London's Congestion Charge

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I've known about the congestion charge for some time, but its details had eluded me - the information being somewhat useless to me, since the amount of time I spend driving in London's center is really quite minimal, but I recently did a bit of preparatory reading and very nearly wet myself in terror and disgust.

Let me see if I understand this. Any time between 0700 and 1800 [Monday through Friday], anyone - except disabled people, drivers of some alternate fuel vehicles, and other complex exceptions ad nauseum - who drives within a roughly 10-mile by 5-mile piece of London has to pay 8 quid, or about US$16.50. [Holy hell, what happened to the exchange rate?] If they don't pay it that day or the next, they're charged 100 pounds, or about US$200 [unless you pay within 14 days...vehicular bureaucracy being complex everywhere you go]. Residents get a 90 percent discount, which sounds nice until you realize I can go to and from my house any time I please for free.*

Am I misunderstanding some aspect of this experience? Has this had a positive effect on congestion, at least? Has anyone noticed other social effects, positive or negative? It seems to me like a system like this will only drive the poor off the streets, line the pockets of Ken Livingstone ['s government, of course] at the expense of the middle and upper class, and force people who live there and people who must be there to pay a fee because of all the people who just want to be there.

This just strikes me as one of those programs - the US delights in them - which have no significant effect other than to give the government more money and the people less money, which to me seems like the sort of thing taxes are for. Penalizing people for driving where lots of people obviously want or need to be is like charging taxes on any substance to which people are addicted: what is presented as preventative ends up being nothing more than extortion.

*[edit: Let's say, for instance, you leave home at 0700 and return at 1800, not an unreasonable guess (despite some Brit's penchant for working late), meaning, as I understand it, two charges per day, at the 90 percent resident discount. That's a mere 1 pound 60 every day, which isn't something I'd want to pay (US$3.20 a day to go to work? Plus gas?) but then again, Brits have a damn site more money than Michiganders.

Still, let's assume you never drive your car except to work: groceries, going out, local visits, you all do via the power of the (still free!) shank's mare, or perhaps with a bicycle, so you only pay the © on work days (it's only valid on weekdays anyway**). How much would you end up spending a year, at your 90 percent discount? 416 pounds a year, or US$832, give or take.*** Fuck you, Ken. You know what percentage of my post-tax income that is? Of course, I work in Michigan, where I'm lucky to be paid in money and not dead chickens or broken promises.]

**Suppose this is because on weekends, it would hurt businesses like bars, museums, etc., while during the week it only effects employees who have to be there anyway? Or am I being overly cynical again?

***But let's say you don't live in the city, but rather work there. Driving would then cost 4160 pounds, or US$8320. Per year. I pay less in rent. I suppose the conclusion you're supposed to reach, then, is that once you get to the © zone, you hop on some delightful public transport, but this ain't free, either, is it? And what about workmen who must bring their own vehicles?