Rooting for Traffic Jams

The INRIX measure of global traffic congestion has released its latest update, and only three nations actually enjoyed an increase.  You might wonder why I would say "enjoy" when most of us despise sitting in traffic.  In fact, according to a poll in January traffic jams barely edged out cockroaches in a survey of things more hated than Congress-both beat out our elected representatives on the hill.  For the record Congress was more popular than Lindsay Lohan, Communism, Ebola, Fidel Castro, Gonorrhea, John Edwards, the Kardashians, Lobbyists, Meth Labs, and North Korea.

I also say "enjoy" because increases in congestion often reflect improvement in the economy.  Sure, it's somewhat anecdotal, and a couple years ago you guys slammed me in a poll when I made this suggestion.  Yet, take a look at the data.  For the most part nations with the highest unemployment rates that are still increasing have seen massive declines in traffic congestion.   The inverse is true for those where it's taking longer to get to work now than a year ago (even though Ireland has high unemployment, it's moving in right direction).