If the government was in charge of ....

Lets suppose for a minute that the big government guys got their way in things, and we all, regardless of our income, were entitled to drive a car.

Right now, I pay over $350/mo for a car payment, and what seems like a random amount of money every few months for car insurance. Lets suppose that it is $100/mo. I don't care if you can save me 15% on that. I don't want an email or phone call from you. This blog entry is not a solicitation to sell me car insurance.
On top of that I give the gas station owner another $200 or more each month. Every week or so, a $50 tank of gas is needed to keep me going.

Now all of these things are needed. I have to get to the store to spend my wife's paycheck. I need to take my wife to work, and pick her up and bring her home. I also drive my happy self around and pretend to fix computers and networks.

Lets suppose that the government comes to the conclusion that I need all of these things, and you do too. If you figure all of those costs listed above, I am probably average in the amount of driving I do, and how much I pay for cars, insurance and gas. Throw in tires, oil, car washes and air fresheners, and I am shelling out around $600 per month to keep me mobile. If the "powers that be" were running things, I suppose that I would be presented with the option to get all of these things paid for for a small car tax. I suppose politicians would pitch it in such a way that the guys making $200k/yr would pay more than us poor slobs, and the poorest wouldn't have to pay anything. We would all have the option to get a new car every 3 or 4 years, unlimited gasoline, and all the maintenance we need. Of course, the federal transportation system wouldn't cover "elective" maintenance, like racing stripes, 4 wheel drive, or turbo chargers, but we would all be treated fairly. And, if we want to keep our existing car, we can.

I think that I would contend that after a short time on this system, it would really suck for everyone involved, except for the people who cannot afford cars now. Even for them, I doubt that it would ever live up to what they had been promised.

For the rest of us, I suspect that the quality of government supplied cars [read low bidder] will be as nice as what we drive now. It would be a short amount of time, I suspect, that we would be limited to 10 gallons per week (or month) of gasoline before its all said and done. I also expect that instead of a new car every 3 years would turn into a slightly used car every 7 or 8 years, and the waiting list to get my bald tires replaced would be awful.

If socializing cars won't work, what makes us think that socialized medicine would work? Its a little late to bring it up now, I suppose, but its still a ridiculous situation.