Posted on 05/10/2014 7:04:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
More than three years ago, I wrote that the Department of Transportation should be dismantled for the simple reason that we’ll get better roads at lower cost with the federalist approach of returning responsibility to state and local governments.
I echoed those sentiments in this CNBC interview.
Dan Mitchell Arguing to Get Washington out of the Transportation Sector
Since there’s only an opportunity to exchange soundbites in these interviews, let me elaborate on some of the reasons why transportation should be a state and local responsibility.
1. Washington involvement is a recipe for pork and corruption. Lawmakers in Congress – including Republicans – get on the Transportation Committees precisely because they can buy votes and raise campaign cash by diverting taxpayer money to friends and cronies.
2. Washington involvement in transportation is just the tip of the iceberg. As I said in the interview, the federal budget is mostly a scam where endless streams of money are shifted back and forth in leaky buckets. This scam is great for insiders and bad news for taxpayers.
3. Washington involvement necessarily means another layer of costly bureaucracy. And this is not a trivial issues since the Department of Transportation is infamous for overpaid bureaucrats.
4. Washington involvement gives state and local politicians an excuse to duck responsibility for low-quality infrastructure. Why make adult decisions, after all, when you can shift the blame to DC for not providing enough handouts.
While I think I made some decent points in the interview, I should have addressed the assertion that our infrastructure is falling apart. My colleague at the Cato Institute, Chris Edwards, effectively dealt with this scare tactic in hisrecent Congressional testimony.
I also should have pointed out that a big chunk of the gas tax is diverted to boondoggle mass transit projects.
Last but not least, I’m disappointed that I failed to connect some very important dots. Gov. Rendell and the CNBC host both fretted that the current system isn’t producing a desirable outcome, but they’re the ones advocating for a continuation of the status quo! Heck, they want even more of the system that they admit doesn’t work.
Sigh.
P.S. While I obviously want to get rid of the Department of Transportation, it’s not at the top of my list for the most wasteful and counterproductive federal bureaucracy.
Rick Perry was the only one to state the obvious. Too bad he wasn’t blessed with media qualities.
What a sick, stupid and pathetic nation we are.
Smiling faces are able to lead us cheerfully over a cliff.
As much or more goes into bogus environmental projects that too often fail.
When the I35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed a few years ago, before the bodies were pulled from the water, the mayor was already bragging that some emergency repair money would be diverted to bike trails.
“The larger the government, the smaller the citizen.”
The liberals are happy
Nice thought unfortunately, currently they are dreaming up ways to tax us by each mile we drive—growing government power in this arena certainly not shrinking it.
Don’t worry, they WILL get rid of the gas, and replace it with road pricing - only 15 to 20 cents per mile, too!!!
And, as a bonus, the transponders that they toll you with will store their information regarding when and where you traveled in a database that you can have a judge access to prove you didn’t do what you’re accused of.
...of course the police, the IRS, and anyone else that feels the need can access the same database.
But what the heck, NO MORE GAS TAX!!! We win!!!
The fascists didn’t lose WWII, they merely changed venues. We the sheeple now live int he ever growing fascist state of Himmler’s dreams.
I think it is more accurate to say that the fascists lost WW2 and the communists won...until the soviet union collapsed. Now, the communists have morphed into neo-communists, which is indistinguishable from fascism except for one thing, a nationalistic fervor.
I think the Marxists finally thought about there particular desire for government control is much more efficient under fascism than communism.
And the Dept of Education
I proposed abolishing the gas tax many years ago when the prices got jacked up.
I’d merge/eliminate many cabinet posts. Not I think the national highways for example are a bad thing, they were a key accomplishment of Eisenhower.
Fantastic ideas, Impy!
Eisenhower got the idea from the German Autobahns.
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