I didn't excerpt it, the whole thing is here at FR. And for your viewing pleasure, here are all the comments so far:
frances
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 2:58 pm
How dare the American people put our great country in 25 place in ;this world. we who have been the front runner in every war, catastrophe, crisis, given of our money, our young mens lives, SHAME,SHAME,SHAME. Either stand up for your country or get the hell out and go to a country where you have no freedoms. Any politician who does not want to better our country for our people, and insists on bucking our gov. every step of the way, needs to be brought down as seditious. VOTE now and lets quit fiddling around with these people.i am an American- what are you?
I Agree(30)No Way(1).
Luke
Mon, May 19th, 2014 at 3:41 am
Why would anyone try to say that the Kochs (oil business people) want to oppose road construction? That would increase driving (which uses gasoline, diesel, and oil lubricants), not to mention asphalt used to build and repair roads comes from petroleum.
Anyway, if we just used half the money that went to bail out the banks, plus Social Security, SNAP, food stamps, affirmative action, foreign aid, environmental/logging lawsuits, etc., there'd be plenty of money to fix roads, bridges, sewer lines, etc.
I Agree(1)No Way(5).
Astorix
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 3:41 pm
Thank Ronald Reagan for the start of this decline. The shining city on a hill is now brown with rust.
I Agree(33)No Way(3).
nordangb
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 4:44 pm
When will we, as the American people start working together to get this country into todays' world. The jackasses that are bringing us down apparently do not give a sh#t what it will cost to repair the infrastructure they are letting decline now. Every thing will collapse at one time which will cost more in the long run to refurbish. And all for the sake of keeping a few people happy, and because they do not like the man in the white house. I was under the impression that these people were elected to do as the majority of people wanted them to do. I would venture to guess that many, many campaign promises have gone by the wayside to appease their wealthy greedy masters instead of those who put them in office. I trust that they will not repeat their mistakes by voting them into office in November.
I Agree(14)No Way(1).
buckeyewill
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 5:22 pm
I live in Cleveland, OH and I see this issue come up when VP Biden came to town talking about a rapid transit stop which is expanded near one of the local universities and two of the major hospitals. Local reaction on the news site was disgusting and reactionary. The transit stop would benefit area that has a mix of working people and students.
Guess people forget Ike built the highway system.
I Agree(6)No Way(0).
knight4444
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 5:40 pm
Anyone who has read @joeb, INSANE rants knows full well what's destroying this country! it's corporate america who buys politicians on BOTH sides! what do you call BLUE DOG democrats? The koch brothers aren't anything new! this country has been corrupt long before 1776! get real. the corruption really started getting bad when the railway barons started lining the pockets of politicians. One of the goals of corporate america is to reduce the USA into third world status! where you have the top 3 or 4 % and the rest are fighting for low wage jobs! BOTH political parties know this! HELL, I assume most of you know it too! I don't think it can be fixed SORRY, YES voting is important, but thats NO guarantee either, it's just another illusion, if democracy tries to come back to america, the power brokers will rig the system! HELL, didn't we see it in 2000? didn't it almost happen in 2012? the big MONEY controls the politicians and the media and the supreme court.
I Agree(5)No Way(1).
knight4444
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 6:02 pm
BTW, try going to a article bye Cliven Thompson at the N.Y. Times and peep out the story about Diebold voting machines and how in 2000 at 10pm the voting machines servers suddenly FROZE up and after the problem was FIXED the machines turned off AGAIN a hour later,votes in OHIO were so close they to recount them! that was 2000, karl rove and the big wheels have destroyed democracy in america! just ask Al Gore what he thinks.
I Agree(10)No Way(3).
Sugapea
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 6:12 pm
Hillary should focus her campaign on Re-Building America, Let's make US strong again!
Look at the historical Tax Rate Chart, note the years the wealthy were paying higher rates. Years when we could afford highways, bridges and schools.
http://s158.photobucket.com/user/OnlyObvious/media/Tax_Rates/TopTaxBracket_TaxRate.jpg.html
I Agree(6)No Way(2).
bobloblaw
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 10:37 pm
You chart shows tax rates, not how much was paid.
I Agree(1)No Way(1).
Shiva
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 6:26 pm
Start screaming We are #1.
The gop has no intentions of fixing this stuff. It doesnt benefit the 1%
I Agree(5)No Way(2).
Peter J. Kraus
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Nothing will be done as long as politicians can be bribed by industry and banking. Call out "political funding" for what it is -- bribery. Let the government fund elections, make the broadcast media, who don´t pay a penny to use the people´s airwaves, run a set amount of free political ads, put people who give or take any kind of bribe in jail and see what happens.
We have lost any semblance of democracy we had. Democracy American style is simply a matter of the richest winning.
I Agree(7)No Way(0).
bobloblaw
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 10:36 pm
Third world?? Must be talking about Detroit, Cleveland, Newark, Los Angeles, Chicago.
The left is terrified of the south. Terrified of it growing population, growing jobs base and growing electoral strength.
I Agree(2)No Way(4).
Shiva
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 10:51 pm
No, many more of the left live in the south. Many of the people are done with the actions of the gop governors and state congresses.
The job rush is over. The people are finding out all they get is low paid jobs
I Agree(3)No Way(1).
Shiva
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 10:53 pm
BTW, almost all major cities have problems. The jobs that have left them are crucial to survival. Kansas and Wisconsin are in bad shape. Almost all "left" state out perform the red states.
I Agree(4)No Way(1).
Harry Lime
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Many of those (Korea, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong) are tiny or city-states. Easy to have great infrastructure in such a small area. We are a huge country. And why are the PRC and Taiwan lumped together?
I Agree(1)No Way(0).
Mark C. Finley
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 11:09 pm
What happened to all those hundreds of Billions of dollars from the 2009 stimulus plan the was suppose to go to "shovel ready" infrastructure works? How can we be in 25th place now after that? Were did that money go?
I Agree(0)No Way(0).
Shiva
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 11:18 pm
Ask the states. The money was sent to them. However the 2009 stimulus was far too small to fix all these problems. The money went to a lot of different issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
I Agree(1)No Way(2).
Chris Nelson
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 11:27 pm
What the hell is No. 27 "Taiwan, China", and why is a PRC flag being used?? Way to insult the good folk of Taiwan...
I Agree(0)No Way(0).
john
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
I'm 62 I came to the states in 1957 when I was 5. Every 3=4 years I have gone back and visited my family in Sweden and I've traveled around Europe 3-4 times also. It used to be when I went over there, they all envied me and the USA. Now when I go there I envy them. They are a head of us in most things now. Its a shame.
I Agree(3)No Way(0).
hinckleybuzzard
Sun, May 18th, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Infrastructure. Republicans and democrats alike voted 850 billion dollars to fix "infrastructure" in 2009. Nothing happened. Where did the money go? Why did the president laugh later about his lying about "shovel ready" jobs?
Why is it that the infrastructure is suffering more in democrat ruled cities than anywhere else? Why doesn't the democrat mayor fix your potholes instead of the democrat einsteins wanting to build 40 mph "high speed rails" to nowhere?
Blaming republicans is cheap and easy, when the major decisions were made by a democrat Congress and a democrat president. But then, they don't call liberalism "the politics of denial" for nothing.
I Agree(1)No Way(4).
Shiva
Mon, May 19th, 2014 at 12:02 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
But then again you jump to silly assumptions. That money went to the states. And the money was for far more then infrastructure. Obviously thread reading is beyond you. Ask the governors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
I Agree(1)No Way(0).
Bostonbob
Mon, May 19th, 2014 at 9:41 am
It certainly looks like the federal government spent all it took in and then some. It is not a tax issue, it is a spending issue and the D's and R's are both complicit.
Bob.
2013 - $901 billion budget deficit (projected)
2012 - $1.1 trillion budget deficit
2011 - $1.3 trillion budget deficit
2010 - $1.3 trillion budget deficit
2009 - $1.4 trillion budget deficit
2008 - $455 billion budget deficit
I Agree(0)No Way(0).
novenator
Mon, May 19th, 2014 at 9:53 am
You can really look at almost any standard to find that conservative Republican economic and social policy in the American South is guilty for the mass creation of poverty, suffering, and death. Now they want to impose that misery on the rest of America for corporate profits.
Economic Opportunity Is Lowest In the Republican Bible Belt, Major Study Finds
Class-rigidity is most extreme in the South, according to leading Harvard and Berkeley economists.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/economic-opportunity-lowest-former-slave-states
"Economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution." -FDR
I gathered you included it all, and thank you for doing that. I read what you had posted, and got the measure of it.
And thank you for the comments...not that I couldn’t have predicted most of them. But it was nice to see a rational comment mixed in here and there.
Good job with posting the thread.