[whyhuhwhy]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Not wanting to get into a partisan debate, but federal spending on transportation and infrastructure is a teensie weensie drop in an enormous bucket compared to spending on entitlements & subsidies (Medicare/Social Security/Medicaid/Welfare/Housing/Food/Farm) which account for about 40% of federal expenditures. Debt service on bonds (i.e. how we pay for our deficits) eats up about 20% of the budget. The military gets a sizable chunk of the remainder. Infrastructure is at most a few percent; Federal transportation spending has been in the $50-60 billion a year range out of annual budgets that were until recently in the $2.5 trillion range but have, over the past few months, gotten quite a bit larger.

There is ample money for infrastructure if there were political will to get it done, but the political will, for reasons that would be totally OT to get into, is focused on entitlement programs.

You're right. I wish we spent a lot more on infrastructure and a lot less on social engineering.