In which I talk about corrupt politicians

When I get all grows up I went to be an urban developer because I like such things. Now, this fellow Bill Batt also takes an interest in such things and he occasionally writes intelligent things about it. One such intelligent thing would be his piece on Value Capture as a Policy Tool in Transportation Economics.

Except, now I know Bill probably has it all wrong because such entrepreneurs as House Speaker Dennis Hastert, figured out that funding the highway really doesn’t matter so long as you are in the land speculating business. It’s easy really. All you need to do is buy some land out in the middle of nowhere, but close enough to a large city so divisions can go in should some highway be built. Then you run for congress. After that, at some point, you just happen to “slip in” a 207M earmark to build a highway. Once the highway is announced, the markets will take this into account. Allow the markets and news to settle for a year, sell your property at an obscene price and celebrate your victory. Yet another win for the good guys!

You see, if Bill had his way, it would stand in my way as a speculating land owner from profiting on the massive windfall gains, now wouldn’t it!