The Media Is Trying to Revive Signal-gate Using Hegseth's Wife?
The Sad Trombone Blows For Leticia James – Whomp! Whomp!
Did You Notice What Was Odd About Joe Biden's Easter Photo
Democrats Have To Lie, The Truth Does Them No Favors
Trump's Easter Greeting Was Interesting, to Say the Least
FSU Students Lobbied for Gun Control Before Mass Shooting and Completely Missed the...
Florida Woman Faces Eviction After Lawfully Defending Herself
Corey Booker Gets DROPPED After Comments on Shapiro Attack
David Zweig’s New Covid Book Is A Must Read
Miller Tells Harrowing Story of Just How 'Inhuman' Biden's Immigration Policies Were
Will We See Justice?
The Radical Left's Plan to Stop Trump and His Agenda
Hamas Claims Uncertainty Over U.S.-Israeli Hostage's Fate
MSNBC Lovefest: Jasmine Crockett Defends Abrego Garcia, Smears Trump, Then Cries After Pra...
Illegal Tren de Aragua Gang Member Sobs After Getting Caught by Cops
OPINION

Your Tax Dollars Not at Work

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Government excels at NOT getting things done.

But politicians promise more things anyway.

Kamala Harris declared that our government would "build thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable!" This "Broadband Connectivity Agenda" was supported by "every House Republican on Energy and Commerce," write Republican representatives.

Advertisement

Three years later, not a single person has been connected.

Why? Because, as Milton Friedman put it, "Few people spend other people's money as carefully as they spend their own."

Private individuals and businesses constantly adjust to save time and money. But politicians, spending your money, have little interest in that. They routinely add rules that make everything take longer.

You have to "hire certain people based on their color, their sex," complains investor Matt Cole in my new video.

"You already have a talent problem, now you're looking at only being able to recruit from a very small minority of individuals. Then you have to do climate pledges. Then you have to hire from unions."

"But diversity is good," I push back.

"That doesn't mean that you should hire someone because of their race or skin color ... You have all these companies that could actually (build broadband), but its unimplementable with the restrictions. They just walk away."

Eventually, I assume the government will install at least some broadband. By then, their cables may be unnecessary, because of satellite internet, like Starlink, which doesn't require digging up streets.

"They could do it literally today," says Cole. "You could have devices in these people's homes within the next couple of months."

Advertisement

Why don't government officials do that? At first, Biden bureaucrats said, "Starlink failed to demonstrate that it had the technical and financial ability."

When it became clear that Starlink obviously did, the administration suddenly called it a monopoly. The FCC chair sneered, "Our economy doesn't benefit from monopolies."

"First, they're not functional, now it's a monopoly," says Cole. "The reality is, they didn't want that to be the solution."

Didn't want it to be because Biden Democrats didn't want to give money to Elon Musk.

Now Musk has a friend in government. Maybe things will change.

But government giving contracts to friends is not good policy. It's also not a smart way to get things built.

Government pumped billions into "high-speed rail." Fifteen years later, they're still talking about the future.

Bureaucrats wasted $500 million of your money on the solar company Solyndra, which then went bankrupt. They wasted millions more trying and failing to create "synthetic fuel."

More recently, Biden doled out $7 billion to build 500,000 EV charging stations. Two years later, they've built seven.

Republicans joined Democrats in funding a CHIPS Act, meant to bring chipmaker jobs to America. It isn't working. Most chips are still made in Taiwan.

"Even if they get what they promise," I point out to Cole, Congress appropriated "$53 billion for 115,000 promised jobs. Almost half a million dollars per job!"

Advertisement

"You expect nothing else from government," he replies.

With Republicans in charge, some say things will be better. But the problem isn't just Democrats; it's government.

Trump's steel tariffs destroyed American jobs by raising the price of steel.

Politicians should just stop subsidizing certain businesses.

Maybe Elon Musk will convince Trump to do that. He's actually tweeted the U.S. should "remove subsidies from all industries," including his own! Good for him. That would be great.

End the $30 billion handed to Big Agriculture, useless subsidies for "clean" energy, government-guaranteed loans politically to connected businesses, etc.

Maybe Trump will end that part of the Deep State.

But I won't hold my breath.

Once politicians are in power, they always want to do more.

With your money.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement