PATRIOT-NEWS: The proposal in Congress to allow heavier trucks on highways sounds innocent at first glance. If trucks could carry more weight, there would be fewer of them on the road, proponents of the change argue.
Not so fast.
Take a state such as Pennsylvania, which already has some of the worst roads in the country. About a fifth of the roads are listed in “very poor condition,” and more than a quarter of the state’s bridges are in critical shape. Transportation for America dubbed Pennsylvania bridges the lousiest nationwide… (more)
EDITOR: Here is a classic example of how a special interest group can obtain legislation that profits them at the expense of the general public. The trucking industry can afford to spend hundreds of dollars, perhaps millions, to achieve their will. Who are the lobbiest for the public? Now replicate this a hundred times each year and one sees a major reason for the enirchment of the relative few at the expense of the vast number over the past thirty years. Furthermore, deregulations through an administrative process have played perhaps an even larger role in favoring companies and individuals than new laws.