Stimulus Bike

Economic Stimulus and Climate Change

Written by Lee Norris

Any stimulus plan for the current recession should support solutions to climate change as well as stabilizing today's markets. If action is not taken on global warming, the economies of the world will go into deeper and deeper recessions and the quality of human life will deteriorate. Arguments against this position can be made that any discussion on global warming involves too many uncertainties to spend large sums of money on. Some people question the accuracy of computer models. Still others argue that global warming is a hoax.

Such arguments never have a sound basis in fact. The computer models used today to predict the effects of climate change are the best that science has to offer. These models are becoming more accurate all the time with new data. Also, satellite technology confirms that the earth's atmosphere is heating up by measuring the amounts of infrared radiation being reflected back into space. The best knowledge of today has confirmed that the earth's atmosphere is heating up due to man made greenhouse gases. Another problem caused by rising carbon dioxide levels is that oceans of the world are also experiencing falling pH levels. Recessions are times to rethink and restructure the way economies operate. United States and the rest of the world can not go back into the same wasteful consume and discard based economies of the past.

The economic consequences of large portions of the Earth's land becoming uninhabitable, farm lands turning to desert, wild fires, rising sea levels, more tornadoes and bigger hurricanes would be horrendous. There is also the very real possibility that further warming could melt the permafrost in the arctic tundra releasing billions of tons of trapped methane gas. At the very least, what would the cost to both industrialized and developing countries be of having many times more refuges in the world than there are today. Some estimate that the cost could approach nine trillion dollars in today's money.

The projected costs of stabilizing climate change are enormous, but in the future those costs will be catastrophic and soon become impossible to meet. Many researches in the field believe that there is only 10 to 15 years left to address climate change, and after that it could be too late. According to the Stern Report, global warming could cut the world's future economic growth by 20%.

Sources: Utah.edu, Reuters UK, Earthtimes

Senate Amendment Aims To Nix All Bike Funding

Written by Andy

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), chair of the Senate Steering Committee, has proposed an amendment to the stimulus bill that would prohibit any funding of bicycle infrastructure from this bill. He was supported by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) who is known for his opposition to bicycle lanes and paths.

"When people see bike trails and hiking trails and golf courses, they know this is not designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs. It’s just basically special-interest pork barrel spending."

Blumenauer rebuts DeMint's statement with this:

"Republican amendments and assertions that the creation of hike and bike trails in the recovery plan will not create jobs or stimulate the economy shows us just short-sighted and out of touch they are. Investment in bike paths will not only improve our economy, and take our country in the right direction for our future; it is precisely the kind of investment the American people want. American families have indicated time and again in the passage of bond measures across the country that they favor spending on alternative transportation, such as bicycles and mass transit, over spending on more highway capacity. Americans want a real solution to the economic crisis, not just a band-aid fix. These investments will stimulate the economy in the present and point our nation toward the economic and environmental realities of the future."

Here is what it means to Americans: While about 16 million of 330 million Americans use bikes, and even fewer of those use them regularly for commuting or errands, bikes are a viable form of transportation that is quickly gaining support in many major cities. Surely spending a million dollars on a bike lane in a rural area is not a smart investment, but creating a network of livable streets in urban environments is. Currently, the stimulus bill has a lot of funding for highways, which has few restrictions and may go towards building and expanding highways. Fixing our existing infrastructure is a good idea, but that doesn't mean adding more lanes or more routes for cars, it means fixing old bridges and repairing roads that desperately need it.

President Obama and his administration have made a strong commitment to finding solutions for climate change, reducing our use of non-renewable resources, and improving Americans' health. Any attempt to improve our population centers to accommodate public transit, pedestrians, and cyclists is a good step towards those solutions. We need to prepare our economy and way of life for a sustainable future, and highway expansion or restricting bicycle infrastructure is a major step in the wrong direction.

In the past year, we saw gas prices over $4 a gallon across most of the country. Car sales plummeted 30% and America's major car manufacturers are in dire trouble just trying to stay afloat in this economy and even overseas manufacturers like Toyota are now struggling. Many transit programs saw major increases in ridership this past summer, but still lack the proper funding to expand service. Bicycle infrastructure is the cheapest, most effective way to get people around without causing environmental harm. To think that this is somehow a detriment to creating jobs or helping our economy is just an ignorant excuse for wanting to get around in cars more. But we need to face the facts: Personal vehicles, for single-occupant use, will one day be a thing of the past. Gas prices will go up, fewer people will drive as more take buses, trains, and live closer to work to walk and bike for their commutes, and infrastructure costs for maintaining this enormous highway system will overwhelm the economy. Let's make good decisions now before we waste billions finding out that more highways doesn't help our economy.

Sources: League of American Bicyclists, Bike Portland, Streetsblog

The Bicycle and the Economic Stimulus Plan

Written by Lee Norris

The Senate republicans want a tax break for the purchase of new cars in 2009 as part of the economic stimulus package. The amendment would allow individuals buying new cars with financing and write off the interest. This tax break does not include a purchase of used vehicles either. The amendment would also let buyers claim the state excise tax. This is a tax break for the wealthy who can afford to buy a new car each year. For the average consumer, the cost of financing a new car out weights any tax benefits. During recession, financing has traditionally been harder to obtain for lower and medium income people.

Just a few months ago, the agenda in congress was weaning this country off of its dependence to foreign oil. Now that the price of crude is down and economy is crashing, the problem of dependence to foreign oil has slipped onto the back burner. The problems of importing oil and the trade imbalance has been around for the past 50 years. If we do not do something about this problem during this recession, then it will come back again in times of prosperity. These problems will most likely be worse in the future.

Why not give tax credits for purchasing new bicycles or for cycling to and from work as part of the economic stimulus package? In the United States on an average, half the car trips made are under three miles. This country consumes around 22 millions of barrels of oil a day. A large percentage of that oil could be saved each day by using bicycles as transportation on these short trips. if only 25% Americans would cycle on trips 5 miles and under, the social benefits to the country would be enormous. Two of the most expensive problems facing Americans today are rising health care costs and arresting greenhouse gases. Cycling makes people slim and healthy, and there are no greenhouse gas emissions to cycling. Cycling is better than tax credits for the economy. The Money saved at the pumps is more cash for the consumer to spend. With a tax credit, the consumer has to wait until they get their tax return. Cycling saves consumers money all the time there by stimulating the economy faster.

Recessions are times of re-tooling for the next round of prosperity and rethinking the way we do things. If all Americans do is buy new cars to stimulate the economy, we will pay for it later. This is just more of the old squirrel cage economy that got us into this economic mess in in the first place. In effect, what we are asking future generations is to finance our expensive life style today. Is that all there is to the economic stimulus package?

Transportation in China: A New Look

Written By Lee Norris

Are the Chinese all getting cars? The Chinese stimulus package does not say so. With the Chinese economy hit hard by the world wide recession, the Chinese government is making the move away from the automobile as a main source of transportation. They are spending more on passenger rail lines and less on highways. The problems of the automobile in China are enormous. Pollution caused by the automobiles in the major cities is unbearable and a major concern. Traffic jams and automobile accidents are commonplace. Besides, The majority of the population cannot move from the lower to the middle classes where they can not afford a car.

The world wide recession has hit China. No one in China questions the urgent need for spending on large scale public projects. China has drafted the largest economic stimulus plans in the world and with few debts and a small deficit, the Chinese government is making moves to decrease their dependence on the automobile and foreign oil. They are spending less money on highways and more on passenger rail lines. Huge project are underway such as $17.6 billion being spent on a passenger rail line across the Northwest Desert and $24 billion being spent on a high speed rail line from Beijing to Guangzhou, which is around 1,400 miles. Another $88 billion is being spent on inter city rail lines in cities across China.

In China, you can take the train, but you still need a bike for the short trips. China is still the largest bicycle-using country in the world, and the bicycle isn’t going away any time soon. There are an estimated half billion bicycles in China. In communities and cities all over China, goods are moved and services are still delivered by bicycles. China leads the world in production of bicycles by making over 60% of the bicycles produced in the world. Nine out to ten bicycles sold in the United States were manufactured in China.