Free Republic

There is rising criticism that the Machang Bridge, which opened in July at the cost of millions of won, is only enriching speculative capitalists with tax money. They say that throughout the country, roads built through private investment are becoming white elephants where investors eat tax money via rough traffic predictions and contracts with excessive profit guarantees. The province of South Gyeongsang spent 380 billion won (US$337 million) in budget outlays and 190 million won in private capital to build the Machang Bridge linking Changwon and Masan. For the next 30 years, the earnings from the bridge tolls will be...

Nantucket Sound, a slice of water wedged between the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and Cape Cod on the mainland, is a lovely place. It’s chock full of fish and, when it’s not cold as all get-out, tourists. And there was a time, not too long ago, when those in favor of alternative energy thought Nantucket Sound would also be the home to a huge offshore wind farm. Giant wind turbines, some of them 420 feet tall, were scheduled to be scattered around a 24-square-mile area. Then Congress, or rather a congressman from oil-rich Alaska, stepped in to effectively...