Discussion on:

Chinese city cuts new car use in half

Cutting down the total number of licenses implies a reduction in vehicles, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there will be an equally corresponding reduction in pollution and miles driven.

Who would be most willing to offer the highest bids? Not the people who use their vehicles the least, but the people who use their vehicles the most.

Ultimately, it will backfire because China is rapidly becoming a nation of haves and have-nots, and this market-driven solution will only emphasize the difference between the disparity of wealth -- a tax for the emerging middle class.

All of China's cities have a huge traffic problem. New car sales have out paced the infrastucture,

Back during Mao's time? It has been about 15 years since I was in China but I remember as we drove around the country seeing water buffalo pulling plows and line after line of people building roads. Hardly the stuff of Have's. Actually the living standard has been rising in China for a long time which is why there are more cars sold there than in America as of 2009. With their population density in cities, then mass transit is the only real option and if cleaner air comes along with that, then good for everybody.

With restrictions such as these, it is easier for the government to disrupt the dissemination of information that opposes their near-totalitarian regime.
And the Chinese aren't the only ones trying to "control" every facet of life.