> In Texas, the mandate for the supremacy of roads comes via the state constitution, which requires that highways are funded to the exclusion of almost anything

> In Texas, the mandate for the supremacy of roads comes via the state constitution, which requires that highways are funded to the exclusion of almost anything else that moves people around. About 97% of the $30bn a year the state gives its transportation department is spent on highways, leaving very little for buses, trains or bicycles. This focus is etched into the stone of the department’s headquarters, which is named the State Highway Building, a title carved above a triptych of native Americans on a horse, a pioneer wagon and a car. Take note of this. Many major society-scale problems aren't innocent accidents or unfortunate coincidence, but are the product of millions, billions, or hundreds of billions of dollars of annual funding, and thousands upon thousands of workers employed by corporations and megacorporations, working full time to create, sustain, and protect the problem, for the profit and growth of the corporation. Solving these problems is hard because there are extremely powerful and well-entrenched institutions whose existence depends on these problems not being solved.