President Biden and the Democrats just spent $1.9 trillion on an unneeded stimulus bill, and that could be just the beginning of their budget blowout. Next up is an infrastructure plan of $2 trillion or more. The stimulus bill was debt-financed, but Democrats are saying that the infrastructure bill will be funded by tax hikes. Those hikes, combined with the labor and green regulations Biden wants to impose, will damage infrastructure, not help it.

The key to infrastructure policy is recognizing that the private sector owns most of it. In 2019, the nation had a massive $40 trillion in nondefense, nonresidential fixed assets, which is a broad measure of infrastructure. The private sector owns 65% of it, including power stations, freight railways, pipelines, factories, broadband networks, and much else. State and local governments own 30%, including highways, schools, and airports. The federal government owns just 5%, including dams, postal facilities, and other assets.