Posted on 08/25/2007 1:05:11 PM PDT by BGHater
The recent and tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota raises many questions in Americans' minds about our aging infrastructure, and what is being done to maintain it. Questions such as: "Was I-35 an isolated accident or are we approaching days when crumbling bridges and bursting pipes will be regular features on the evening news?"
The poor ratings on the inspection report of that bridge, and similar deficiency findings on as many as 25% of our bridges suggests the latter. Estimates on what it will cost to bring deficiencies in our infrastructure back up to par range from massive to astronomical.
Billions of tax dollars at all levels of government are devoted to infrastructure, but one problem is that politicians love to cut ribbons. Political capital is gained not from maintaining or repairing our systems, but from building new bridges, new stadiums, and new roads, often of questionable real utility. Seldom is there a ceremony or photo opportunity for repairing or maintaining something already in place.
As the so-called Highway Trust Fund is set to go bankrupt as early as 2009, private investment firms are gearing up for partnerships, which could be a positive step, if handled sensibly. What we need to avoid are items such as the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC), which is phase 1 of the NAFTA Super Highway . The Spanish firm Cintra is set to take over toll collections after the TTC’s completion, however it is unclear that they’ll have any obligations for maintenance. The cost is being socialized, while the profit is privatized, effectively making the American people pay for it twice.
Infrastructure, in a capitalist model, is an asset worthy of maintaining to ensure continuity of revenue. In a government controlled model infrastructure is nothing but a cumbersome liability. This should be taken into consideration when developing plans to keep our current infrastructure safe. Privatization should be used to encourage maintenance and safety, and where private companies truly invest and bear the upfront costs in return for ability to collect tolls or usage fees in some form. But public/private partnerships that look more like corporate welfare must be avoided.
We should re-examine how we handle the taxes we collect for infrastructure and how we allocate that money. At the very least reins need to be put on the Highway Trust Fund. Funds collected from the gas tax should go into the Trust Fund-- period.
Even the most ardent liberal and passionate conservative can agree that when they pay gasoline taxes, the least they expect is a road and bridge system that won't crumble beneath their feet. Before any subsidies or welfare payments are paid out, before social security is handed out to illegal immigrants, or health care is given to everyone, before bridges to nowhere are built at home, or entire countries bombed and rebuilt abroad, before any other myriad of exotic government projects are even considered, infrastructure should be attended to and taken seriously.
Too many taxpayer dollars going into nonessential things.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1886502/posts?page=1
I-35 sucks from south Texas to Minnesota.
www.outlawjournalism.com
ping
Should the infrastructure be maintained?
Often the most valuable part of the infrastructure is the right-of-way. When the plant is old, don't patch it. Rip it out by the roots. Build new, on the old right-of-way, and rather than widen old roads, acquire new r-o-w and build more roads.
L
Every liberal pol and journalist in MN is salivating over the prospect of using this as the impetus for raising taxes, when they squandered a billion dollars on a light rail system that NOBODY rides, and they’re insisting on spending an additional 20 million to make the new 35W bridge light-rail ready.
The federal budget for 2007 totals $2.8 trillion.
$699 billion (+4.0%) - Defense
$586 billion (+7.0%) - Social Security
$395 billion (+12.4%) - Medicare
$367 billion (+2.0%) - Unemployment and welfare
$276 billion (+2.9%) - Medicaid and other health related
$244 billion (+13.4%) - Interest on debt
$90 billion (+1.3%) - Education and training
$77 billion (+8.1%) - Transportation
$73 billion (+5.8%) - Veterans’ benefits
$44 billion (+9.2%) - Administration of justice
$33 billion (+5.7%) - Natural resources and environment
$33 billion (+15.4%) - Foreign affairs
$27 billion (+3.7%) - Agriculture
$27 billion (+28.7%) - Community and regional development
$25 billion (+4.0%) - Science and technology
$20 billion (+11.4%) - General government
$1 billion (+47.6%) - Energy
Notice transportation gets $77 billion, and various social welfare programs get $1,128 billion.
Aren’t gas taxes supposed to be collected specifically for maintaining the roads and bridges? Where does all that money go if not for that purposes only?
We need to keep spending tax dollars on ‘diversity programs’
We’ll just ask for more to fix bridges and stuff
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To Italian Mafia owned companies.. same with Waste removal and handling..
Nice handy list. Bookmark for later.
The New Privatization
States and cities are selling their roads, bridges, and airports for eye-popping sums.
http://www.city-journal.org/printable.php?id=2297
And of that I see only $850 billion or so that falls under the Constitution. As usual, Dr. Paul is correct again
And too often, R-o-W is being sold off.
Ron Paul impresses me more each day as he takes on the real issues instead of getting into the soundbite game of packaged issues that the MSM likes. I like Duncan Hunter, too...but I fear that we’ll get stuck with another statist... :-(
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