Wall Street Crooks not satisfied, want our pensions too. #uncloakkoch

State deficits caused by autosprawl crash, not public workers

The Housing Bubble and Negative Equity are a Major Predictor of State Budget Gaps, Not Unions. « Rortybomb: "Amidst all the public debate about how states are being bled dry by militant public unions, you wouldn’t know that we just had a major housing bubble across the country followed by a financial system near-collapse and the most prolonged downturn since the Great Depression. Chris Hayes addressed this opportunism, the ignoring of the housing crisis to push long-standing right-wing priorities, in the opening segment of the Rachel Maddow show last night, and I think it’s worth throwing a graph together."

Keep Pittsburgh Moving

Different attitudes towards public transit

Anaïs: Public Transit IV: PAT: "For example, the fact that American riders are poorer indicates that in U.S. public transportation services are focused on people that are unable to drive a car -because they cannot afford one or because they are to young or to poor. Now, if we eliminate the riders under 18, and we consider the the other market segments -the poor and the disabled - in correlation with American culture , the conclusion is striking. In the U.S. public transit is considered by the public as well as their representatives as an alternative for the society's destitute no different than public assistance services such as welfare and food stamps. Therefore, the public attitude towards public transportation is also different as many potential riders may consider riding a bus something that is not dignifying. Unlike their American counterparts, Germans are more likely to use public transit indifferent of income or car ownership and, to a much larger extent, as a viable alternative for commuters."

Oil trolls doing the masters bidding

Ohio slashes 3-year transit plan by $70 million: "COLUMBUS, Ohio — The new state administration is slashing a three-year, $150 million commitment to Ohio transit agencies made last year by former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.
The Ohio Department of Transportation under current Republican Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik) is instead pledging $80 million in federal money for buses and other public transit through 2013."