Topic: Highway System

The hosts discuss the Biden administration's infrastructure bill, noting that it allocates as much money to Amtrak and public transit as it does to the national highway system, despite transit accounting for less than 1% of total passenger miles. They compare this to poor corporate marketing strategies where companies invest in failing products rather than successful ones.

President Biden's speeches have occasionally conflated the 1950s Interstate Highway System with older "original" highways like Route 66. The interstate system, championed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, was designed with a military component to allow for the rapid movement of troops and the landing of aircraft. This historical precedent for infrastructure as a tool of national security was compared to Napoleon III's redesign of Paris streets.