Need a $20M new exit to handle hundreds of vehicles per day on an Interstate Highway in rural Kentucky? Wow, have you ever been on the NJ Turnpike? 10,000 vehicles per hour on most exits, 24/7
I don’t think anybody here is making such an argument.
Also, I think everyone would agree that most metro areas see far more traffic.
And, yes, like it or not, state highway departments spend huge amounts of money on all sorts of highway exits to service all sorts of expanded traffic numbers, for both for-profit and non-profit entities. Welcome to America, land of the big spenders on questionable construction projects. So it becomes harder to single out AIG on this one.
Also, I used to consult on government projects. Even allowing for significant inflation since I dealt with such budgets, I highly doubt that an exit for handling that relatively small volume in that area of rural Kentucky would cost $20 million. I would guess something between $6 million and $10 million depending on the civil engineers’ report and proximity to the state highway departments depots and suppliers. (Plus, Kentucky has far lower mafia boss kick-back fees than New Jersey. Fewer Sopranos to support.)
We can all agree on that as well.
Of course, one could do the same thing pointing out how artists manipulate their subjects to make the gullible thing that, say, women are beautiful, firing squads of cosmic import and so on. You’d be teaching people to interpret the way people express matters that are crucial to them as cynical exploitation of the masses.
“Do you see through that upper class Mona Lisa sneer, folks?”