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Even worse is the influence of the pork-barrel. Only around 20 states use cost-benefit analyses to evaluate transport projects; of these, just six do so regularly. Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere” is an infamous result of this sort of planning. But it is not exceptional. Two months after the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, the Senate approved a transport and housing bill that included money for a stadium in Montana and a museum in Las Vegas.
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Such plans stand in stark contrast to the federal government’s strategy today. America invests a mere 2.4% of GDP in infrastructure, compared with 5% in Europe and 9% in China, and the distribution of that money is misguided.
I think they underestimate our ability to ignore. For example we have over $500,000 in federal government debt per household and continue to raise taxes on future generations without any guilt. I think our capacity to ignore is pretty large and certainly large enough to ignore the decision to spend money on things other than infrastructure repair.
I think those that don’t somehow manage to remain ignorant all know that China has taken the lead in investing in infrastructure and that the USA has chosen to elect politicians that are gutting infrastructure investments (and still spending far beyond the resources they have available). I can’t imagine many who understand economics have any trouble seeing which country is investing in the future and which country is selling out its future. It is not the choice I wish was being made in the USA but it is obviously the choice we are making.
Related: USA Infrastructure Needs Improvement - Politicians Again Raising Taxes On Your Children - Manufacturing Takes off in India - True Level of USA Federal Debt
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500K per household in fed. debt?! Holy smokes, Batman. I’ve already got 300K of my own, add that 500K and I’m nearing the million mark.
It’s slightly reassuring (in a sick, twisted way) that the fed. is more reckless than I was. I’d like that number to be zero though!
It’s truly scary how much we rely on other counties now to purchase our debt and finance our huge budget. At some point, the house of cards is gonna come crashing down. Hopefully I’ll be in a cabin in Montana at that point…