The Democratic Party's attempt to justify blowing more than a trillion dollars on infrastructure is becoming more desperate.

For example, we're told that building a light rail line in Minneapolis allowed some folks to get to their doctor appointments on time . This is undoubtedly of value: People should go to the doctor and arrive on time. However, that's not the issue. There are millions of things we can do that have value. The question is, how much value do they create over and above the cost of gaining them?

It is only the things that add more value than they cost that make us better off.

Running through the numbers, the Minneapolis Green Line light rail cost some $850 million , which is quite a lot for 11 miles that could be serviced nearly as well by buses. The paper claims that some 4.5% more appointments were made on time as a result of the light rail, not the bus. Which, if my math is correct, seems to mean $5,000 per appointment. Most doctors would likely make house calls for that sort of fee!

Yes, OK, it's ridiculous to measure only the benefit of doctor visits being made on time. Certainly, there have been other benefits, too. But then we, the people paying for all of this, aren't the folks who started talking about medical appointments. We're just here looking at this justification being proffered and trying to make up our minds. And in my mind, anyone trying to justify light rail on this basis has lost their mind!

But some people just have it in their heads that an unchangeable, vastly expensive light rail system is a good way of wasting the nation's wealth. And they'll dig down into any absurdity to justify it.