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John from FL's avatar

I'm going to point to this column (and your others regarding Amtrak) when I'm challenged about my opposition to big progressive government plans. The lack of accountability and outright waste, graft and embedded self-interest that infects Amtrak (and the MTA, LIRR, etc) is a huge impediment to progressive politics. It isn't enough that money is spent; it must be spent wisely and managed well.

I've long thought that if progressive energy were not directed toward the next great program (Green New Deal, etc), but on making the trains run on time, ensuring the streets in SF, Chi, Baltimore, Detroit, etc... are clean and safe and making social services in those areas efficient and well-targeted, then larger federal programs would be easier to sell. Heck, as a conservative I might even change my mind about some of those proposals. But the dysfunction seen in those cities and in Amtrak bring me back to the opposition.

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Lost Future's avatar

Bigger picture observation- the US spends or wastes an extraordinary amount of money on a lot of stuff (healthcare, infrastructure, defense spending, college education, etc.) precisely because it's so wealthy. When they're writing the obituary for the American empire in the 25th century, they're going to note that being the richest country in the world is actually kind of a curse! That money just sloshes around and fills every space where it's not really blocked, like water overcoming an obstacle. We're wealthier but also everything's more expensive here, so it kind of evens out.

Alon has observed that one of the reasons US subways are so expensive is that we build larger, grander stations than necessary. Lots of people have noted that college education has become more expensive because colleges now offer way more amenities than a generation ago, and also have an extra layer of bureaucratic administrators. Our wealth is funneled into these kind of expenses. This is totally true for defense spending as well- perhaps the most important issue of all, as we come up on the next great conflict.

Sometimes you hear that the US has the weakest social welfare net of any developed country. But actually we spend absolutely enormous sums on social welfare- lots of people don't know, for instance, that we spend as much on healthcare for the elderly as we do our famously huge defense budget! It's just that everything is more expensive here..... https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2021-04/57170-budget-infographic.pdf?fbclid=IwAR16kADtDpY2sw-AZZ5sBbZo_fLEDJlkqaaufPdM8XqPK4U1z6E4ozDXTvo

In general I don't see anything short of an economic collapse driving down how much we spend on trains, or bridges, or colleges, or aircraft carriers, or anything else. There's just no concentrated will to do so. Scott Alexander wrote Considerations On Cost Disease years ago, and I think it's one of the most underrated causes of American decline. It infects almost every level of society, and I don't see even a mild cure in sight, short of the next Great Depression https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/

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