Infrastructure: Where Trump and Democrats can agree

      This week, President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Democrats will sit down and discuss an issue that they basically all agree on.

      Is it that the USA is involved in too many global conflicts, has too many alliances, and too many military troops stationed all around the world?  No way Jose.

      Is it that the War On Drugs has been a total failure and a massive waste of taxpayer money and law enforcement resources?  Yeah right.

      Is it that we need to actually SOLVE the immigration crisis, instead of just throwing temper tantrums and yelling (or tweeting) at each other?  In your dreams.

     Nope, nope, and nope.  Rather, the issue that they all agree on is:  The US government just doesn't spend enough money.  And one government function that is especially starved for money is: Infrastructure. 

      How much do they want to spend?  At least a $Trillion, according to the Washington Post.  Of course, before the dust settles, it will likely be several TIMES that amount.  And Trump, a so-called "Republican", is on board all the way!

      As I pointed out in my article "... but the government IS big", the US government presently spends $4.4 Trillion a year, or about $55 Thousand a year for every man, woman, and child.  And that's just FEDERAL spending - state and local governments spend a wallop, too.   As for infrastructure spending, in 2017, federal, state, and local governments spent $441 Billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

       Most of this loosely-defined term we call "infrastructure" is transportation-related.  True, many US highways are in deplorable condition.  Of particular concern are bridges, where across the nation, tens of thousands of them or structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to the Department of Transportation.  And if the road or bridge beneath our vehicle isn't collapsing, then we're probably all stuck in maddening traffic jams, all the while burning gasoline, filling the air with noxious emissions, and wasting tons of time.

      So here is a better idea:  Let's recognize that transportation is a commodity, a user good and/or service, not all that different from food, clothing, housing, and all those other things that we humans want and need.  The purpose of government is to protect life and property from force and fraud, NOT to provide us with things.  That's what the free market is for.   Why would we take something as important to modern society as transportation and assign it politicians and bureaucrats?

      In typical government-think fashion, the "solution" is to keep biggering the roads (as Dr. Seuss would say).  But you cannot pave your way out of traffic congestion, no matter how many millions of square miles of concrete you put down over this previously beautiful land.  If you built it, they will come, and just keep coming, because bigger and wider and more roads just encourage people to drive longer and further. 

      Furthermore, private autos and cargo trucks are a terribly dirty and inefficient way to move people and freight.  So to combat the inevitable increase in pollution, save energy, and slow global warming, the government keeps imposing stricter mileage and emission standards - all the while ignoring the fact that it doesn't help to cut per-vehicle emissions in half if you simultaneously double the number of vehicles on the road!

      Let's get the government OUT of the infrastructure business, abolish the Department of Transportation (among others), and see what the free market can come up with.  At the very least, it will save us taxpayers a few $Trillion dollars.  The entrepreneurial minds that created all the amazing innovations and technology that we take for granted will surely come up with a more efficient, less expensive, faster, safer, cleaner alternative for moving people and cargo.

      But don't expect Trump or the Republicans to back anything intelligent like what I have suggested.  Republicans and Democrats are cut from the same mold, and are unable to think beyond the box of bigger government as the solution to every conceivable problem known to man.