Free Republic

After passing a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, Congress is far from being done spending money this year. Next on the agenda is an infrastructure package that will likely end up carrying a price tag in the neighborhood of $3 trillion. Despite its marketing, this package is not limited to bridges, roads or what one would normally think when they hear “infrastructure.” Just ask Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) who tweeted that many things, including childcare, should be considered as infrastructure. One of the more odious provisions being shepherded through as infrastructure is a $174 billion giveaway to the electric vehicle...

IÂ’ve written many times about the shortcomings of government schools at the K-12 level. We spend more on our kids than any other nation, yet our test scores are comparatively dismal. And one of my points, based on this very sobering chart from one of my Cato colleagues, is that AmericaÂ’s educational performance took a turn in the wrong direction when the federal government became more involved starting about 40-50 years ago. Well, the same unhappy story exists in the higher-education sector. Simply stated, thereÂ’s been an explosion of spending, much of it from Washington, yet the rate of return...