AAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!. A commentator in Filibuster links this coverage of London's congestion charges, then makes this observation: "It has been pointed out to me that this fee on cars means that now only the rich are allowed to drive into London." So much to do, so little time to do it. Isn't the acquisition price of a car, amortized over the life of the car, much higher than the $1600 or so a year that a London commuter would pay for the opportunity to drive into the pay-zone? (For that matter, aren't London parking charges much higher than five quid a day?) Wouldn't it therefore be the case that the non-rich have already been excluded from driving into London by virtue of being rationed by price from buying a car in the first place?

There is a deeper insight that the anonymous observer has also missed: prices provide opportunities for poorer people to outbid richer people. That's why New England snobs have to use zoning ordinances to keep Wal-Marts out of their communities: Wal-Mart are able to put together enough buying power, one jumbo box of detergent at a time, to outbid the snobs for the uneconomic farms on the edge of town.