Infrastructure.   You know- the facilities, the structures, the systems that our country (and cities and counties) need to survive.   Our economy can’t function without an infrastructure- whether it’s roads, tunnels, bridges, electric grids, water systems, sewers, telecommunications- or any combination thereof.

We already know our infrastructure is at risk.  (Here are few of my posts on this subject:  one  two  three.)   How many bridges have to fall before we react?   How many electrical systems have to be hacked before we fix the problem? Do we really need another train derailed?

Our infrastructure issues are simply a failure of our priorities….and our politics.  When a nation believes in government, it allocates the public monies to develop the solution it needs.  In our case, we have a political party that believes in crony capitalism and bribery (oh, excuse me- lobbying largesse) that won’t allocate money which does not meet the desires of their benefactors.  (No, I am not excusing Hillary of catering to her constituents- those that donate s…loads of bucks to the Clinton Foundation or to hear her speech (or not) for 100K ,200K, 300K a pop.  But her “constituents” just happen to want infrastructure improvements.  The implied bribery is still bad.)  Sometimes I almost opt for a dictatorship, because that strongman (it’s almost always a he) wants to have all sorts of legacies to his name- and will build an infrastructure.   (Nelson Rockefeller of New York came close with his Rockefeller Edifice Complex legacy.)

Public private partnerships are not the answers, either.  Look at the tolls that are now charged.  Look at the way some private firms bill a truant, not careful about where a bill actually goes [like to the wrong address], leaving less than 10 days time before the fine doubles.  (By the way, are these fines or bills? Since the firms are not government entities, with such government-borne capabilities…meaning the fines would be actually deductible on taxes.)  And, many of these structures simply cater to the 1%, who are the ones who can afford the sky high rates charged for travel on public lands.  Let us also not forget the moneys ceded to these private firms, which is why a now-sentient Commonwealth of Virginia will now build the I-66 extensions themselves, not leaving $ 500 million to the private (non-)savior to collect.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has determined it will take $ 3 trillion to repair the U.S. infrastructure to make it “fair”.  That’s not “good” mind you. That’s not anything included in this total to handle our future needs.

Sure, that’s a ton of money.  (Literally- way more than a ton.  Because a million bucks weighs a metric ton- so $ 3 trillion weighs 3 million metric tons.)  And, before you say we can’t afford that- take a step back.  Remember how much money we spent to “fix” Iraq and Afghanistan?  Yup- TWICE as much as it will take to fix our own country.  How can we not do this, again?

If we don’t spend this money, it means that our economy will come to a halt.  Because trucks- driverless or with drivers- won’t be able to traverse these great states.  Because our power grid will have failures that will make the Big Allis-caused blackout of 1965, 1977, and the more recent ones that have shut down the entire Northeast look like practice sessions.

It’s also fairness.  While many Congressfolk detest Amtrak and try to cut its budget often, they refuse to have those trains that barely pick up a passenger in their district be cut from the schedule.  So that the now almost profitable Amtrak- with 2/3 of its annual ridership located in the Northeast- doesn’t get the right to allocate 2/3 of its expenses to that same corridor.   Making it safer and faster.  Instead the funds from the Northeast are spent to maintain stations that carry just 10 or 20 passengers.  And, we still won’t allocate sufficient federal funds for these needs.

Yet, we spend more than twice the amount we spend on Amtrak for aviation.  That total doesn’t include the Transportation Security Administration expenses.  Interestingly, the aviation industry is comprised of private companies.  Not owned by the US.  But, we can spend money for that need (also not enough)- because it’s ok to subsidize businesses.

We need to spend money to build security into our electric grids.  Because if we don’t, some dork in North Korea, China, or Russia will be able to turn off power to whole sections of our country.  (Don’t even get me started on what an Al Qaeda or Islamic State terrorist can try.)

And, today (actually this has been true for nearly six years now), when interest rates are at historic lows, when under-employment is still an issue- we can certainly get more bang for our buck is we spend money NOW on our infrastructure.

If we could spend it on Iraq and Afghanistan without raising taxes (which was another of those wonderfully idiotic ideas of a certain political party), we should understand that a small increase in our taxes will greatly benefit our economy- and make our country stronger to boot.

Share this: