Should the federal government be involved at all in the planning and spending on U.S. infrastructure? A policy analyst at the Cato Institute answers with an unequivocal “no.”
Chris Edwards, speaking on a recent Real Assets Adviser podcast, pointed out that, although White House and congressional politicians often champion infrastructure, the federal government owns relatively little of it. Defined broadly as nonresidential fixed assets, the U.S. private sector in 2019 owned $26.2 trillion of infrastructure, such as power stations, freight railways, pipelines, factories and cellular networks. State and local governments owned $12.1 trillion of highways, schools, water systems and other assets. The federal government owned only $1.8 trillion of nondefense infrastructure, including dams, postal facilities, Amtrak and the air traffic control system.
Worse, however, said Edwards, the federal government’s involvement increases costs and distorts opportunities
