I have never owned a car. At one point I had to decide between a car and a house. Boy was that a good decision.

The gas taxes in Europe fund the roads, public transportation, the rail system and much more. Quite a bit goes into the general fund and pays for all those services that some are always calling socialist. By contrast, in the US the highway system is subsidized as the federal gas tax, which hasn't been raised in a quarter century, doesn't bring in enough to maintain the system. The latest dodge by Congress was to raid the Federal Reserve's rainy day fund to top up the Highway Trust Fund.

It all comes down to priorities. Where do you want to spend the money? President Trump's infrastructure plan has turned out to be "We reduce our spending. The states increase their spending and voilą infrastructure!" Fortunately Congress has had other ideas.