Funny If It Weren’t So Sad

I found Ranjay Gulati’s plea in the Wall Street Journal not to allow the infrastructure projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to get out of control hilarious:

The newly passed infrastructure bill is a rare feat of bipartisan cooperation that President Biden and Congress should celebrate. From roads to waterways to power lines and more, the plan is poised to rebuild a nation in need of huge repairs. Once Mr. Biden signs the bill into law, the true work of fixing our infrastructure will begin.

But there is a danger. The bill could easily lead to out-of-control costs, blown deadlines, and both real and metaphorical bridges to nowhere. The Biden administration needs to coordinate efforts among federal, state and local agencies to deliver on the promise of this bill.

Allow me to provide some guidance to Dr. Gulati on how things are done in this country. Our system of government practically guarantees “out-of-control costs, blown deadlines, and both real and metaphorical bridges to nowhere”. Although the federal government will write the checks with the exception of a few pilot programs and the like most of the hard infrastructure projects will take place in and be managed by the states. As has been mentioned in the past some of them may take so long to get through the planning stage that President Biden will not live to see their completion if, indeed, they are ever completed. Most of what the federal government will do will be disbursing funds, establishing reporting criteria, and the like, and then figuring out how to explain why the states are not conforming with the reporting criteria on a timely basis in a politically palatable way. Most of the action will take place so far out of sight of the administering agencies they’ll have no real idea of what it is they are supposed to be administering.

Herding cats would be easier and more rewarding. Another example of why I think that programs like this should be funded and managed completely at the local level.