Kill the Federal Highway Trust Fund

The Highway Trust Fund was set up during the Eisenhower administration to build the Interstate highway system.  It did a good job, and by 1985 we had excellent highways running the length and breadth of the land.  The federal gasoline tax paid for all this. 
   Now that the Interstate system is built, the Highway Trust Fund is doled out to the state highway departments to maintain the Interstates.  And to do favors, like the favor Congress did for good old Tip O'Neill upon his retirement.  That favor was the Boston Big Dig,  which soaked up $14 billion, of other states tax money, to produce some very nice real estate in down town Boston.  It didn't improve traffic flow, but Boston (and only Boston) is much prettier now. 
  The Highway Trust fund is running dry now and the road contractors, highway departments, and the newsies are crying for more funding.  The Trust Fund administrator is threatening to reduce payments by August this year.  Horrors.  End of the world.  We MUST  pour more money down this rat hole.  Our senator, Jeanne Shaheen, is pressing for a federal gas tax hike to pump up the Highway Trust Fund, and to round out the state gas tax hike Maggie Hassan just blessed us with.  
  Better, would be to shut down the Highway Trust Fund altogether.  Lay off all the bureaucrats who run it. Cancel the Federal gasoline tax.  Let the states, who do the roadwork, pay for road maintanance out of state funds.  The states could even hike their gas taxes if needed.  With the Federal gas tax removed, the states could take a much bigger bite without raising the price of gas. 
   The money would be better managed if the states had to raise it them selves.  If you have to pay for it out of your own pocket, you only do essential projects.  If Uncle  Sam showers money on you, you go out and spend it quick, whether you need it or not.  If you don't spend all the free money, Uncle won't give any more next year.  Despite Obama's disbelief, the ARE shovel ready projects to soak up free money right now.  Up here we can always repave I93. 
   The Highway Trust Fund is just a batch of free money, getting poured down rat holes.  We ought to shut it off, for good.

Running for US Senate in the Northwoods

.  Jeanne Shaheen had a prominent piece on the Littleton Courier's editorial page last week complaining that Scott Brown won't sign an agreement to limit out-of-state political contributions. Which is interesting inside baseball, but it doesn't really matter to me.  I care about what the candidate, if elected, might do for me, rather than where his/her campaign money comes from.  With Scott Brown, I figure I'm getting a reasonably dependable vote against Obamacare.  With Jeanne Shaheen, I know she cast the vote that gave us Obamacare.  This is the stuff that matters, what the candidate[s] did, or might do, in office.  Whether the candidate raises out-of-state money or not just doesn't matter.  At least not to me. 

   And let's be real, Scott Brown undoubtedly has a whole bunch of Massachusetts friends who just might chip in a little money to his campaign up here.  I don't see anything wrong with that.  After all, I sent Scott a modest campaign contribution back when he was running for Senate from Massachusetts.      

A Sweet Deal

The US Department of Agriculture is planning to buy 400,000 tons of sugar to prop up sugar prices.  That's $168 million worth of sugar, at the March price of 21.03 cents a pound.  Where is that sequester when you need it?
   According to the Wall St Journal, USDA is motivated by a desire to prevent bankruptcy among sugar producers who have borrowed $862 million from USDA this growing season.  If the producers go broke, Uncle doesn't get paid back, at least not in dollars.  Apparently the sugar borrowers pledge their crops as security for the loans.  If they don't have money, they give the sugar to Uncle Sam instead of dollars.  Last time this happened, 2000,  Uncle wound up the proud owner of  one million tons of sugar. At least sugar isn't perishable, that gives bureaucrats some years to figure out how to get rid of it.  The 2008 farm bill calls for this sugar to be made into ethanol and added to gasoline. 
   In addition to cheap loans and price supports, the sugar industry gets tariff protection.  World sugar prices are only 18 cents a pound, compared with 21 cents a pound inside the US.   The National Confectioners Association, big sugar consumers, claim the sugar producers have cost US consumers $14 billion in higher sugar prices since the 2008 farm bill passed.
  One bright spot.  Our democratic senator, Jeanne Shaheen calls this swindle  "unacceptable" and is sponsoring a bill to "give the USDA more flexibility in handling the sugar program".  More flexibility my foot, she ought to sponsor a bill to shut this scam down completely.