A Libertarian Infrastructure Plan
2017-06-29 · Guest: Chris Edwards (Director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute) · 5:50
American infrastructure and the benefits of privatization
Bob Zadek and Chris Edwards discuss the state of American infrastructure, challenging the political narrative that it is in a state of “decrepit” decline. They explore the benefits of private ownership and management of infrastructure, arguing that market forces are more efficient than government spending and that much of the nation’s most vital infrastructure is already privately held.
Topics: Infrastructure, Privatization, Milton Friedman, Government Spending, Transportation, Public Policy, Cato Institute
Speakers:
- Bob Zadek — Host
- Chris Edwards — Director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute
Introduction and the Friedman Law [00:29]
Bob Zadek: Good morning everyone, welcome to the Bob Zadek Show, the only live libertarian talk radio show on the air all weekend. Thank you so much for joining us this wonderful 4th of July weekend. We celebrate our country’s birthday. Thank you so much for listening. 424-BOB-SHOW is the way to join the conversation anytime.
This morning I’d like to start with a quote from Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman is of course one of the leading libertarian free-market economists who ever lived. A great man, and Milton Friedman is quoted as saying, “It costs any government at least twice as much to do something as it costs anyone else.” How true that is, how wise he was.
This morning’s show is on infrastructure. Who owns our infrastructure? Infrastructure is of course our roads, bridges, airports, train lines, air traffic control and the like. The piping, the underground America. Who owns that? Who should own it? Is our infrastructure, as most politicians would have you believe, decrepit, declining? Are we limping along as a country of potholes? Of course not. The politicians are wrong.
To help you understand the true state of affairs in U.S. infrastructure and who should own it, who should maintain it, who should build it, and how should it be paid for, I’m happy to welcome back to the show Chris Edwards from Cato. Chris is the only person who’s been on my show more than Chris has, so I’m happy to welcome Chris back again. Chris is the Director of Tax Policy Studies at Cato. He is importantly the editor of downsizinggovernment.org—more about that as the show progresses. He’s an expert on federal and state tax and budget issues. He also is the author of Downsizing the Federal Government and co-author of Global Tax Revolution. Chris, welcome to the show this 4th of July weekend.
Chris Edwards: Hey, I’m delighted to be on your show today, Bob.
Is Our Infrastructure Really Decrepit? [02:58]
Bob Zadek: Again, thank you so much. Now Chris, infrastructure. Donald Trump has proposed a $7 trillion—yes, trillion with a T—spending program to rebuild our decrepit infrastructure. Our bridges are, if you believe the politicians, about to fall into the water they cross over. The airports are a mess. Air traffic control is a mess. The roads are more potholes than pavement. The trains don’t work on time. Mass transit is a mess. First of all, the premise: Is the premise right that our infrastructure is in a state of decline so that we should be collectively embarrassed?
Chris Edwards: The short answer to that is no. And I think the first thing you have to realize is that the vast majority of infrastructure in America is actually owned by the private sector. So sometimes the media often portrays it as if it’s only government that has infrastructure—the highways and stuff like that. But if you think about it, the freight railways, the pipelines, virtually all the internet infrastructure, the electricity infrastructure—all that’s owned by the private sector and it’s every bit as crucial to the economy as the government-owned highways.
Our infrastructure is generally in pretty good shape, frankly. You’ll see articles in the news about our highways having a lot of potholes and the like. Actually, we’ve been measuring the quality of our highways for a couple decades now, and our bridges, and they’ve actually been consistently getting better for about three decades now. It’s true that highways are getting more congested. America’s got a growing population, more people own cars, so congestion is to be expected. But the actual quality of the infrastructure has actually been improving.
Bob Zadek: You know, restaurants have become congested too, but there’s no movement for a massive building boom to build more restaurants. The demand will create a supply to fill it. People will normally, in the private sector, when there is a demand—a demand is an opportunity. Crowded roads are not a problem, but an opportunity for that need to be satisfied intelligently and not politically.