How To Pay For Infrastructure

[kalm]

Toll interstates!

Maybe we can pull a Greece and leverage their future revenues with Goldman Sachs loans to pay down our debt?

“The federal government cannot assume the cost for all of it,” Chao said Tuesday night in a Fox News interview after Trump’s address, reiterating a point she made during her Senate confirmation hearing. She told Fox host Sean Hannity that “new and innovative ways” were necessary to find funding.

She said the president had “exciting and novel ideas about how to finance” what independent authorities estimate is the need for $3.7 trillion to meet infrastructure needs by 2020.

“Public private partnerships are a very important part of a new way of financing our roads and bridges,” she said.

Asked whether that would require imposing new tolls, Chao responded “that is certainly one example of how that would work.”

“I have to say that there are some people who may not support toll roads,” Chao said, “but we have to take a look at all of these financing mechanisms, because once again, the needs of our infrastructure are so great that the federal government cannot and should not be the only source of funding to repair our bridges, our roads and our energy grids.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tr ... 1617657bd5

[CAA Flagship]

As the economy improves, more trucks will be busy. Tax diesel fuel. Done.

[Gil Dobie]

Use the GPS on electric cars and tax them per mile driven.

[CID1990]

One thing about tolls-

They are a lot like funding for entitlement programs.... politicians love to tamper with them. If they could put in a rule requiring that the tolls can go towards paying for road and bridge improvements only, then I'd be in favor. But they won't do that, and the tolls would remain in place after the improvements are paid for and ongoing maintenance is covered

One thing that I liked about El Salvador was their highways. In a brief surprising moment of sanity, functionality and pragmatism several years ago, the Salvadoran government established a fixed budget item protected by law which is solely dedicated to highway construction and upkeep. ES has the best roads anywhere in Central America. Lawmakers knew that this part of the budget would be pillaged by future politicians, so they wrote it into law.

If we had done the same with social security back during the New Deal it wouldn't be a problem today.


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[andy7171]

You can tell when somebody has never driven in the Northeast. Interstates are already heavily tolled. I travel along three every morning and afternoon. (I-95, I-695, I-83)
Is there any interstate in Eastern Washington?

[kalm]

You can tell when somebody has never driven in the Northeast. Interstates are already heavily tolled. I travel along three every morning and afternoon. (I-95, I-695, I-83)
Is there any interstate in Eastern Washington?

Yes, we have two. No tolls. WC(b) FTW.

[Pwns]

I've said it before, the only way to really make government as it is now sustainable is for middle income people (those with mid 5 figure incomes on up to the highest tax bracket) to pay more taxes.

Since it's political suicide to increase income taxes on those people, you find some other way to get money from the proles and pat yourself on the back for making a negligible change in CO2 emissions.

[andy7171]

You can tell when somebody has never driven in the Northeast. Interstates are already heavily tolled. I travel along three every morning and afternoon. (I-95, I-695, I-83)
Is there any interstate in Eastern Washington?

Yes, we have two. No tolls. WC(b) FTW.

Then stop trying to put it off on the 80% of the population this side of the Mississippi, and start chipping in. It costs me $4 to go under the Harbor and $8 to cross the Susquehanna.

[Grizalltheway]

Yes, we have two. No tolls. WC(b) FTW.

Then stop trying to put it off on the 80% of the population this side of the Mississippi, and start chipping in. It costs me $4 to go under the Harbor and $8 to cross the Susquehanna.

80% of the population are the ones causing all of the wear and tear on those roads.

[Grizalltheway]

Btw your plowing bill is coming due soon. Please make sure it's paid on time this year.

[kalm]

Yes, we have two. No tolls. WC(b) FTW.

Then stop trying to put it off on the 80% of the population this side of the Mississippi, and start chipping in. It costs me $4 to go under the Harbor and $8 to cross the Susquehanna.

We pay our share. Besides, I've been told the Feds don't have a revenue problem. FWIW, 405 has an optional toll lane which I use every time. It costs me $2.75 to save 15 minutes and make the next ferry.

[kalm]

One thing about tolls-

They are a lot like funding for entitlement programs.... politicians love to tamper with them. If they could put in a rule requiring that the tolls can go towards paying for road and bridge improvements only, then I'd be in favor. But they won't do that, and the tolls would remain in place after the improvements are paid for and ongoing maintenance is covered

One thing that I liked about El Salvador was their highways. In a brief surprising moment of sanity, functionality and pragmatism several years ago, the Salvadoran government established a fixed budget item protected by law which is solely dedicated to highway construction and upkeep. ES has the best roads anywhere in Central America. Lawmakers knew that this part of the budget would be pillaged by future politicians, so they wrote it into law.

If we had done the same with social security back during the New Deal it wouldn't be a problem today.


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But it would still be a ponzi scheme, right?

[CID1990]

One thing about tolls-

They are a lot like funding for entitlement programs.... politicians love to tamper with them. If they could put in a rule requiring that the tolls can go towards paying for road and bridge improvements only, then I'd be in favor. But they won't do that, and the tolls would remain in place after the improvements are paid for and ongoing maintenance is covered

One thing that I liked about El Salvador was their highways. In a brief surprising moment of sanity, functionality and pragmatism several years ago, the Salvadoran government established a fixed budget item protected by law which is solely dedicated to highway construction and upkeep. ES has the best roads anywhere in Central America. Lawmakers knew that this part of the budget would be pillaged by future politicians, so they wrote it into law.

If we had done the same with social security back during the New Deal it wouldn't be a problem today.


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But it would still be a ponzi scheme, right?

Ponzi scheme or not, it wouldn't be running on fumes and in dire need of fixing (which is impossible now)

But at least it acts as an example of how poorly the government manages things

Or not


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[SeattleGriz]

Then stop trying to put it off on the 80% of the population this side of the Mississippi, and start chipping in. It costs me $4 to go under the Harbor and $8 to cross the Susquehanna.

We pay our share. Besides, I've been told the Feds don't have a revenue problem. FWIW, 405 has an optional toll lane which I use every time. It costs me $2.75 to save 15 minutes and make the next ferry.

I could be wrong, but thought the toll on the 405 was put in place because the HOV lane wasn't meeting minimum speeds, so they had to thin it out. Too lazy to look it up right now...maybe later.

[Aho Old Guy]

Our fearless Rightie leaders in Congress need to ask former incumbent North Carolina Guv'nah Pat McDopey what he thinks about 'tolling' Interstate highway infrastructure improvements . . .

The Real Reason Why McCrory Lost



In his 'home' county, a handful of North Meck precincts (i.e., Lake Norman) flipped 12,000+ votes over the 2012 election. McDopey lost his re-election bid in 2016 by 10,277 votes.

I'm not a big fan of threatening Pols at the ballot box, but in this case, "Go ahead. Make the Democrats New Millennium"

[Chizzang]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

[CID1990]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

We most certainly can

In fact I've laid it all out in bits and pieces before-

I've said what we have to do IF we want to continue to be world police AND protect our own chitterlings locally at the same time. That's a thought exercise and not what I think we should be doing

We can pull back entirely and protect our own borders with the military we have - the annual operating cost of maintaining just our presence in S Korea alone would finance turning Detroit into Munich

We spend WAY too much on other people's defense, and the ability to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at donkey carts

People like to look at the total pie chart when it comes to our defense budget compared to everything else we spend - I say take a look at how much it costs us within that budget to guarantee the security of whole continents

Have a military geared towards our own defense and good infrastructure - yes we can!




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[Ibanez]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

The obvious answer is the F35.

[Chizzang]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

The obvious answer is the F35.

[CID1990]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

The obvious answer is the F35.

I said in another thread-

If the Trump admin tackles the federal procurement process (and Trump might well be the only oerson with a prayer of attempting it because Northrop Grumman, et al arent in his campaign pocket)

and IF he is successful..

That would be a major checkmark in my book.

of course it would only take a subsequent establishment President to take us back overnight

But the F-35, regardless of capability, is way too expensive and way too vulnerable (too few and too dependent on vulnerable infrastructure)


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[CAA Flagship]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

You fail to see the benefit of 3.5%+ GDP growth.

[AZGrizFan]

CID,
We can't have your beloved world dominating military at 10X the next closest
and an industrialized nation quality infrastructure simultaneously

Pick one...

We most certainly can

In fact I've laid it all out in bits and pieces before-

I've said what we have to do IF we want to continue to be world police AND protect our own chitterlings locally at the same time. That's a thought exercise and not what I think we should be doing

We can pull back entirely and protect our own borders with the military we have - the annual operating cost of maintaining just our presence in S Korea alone would finance turning Detroit into Munich

We spend WAY too much on other people's defense, and the ability to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at donkey carts

People like to look at the total pie chart when it comes to our defense budget compared to everything else we spend - I say take a look at how much it costs us within that budget to guarantee the security of whole continents

Have a military geared towards our own defense and good infrastructure - yes we can!

Uh....what you described is most decidedly NOT a world-dominating military. Which I think was kind of Chizzy's point.

[89Hen]

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

If you just stop giving American tax dollars to other countries for one year (It should be permanently) you could pay for most of it.

Stop welfare money, force people on welfare to work on infrastructure for their money.

There are a multitude of ways to do this, but nobody wants to make the hard decisions....except Trump he has no problem tipping apple carts and welfare dreams

[CID1990]

We most certainly can

In fact I've laid it all out in bits and pieces before-

I've said what we have to do IF we want to continue to be world police AND protect our own chitterlings locally at the same time. That's a thought exercise and not what I think we should be doing

We can pull back entirely and protect our own borders with the military we have - the annual operating cost of maintaining just our presence in S Korea alone would finance turning Detroit into Munich

We spend WAY too much on other people's defense, and the ability to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at donkey carts

People like to look at the total pie chart when it comes to our defense budget compared to everything else we spend - I say take a look at how much it costs us within that budget to guarantee the security of whole continents

Have a military geared towards our own defense and good infrastructure - yes we can!

Uh....what you described is most decidedly NOT a world-dominating military. Which I think was kind of Chizzy's point.

that's because Chizz assumed i want one

he was skirting real close to a straw man there but i let him slide.... i figure it was just a lack of attention


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