• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • TheStreet Smarts

The Road to Repairing US Infrastructure

Money to build roads overseas should find its way home.
By MATT HORWEEN
Jan 05, 2015 | 11:30 AM EST

You do not have to be a U.S. senator to know that our roads, bridges and even dams are falling apart from a lack of maintenance. You do not have to be a senator to know that our population has kept growing and our federal government has not done even one impact statement on the subject. You need an impact statement in some places to put up an outhouse. However, the federal government can allow our population to expand without even one public hearing or study on the effects on roads, bridges, airports, seaports, schools, sewer and water plants, electricity supply, medical care, fire and rescue, police and many other essential services and infrastructure.

Before I go into Senator Bob Corker's (R-Tenn.) brilliant idea to raise the federal gasoline tax to pay for some road repairs, let me put out a few facts of life about our huge trillion-dollar-plus federal budget process. It may interest you to know that foreign aid has gone up every year since the financial crisis and that foreign aid is exempt from sequester. The operating budgets for the State Department and its foreign aid arm, the U.S. Agency for International Development, are also exempt from sequester. Therefore, we have had plenty of money to fix and build infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan, but not for our homeland.

Now that plunging oil prices have lowered the price of gasoline and given the working people of the U.S. a real tax cut, Sen. Corker, a Republican, wants to raise the federal gas tax. Of course, the gas tax is a regressive tax and, as such, it would be more acceptable to a Republican. Sen. Corker is "a real corker," as they used to say, meaning a foolish person.

Corker is a favorite of CNBC and has lots of airtime since the financial crisis to act as the voice of reasonableness, and project an image of gravitas. In, actuality he is just another RINO who wants to raise taxes any way he can and then spend the money on his pet projects, which of course are derived from the lobbyists who control him. The Corker has been hanging around hoping that the Republican Party that has seen him on CNBC will wake up to his brilliance and will draft him as their presidential candidate.

I suggest that the federal government immediately divert a total of $25 billion a year for 10 years from the budgets for foreign aid and the operating budgets of the State Department and USAID. We should put the cash in a lockbox and call the fund the Homeland Infrastructure Aid Fund. Our State Department should then tell the European Union, Japan, and South Korea to make up the $25 billion per year because we defend them all at great expense and they all run trade surpluses with us.

When Jim Cramer asked Treasury Secretary Jack Lew a few months ago if he knew of any trade agreement that the U.S. has entered into in the past, say, 40 years that has ever produced a trade surplus for the U.S., Secretary Lew stared off into space and was incapable of answering. So, we protect the world and keep on giving away our jobs while our once-great infrastructure falls apart.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.
TAGS: Politics

More from Politics

Japanese Leader Opens Parliament With Pledge to Spark Birth Rate

Alex Frew McMillan
Jan 23, 2023 8:45 AM EST

Similar to China's discouraging demographics released last week, Japan faces the big challenge of an ageing population that isn't replacing itself.

EXCLUSIVE: Billionaire Investor Leon Cooperman

Real Money
Jan 19, 2023 5:15 PM EST

Watch this hour-long private event with the legendary investor as he shares his views and outlook on the market, the Fed, stocks, crypto and much more!

Job Data Myopia, Careening Economy, No Option C, Tracking 2 Space Defenders

Stephen Guilfoyle
Jan 6, 2023 7:45 AM EST

Keep in mind that as interest rates rise, companies will need to pay more to borrow or cut back on operating expenses; there is no third choice.

House Drama, Santa's Late Rally, Fed Minutes, Microsoft's Drop, Amazon Layoffs

Stephen Guilfoyle
Jan 5, 2023 7:39 AM EST

Much of the truly horrendous and contractionary macroeconomic data over the past three weeks or so were released after the December Fed meeting.

Mr. Speaker, Fat Man Markets, 4 Investment Strategies, Trading Sectors

Stephen Guilfoyle
Jan 4, 2023 7:45 AM EST

The first day of trade in 2023 had a negative feel to it for equities. How negative the session was is debatable.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 11:48 AM EST REAL MONEY

    Watch Doug Kass on the Daily Rundown!

    In today's Action Alerts PLUS Daily Rundown, Doug ...
  • 11:03 AM EST JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend On Real Money

    It's time to start using this power to build great...
  • 03:06 PM EST BOB LANG

    LEAPS Webinar

    This week, I offered a free webinar session talkin...
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2023 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login