Originally Posted by Calsun

The auto and oil and tire companies in the USA did a great job of buying up all the electric street car lines across the country and then shutting them down and forcing Americans to buy cars after WW II. Even in the past year there have been 13 attempts by cities to add electric light rail service for their people and campaigns funded by the oil companies were successful in killing them.

In the late 1800's there were was such common gridlock with horses and horse drawn carriages that cities first start implementing electric street cars in response. It was very successful and so it spread to every large city in the country. This was not good for the auto and tire and oil industries and so after WW II they conspired to put an end to public transit. OK to subsidize auto parking and roadways but not public transit. Then again, the elites in the overclass benefited from the private use of public resources, as always, but gained nothing from making transportation more efficient and more affordable for Americans and their families.

There is a huge environmental impact from the oil companies and their pollution and contribution to global warming and to air pollution and contamination of drinking water supplies, as well as the taking of 50% of American cities for use by cars instead of people. We now have heat islands that are literally killing people.

Unfortunately most Americans have drunk the Kool-aid and buy into the propaganda of the corporate owned and controlled media, and are too lazy to seek out alternative sources of information.