20 sad Facts about America's decaying infrastructure

[Mira]

20 Facts That You Will Not Want To Read If You Still Want To Feel Good About America’s Decaying Infrastructure



If you haven't noticed lately, America is literally falling apart all around us.  Decaying infrastructure is everywhere.  Our roads and bridges are crumbling and are full of holes.  Our rail system is ancient.  Our airports and runways have definitely seen their better days.  Aging sewer systems all over the country are leaking raw sewage all over the place. 

The power grid is straining to keep up with the ever-increasing thirst of the American people for electricity.  Dams are failing at an unprecedented rate.  Virtually all of our ports are handling far more traffic than they were ever intended to handle.  Meanwhile, our national spending on infrastructure is way down.  Back during the 1950s and 1960s we were spending between 3 and 4 percent of our national GDP on infrastructure, but today we are spending less than 2.5 percent of our national GDP on it. 

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, we need to spend approximately $2.2 trillion on infrastructure repairs and upgrades just to bring our existing infrastructure up to "good condition".
Does anyone have an extra $2.2 trillion to spare?

If you get the feeling that America is decaying as you drive around this great country of ours, it is not just your imagination.  It is literally happening.

You should not read the list of facts below if you want to keep feeling good about the condition of America's infrastructure.  There really is no way to sugar-coat what is happening.  Previous generations handed us the greatest national infrastructure that anyone in the world has ever seen and we have neglected it and have allowed it to badly deteriorate.
This first set of facts about America's decaying infrastructure was compiled from a fact sheet entitled "The Case For U.S. Infrastructure Investment" by an organization called Building America's Future....

to read the 20 points go to:
http://tinyurl.com/34asacs

[xchrom]

1. recommend -- it'll get done as soon as they can figure out how to sell it all off to corporations. n

[Mira]

3. Do you suppose that in the 150 letters yesterday to American businesses

Darrell Issa was actually peddling the privatization of American infrastructure?

I'd say :rofl: but it ain't funny

[digidigido]

12. It's odd, this morning I was saying to my wife how this

country right now is held together by gaffers tape and bailing wire

[DrDan]

2. our war budget could cover around 15% of that annually

and think of all the jobs it would create.

Of course, the M/I complex and the R's wouldn't like that one bit - so will not ever receive any consideration.

[niyad]

4. during IWY in houston, I pointed out, to the idiot who said that full equality for women would mean

men would lose their jobs, that just repairing our infrastructure would take more people than we had, not to mention the shortage of teachers and nurses (mind you, this was over 30 years ago)

[howaboutme]

5. The Russian oligarchy

was a trial run for the pillaging of America. The same people that set up the financial collapse in the USA are positioning themselves via our tax, debt and Federal Reserve handouts to buy up public assets that politicians will sell to cronies (just as in Russia) to meet government revenue and budget cuts.

The obviously fair and logical solution would have been to put enormous punitive surtaxes on Wall Street and the financial services players instead of handing them the keys to the cities and our assets. But they own us and our government and politicians only talk a good game.

[hunter]

6. There's plenty of work to be done.

It's easy to look around and imagine projects that would raise the standard of living for everyone and restore healthy environments.

But the people who control the economy don't want people to have good jobs, a higher standard of living, or a healthy environment.

When workers are fearful of losing their jobs and not being able to find another they'll tolerate more abusive working conditions and lower wages while the people at the top will control a greater percentage of the wealth and hold all the political power.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Alas, it's a survivalism profiteer's website

There's a page to buy gold, and another one to buy survival food. There's also the obligatory story about how George Soros is the world's Puppetmaster.

--d!

[Tsiyu]

8. But look how much nicer Iraq is now

that we've put virtually all of our resources into making it so pretty! And Afghanistan is lovely; we provide the nicest tents and the youngest boys...

All of that costs money. Don't you care about Iraq and Afghanistan?


:sarcasm:




The truth is, you can look at We the People the same way you look at infrastructure.

In the minds of the sociopaths running the show, we can all decay and rot and fall in. It's not their problem...

WE are not their problem.

[indepat]

9. Keeping Americans safe from infrastructure hazards and failures is a luxury we cannot afford when

considering how much has to be spent in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror. :shrug:

[defendandprotect]

10. K/R -- GOP's "third world America" ... the destroyers .... and then they'll buy it all cheap!!

[Quantess]

11. K & R

[ladym55]

13. No money for infrastructure

BUT we could flush $1 million down the toilet in one day while the clueless ones in the House read the Constitution ...

And the BRILLIANT new governors of Wisconsin and Ohio rejected hundreds of millions in funds to develop high-speed rail, screwing the states around at the same time. The governor of New Jersey rejected a major tunnel project between HIS state and NYC.

Stupid, stupid, stupid ... it's beyond greed. It's flat-out stupid. Even the wealthiest of the wealthy must use our airports, our bridges, and our highways. And trust me, when the bridge collapses, it won't wait until the limo has crossed safely to the other side.