political branches is dangerously out of balance. Since Richard Nixon, presidents have increased control over the administrative state through a process known as “White House regulatory review.” Congress hasn’t kept pace. In a new paper, Cato scholar William Yeatman proposes the creation of a congressional capacity to evaluate administrative action.
An Epidemic of Red Tape
Among the many lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is how cumbersome one‐size‐fits‐all regulations, administered by an impersonal bureaucracy, hamper a rapid and flexible response to an evolving public health emergency. In recent days, federal and state authorities have waived a great many onerous regulations that stand in the way of a rapid response to this emergency. It is important that policymakers recognize the regulatory obstacles that have accumulated over the years that make our system less nimble in responding to unexpected events, and work to reform those laws.
- “Coronavirus and Regulation,” by Thomas A. Firey and Peter Van Doren
- “An Epidemic of Red Tape,” by Jeffrey A. Singer
- “To Help Solve the Surgical Mask Shortage, Get the FDA out of the Way,” by Paul Matzko
Experts
