Sunday, October 10, 2021

Infrastructure should be a state and local business.

 Infrastructure is roads and bridges and dams and airports and flood control.  This stuff only helps the residents of the states in which it gets built.  I think such projects should be locally funded.  He who spends the money should raise the money.  This tends to keep the spending down.  If the feds just hand cash to the states, the states will make sure that they spend it all whether they need it or not.  Use it or loose it. 

   Congress is debating a one and a skosh TRILLION dollar infrastructure bill right now.  A good chunk of this is the federal highway trust fund, financed by the federal gasoline tax.  It was created back in the Eisenhower administration to build the interstate highway system.  They finished that job 40 years ago.  But they have kept right on spending year after year.  We could shut down the federal highway trust fund, and shut down the federal gasoline tax.  And tell the states that they can do any road building they deem necessary and they can raise the state gasoline tax to pay for it.  Want to bet that spending would go down now that the states would have to raise the money to pay for frills like the Boston big dig?

   I think the country would be well served to get the feds out of the infrastructure business.  The states will do a better job.

 

 

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