California's roads are awful.

But fear not, things can always get worse.

But who will build the roads?

Whenever anarchist libertarians such as myself suggest that our society would work better if we abandoned the idea of a monopolistic government, it’s a good bet that they’ll hear that question. It’s so common it’s become a sort of inside joke.

As if, absent coercive monopoly, humans would just shrug their shoulders and go, “Well, shucks. I guess we’re all just going to walk from here on out.”

If you can’t imagine how a free society could meet the natural demand for roads, please trust me, the problem isn’t insurmountable.

Economist Walter Block explains how the magical product known as flat, paved surfaces can easily be provided voluntarily in his very thorough book, The Privatization of Roads and Highways.

I was recently reminded just how terrible government is at providing roads (supposedly one of their core functions) as I drove from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and back last weekend. The government roads in Southern Nevada aren’t great, but they are wonderful compared to the crappy product California offers.

It’s hard to say which is worse, the condition of the California roads, or how little of the “good” is provided. Traffic in Southern California is famously awful, as commuters sit and idle on jam-packed freeways for hours each day.

What a waste.

In Las Vegas, we get to witness the problem every weekend. Southbound at the NV/CA border, I-15 narrows from 3 lanes to two. The restriction often has traffic backed up for 15-20 miles from the border, turning what is normally a 4-hour drive into a 6- or even 7-hour one.

Why doesn’t California just widen the road? I used to answer this question spitefully, citing either government incompetence or some secret hatred they have for Las Vegas.

How silly of me. How cynical. How ungrateful. Why, the answer is that California is going to give us something way better than roads. They’re going to give us bullet trains!

Those of you familiar with this project probably just spit your coffee out all over the place in laughter. I apologize.

Brightline is a “private” company heavily subsidized by government that is operating in Florida and plans to open a route from East LA to Vegas. It is “projected” to cost between $8b. $12b (with at least $3b of that paid for by the federal government) and open in 2027 or 2028.

I’m a betting man. I’ll take the over.

Ain’t government great? Why take your tax dollars and give you “free” roads when they can take your tax dollars and give it to some crony for a train that you will need to buy a ticket for?

According to Forbes:

“With the new plan, a passenger could board a Metrolink commuter train at L.A.’s downtown Union Station, transfer to a Brightline West train at Rancho Cucamonga and be in Las Vegas in three and a half hours.”

So it costs a fortune in taxes and a ticket will cost around $100 per person, but it’ll save you maybe a half hour! Oh, and you’ll need a rental car or an Uber once you arrive — or risk your life on public transportation.

California’s high-speed rail boondoggle is doing great — for politicians and cronies. Not so much for taxpayers or commuters. It began in 1996 and kicked into high gear in 2008. It has already cost tens of billions and will have cost hundreds of billions before it’s completed — if it ever is.

And of course, it’s not just California taxes that pay for this. It’s subsidized by the US federal government too. And all of this on top of the 100s of billions used to subsidize Amtrak.

It’s initial segment (from Merced to Bakersfield) is “projected” to open in 2030 (again, the over, please) and eventually connect San Francisco to San Diego.

Here’s Forbes again:

“California has also been building its own high-speed system for the past several years, though it won’t connect the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles until the 2030s—assuming it overcomes funding and routing challenges.”

That’s a pretty big assumption. Jeez. How much can one man possibly bet on the over?

Who will build the roads, indeed?

Not these crooks, please. Give me voluntarism.

Wanna learn the kind of economics and history and philosophy that will allow you to properly focus your rage when driving on crap government roads? It’s all here: Tom Woods’s Liberty Classroom

Naturally,

Adam