Letters

Against Big-Government Conservatism

Samuel R. Staley argues for a permanent revolving-loan bank (“The Infrastructure Bank We Need,” December 31). Staley conditions his proposal on the bank’s being “properly designed and constrained,” but he ignores the political process that would inevitably distort his ideal design as well as its operation. He also glosses over the most telling point against his proposal: state and local authorities “often preferring to wait for taxpayer-funded grants to shore up dilapidated or outmoded facilities.” Yes, waiting for the federal cornucopia to start gushing has been a substantial contributing cause to the deterioration of state and local infrastructure. But Staley’s bank would just be an alternative way of spending federal dollars on local projects. I should not be forced to subsidize infrastructure in any state other than my own.