Widely regarded as the groundbreaking leader of the Chicago School of monetary economics, Milton Friedman led a long and storied career, receiving the 1976 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and the National Medal of Science the same year. But he is beloved because his academic brilliance was employed in the practical service of people. Friedman’s observance of the facts led him to a passionate belief that people truly free to choose their course in life without the heavy hand of undue government interference is the surest way forward to create hope and opportunity – a rising tide of prosperity – for all.

On a share-by-share basis, some donor states such as Texas, Florida, and South Carolina get less than an 85 percent share of the highway money they pay in [to the Federal Highway Trust Fund] while New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts get more than 100 percent. As bad as this disparity is, the allocation of federal transit spending is even more inequitable. Many highway donor states are also transit donor states, receiving much less for transit projects than they paid into the transit account, while many of the highway done states are also transit donees…