No. It is contrary to every tenet of a free market system. If it weren’t for oil and auto industry subsidies we would today have integrated mass transit systems throughout the US and be totally equipped to handle any energy crisis that we have suffered from ‘74 to now with very little discomfort or interruption to commerce, especially the disruptive inflationary prices of consumer goods due to transportation costs. In times like these, more Americans would be willing to dump their cars, including the related monthly payments, taxes, insurance, annual fuel costs and maintenace, and pour all the money they save into their homes, pensions, vacations and consumer goods. The money each household spends on their autos is quite significant and would be unnecessary if we had the transit systems, trolleys, etc., that were found in every small, mid-sized and large city previous to WWII.