Monday, December 31, 2007

Affluence has its problems

USA Today reports that "Flying round-trip from Miles City to Billings costs $88 ... Why so cheap? Because the government picks up $779 of the tab ..."

Several years ago Bent Flyvbjerg and his co-authors provided the widest compendium of government waste on transportation projects, here and abroad. The record is clear but the election season proves once again that candidates find some advantage in promising new government "solutions".

And as this week's Becker-Posner blog demonstrates, it is the best and the brightest who believe these fairy tales most.

Interestingly, BP suggest that a skewed-left education has no enduring effects; college grads vote the same as the general population. And college costs more than ever. Market failure? Or too rich to care?