Trump offers little details on infrastructure and that is a good thing

Commentary

For someone that believes that we have had too much government in our lives and welcomes the privatization of infrastructure, I applaud our President for creating a bold vision but putting it on the private sector to deliver the results.

Some of our media (and even my colleagues at FreightWaves) believe that the President offered too little in terms of details and too little of an explanation on how he plans to pay for it. Bravo! Last time I checked he is not an engineer, nor should we trust him with numbers. But he did deliver results during the tax reform and I am confident he will do it this time.

Since when did the American people become so dependent on Washington and the Federal government to provide our infrastructure? Many of our nation’s first and most important projects were actually funded by private dollars and interests. Last week, we even managed to send a car into space, all with private dollars. Take that Neil deGrasse Tyson.

As CNBC reported, White House Budget director stated that the plan “reduces the regulatory burdens we face, shortening and simplifying the approval process for projects, and eliminating barriers that prevent projects from being efficiently developed.”

There was a hint of an up and coming gas tax. Why? This is a tax on everyone and will end up driving up costs across our economy. The American trucker will also end up paying for most of it because years down the line when electric cars are ubiquitous, trucks will still run on diesel (at least according to the CTO of Volvo).  

Stay up-to-date with the latest commentary and insights on FreightTech and the impact to the markets by subscribing.