Priorities people

By Fester:

The Highway Trust fund is just about broke.  This is due to a combination of higher raw material costs and more importantly declining revenue.  The Trust Fund is funded by the federal gasoline tax per gallon of fuel sold.  Since we are consuming less gasoline now, there is less revenue. 

Infrastructure repairs are a reasonable efficient and effective economic stimulus package.  This action would also be an effective step at improving the day to day lives of people as the American physical infrastructure is getting old and creaky.  However there is no money for that.

Yet there is money for the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bailout.  As Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture notes, we have to have our priorities straight people!

I suspect this will be another hugely expensive and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to bailout our prior irresponsible profligacy. Ultimately, we pay for this through 1) the massive printing of more dollars; 2) some corresponding form of hyper inflation; and 3) the kindness of not strangers but our overseas overlords.

That's right -- we have no money for rebuilding our infrastructure, for any form of National Heath Care, for fixing/saving social security, but a bunch of rogue traders  and Alan Greenspan, under the guise of "Deregulation" can leverage up and lose trillions, which you the taxpayer is on the hook for!

Free market my arse!

Priorities people, priorities, we have to keep the rich and the wealthy worry free as it would distress their beautiful minds.