Mr President, You Are Right!

New York magazine reports:

Before the holidays, the Trump administration was said to be finalizing its 70-page [infrastructure] plan for release in mid-January, and White House officials had begun offering a preview. Trump policy adviser D.J. Gribbin said the “incentive program” would put up $200 billion in federal seed money in the hopes of attracting $800 billion in spending from state and local governments, and private-public partnerships.

But there’s a problem: Trump told GOP leaders on Friday that he doesn’t think relying on public-private partnerships to fund infrastructure projects will work.

Or maybe there isn’t a problem? On Friday Gary Cohn, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, told Fox Business, “January’s going to be a big month for us on infrastructure.” The next day he described the plan in detail — including public-private partnerships — to those assembled at Camp David.

According to the Washington Post, there’s been no official change of plans, Trump was just grousing about the idea, as he’s been doing for several months:

White House officials and Hill aides confirmed the president’s comments. Another White House official briefed on the comments said that Trump was musing aloud and that the administration still planned to pursue public-private partnerships for infrastructure. This person, though, said Trump had continually expressed skepticism behind the scenes about such a plan.

“He doesn’t think they will work,” this person said.

Mr. President, you are correct. These infrastructure programs never work. They are always crony boondoggles. Go with your gut and kill this.

If you really want to know how to fix the nation's infrastructure, I recommend you contact Dr. Walter Block author of  Privatization Of Roads And Highways: Human And Economic Factors.

  -RW