It's a pity that Milwaukee, WI isn't subject to the influence of DOGE because they could use it. Several years ago, under then-Mayor Tom Barrett, the city spent tens of billions of dollars on a streetcar that runs in a circle.

Barrett had a weird love affair with trains and got to see the streetcar opening before jumping ship to join the Biden Administration as Ambassador to Luxemborg.

You'll be not shocked to learn the Democrat enclave in southeast Wisconsin has problems with fiscal restraint and that train the former mayor drooled over is a costly boondoggle for the biggest city in the Dairy State:

Milwaukee had a streetcar from the 1860s until the 1950s, when cars were popular. In the years between the demise of that streetcar and the birth of The Hop, tracks were removed to make bike and walking paths.

$100 million.

If you drive just a little bit west of downtown Milwaukee, the neighborhoods look like something out of the zombie apocalypse.

They were warned.

For the first year, the cost to ride The Hop was covered by Potawatomi.

And, despite being free, it didn't do well from the outset.

Those are insanely bad numbers.

Yes. The Hop is slower than walking.

What's the definition of insanity again?

$100 million spent and they couldn't install fare boxes?

This is so on-brand for Democrats.

This writer doesn't shop in Milwaukee if she can avoid it.

He failed to file a federal grant application on time.

That was his job.

Oh, well. DOGE probably would've cut it, anyway.

Any time this writer sees The Hop, it's empty.

It needs to end. But this writer believes the city would be on the hook for tens of millions in Obama-era grants given for the building of The Hop.

So it's a no-win situation.

But tell us more about how we can't possibly cut spending and get our fiscal house in order.