Trump is not a conservative

Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan

​More below.

Trump is a slightly controlled progressive with deeply progressive instincts, he will need to be controlled, focused, and directed in order to make this Presidency work well. 

"America’s infrastructure needs are not nearly as serious as Trump thinks. Throwing a trillion dollars at infrastructure, no matter how it is funded, guarantees that a lot will be spent on unnecessary things. As Harvard economist Edward Glaser recently pointed out in an article that should be required reading for Trump’s transition team, just calling something “infrastructure” doesn’t mean it is worth doing or that it will stimulate economic growth.

Infrastructure more or less falls into three categories, and Trump’s one-size-fits-all plan doesn’t work very well for any of them. First is infrastructure that pays for itself, such as the electrical grid. Private companies and public agencies are already taking care of this kind, so if Trump’s plan applied to them, they would get tax credits for spending money they would have spent anyway. That’s not revenue neutral.

The second kind of infrastructure doesn’t pay for itself. Rail transit is a good example, and this tends to be the infrastructure that is in the worst shape. It won’t suddenly become profitable just because someone gets a tax credit, so under Trump’s plan it will continue to crumble.

The third kind of infrastructure consists of facilities that could pay for themselves but don’t because they are government owned and politicians are too afraid of asking users to pay. Local roads fit into this category. Simply creating tax credits doesn’t solve that problem either."

What Trump should consider is cutting the second kind of infrastructure out of the federal budget completely. Do this by privatizing these infrastructural components. He should then seriously think about changing the incentives for government to own infrastructure. Why should it own roads but not cable wires? The self drive car revolution will alter the lay of the land here and will likely allow changes in this infrastructure.

At the least, shifting the money into public trusts as a way to deal with the corruption issues which arise when politicians have control over money.