I know HubBlog tries to avoid unnecessary politicization of topics but one way to look at yesterday's commute is as another example of the structural difficulties that government has keeping pace with the free market.

Many marvel at apparent unpreparedness or look for a scapegoat. But the era of central planning has passed, and sometimes freedom is very messy. A TV weatherperson says, "the storm came in just the way we said." EXACTLY!!! The commuters (many of whom are working parents heading out for early dismissals) all acted at once on what seemed like Perfect Information provided by TV weatherpeople. Except only some of the information was perfect!

The state might look at heavy measures such $1,000 fines for blocking intersections as Tom Finneran proposed on RKO this morning. But $1,000 doesn't go as far as it once did and as many clever lawyers would no doubt point out, how often do we find ourselves stuck in the intersection because the cars ahead of us won't move?

This is/was a serious problem and we are fortunate that people didn't die in ambulances, or slip under wheels of cars (or even expire from CO poisoning). The state might consider studying financial market crashes and bubbles in thinking about appropriate mitigation measures. Two things in which we are still knee-deep around here are snow and raw brainpower. Academic systems modelers, get thee to the snowforts!