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Why Johnny Can’t Build
American Mind ^ | 5/29/24 | Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox

Posted on 06/01/2024 9:04:30 AM PDT by CFW

We were once a nation of builders—from the toll roads and canals of the early nineteenth century and the railroads of the second half of that busy century, to the construction of power, energy, and water systems that were the envy of the world. Even Stalin hired American engineers and planners to build hydroelectric plants and car and other large-scale factories, some planned and developed by people from Detroit.

As Stalin knew, infrastructure is one of the keys to imperial power. Ancient Rome, the imperial dynasties of China, the Mesoamerican empires, the Islamic empire of the Caliphs, the British Empire, and finally our own global imperium all rested on massive infrastructure projects.

In the United States, American ingenuity, usually private but with public assistance, built the world’s largest industrial economy. In the 1930s, we produced the Hoover Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and countless bridges, roads, and other critical infrastructure. When the Second World War broke out, America had the capacity, in a remarkably short time, to become “the Arsenal of Democracy.” Historian Richard Overy notes that “the material explanation for victory” lay largely in America’s relentless productive capacity.

[snip]

Today no one would look at America as a great example of infrastructure development, whether for transportation, energy, or the development of human capital. Once a leader, much of our infrastructure is nearly a century old. Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) produces its Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Roads, ever more important in an era of rapid dispersion, have a grade of “D” even as 91 percent of all non-telework commutes are by car and nearly 45 percent of freight ton-miles are moved by truck.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanmind.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: america; building; infrastructure
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It is true that our nation is no longer a nation of builders. Engineering schools are becoming steeped in DEI and that is passed on to the actual hiring which results in those in charge of building being unable to build a thing.

Every politician runs on a platform of "rebuilding our infrastructure" and our representatives repeatedly pass bills into law that are supposed to rebuild roads and bridges. Billions of dollars are dedicated to projects but few are ever actually completed. Remember the infrastructure funding of 2009 and then Obama laughing as he said "it turns out those jobs aren't so 'shovel ready'"?

Most of the money goes to studies, bribes, and graft and the next year more money is demanded to fix roads and bridges.

1 posted on 06/01/2024 9:04:30 AM PDT by CFW
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To: CFW

Several examples are listed in the article including this one:

“But perhaps the award for the most egregious failure belongs to the proposed California high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Its costs escalated from $33 billion in 2008 to as much as $128 billion today. Given that less than one half of the proposed system is under construction at this point, and not a single shovel has yet been turned on the most challenging sections (which will require extensive tunneling), considerable additional cost escalation would not be surprising. Mandated by state law to provide non-stop San Francisco to Los Angeles service in 2 hours and 40 minutes, the project will now work in a “blended” fashion, mixing with conventional speed trains in parts of the San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.”


2 posted on 06/01/2024 9:06:46 AM PDT by CFW
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To: CFW

Name the last dramatic building project in America. I can’t reminder the last dam we built. The last Chesapeake bay tunnel, the last Golden Gate Bridge, the last St. Louis arch.
In other parts of the world it’s almost common, especially in Asia.


3 posted on 06/01/2024 9:17:16 AM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI. )
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To: CFW
Johnny is too busy gaming, checking his likes, watching porn, and smoking weed.

Our enemies have figured out one of the ways to destroy this country ... keep us sedated and distracted.

4 posted on 06/01/2024 9:20:38 AM PDT by Lizavetta
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To: Lizavetta

Our enemies have figured out one of the ways to destroy this country ... keep us sedated and distracted.


Just like they did the Chinese with Opium.


5 posted on 06/01/2024 9:21:56 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: DesertRhino

Too many NIMBYs and BANANAs. China don’t care if it inconveniences some fuzzy bunny or snail darter.


6 posted on 06/01/2024 9:22:42 AM PDT by kaktuskid
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To: CFW

We outsourced building to Mexicans, who are not just illegal, but exploited hacks. Do NOT buy a new house without a pre drywall inspection. You will be shocked


7 posted on 06/01/2024 9:24:28 AM PDT by Captainpaintball (America needs a Conservative DICTATOR if it hopes to survive. )
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To: CFW
Boys don't have fathers but they have electronic toys meaning they don't build treehouses, forts, push-cars where the wheels fall off or any of the other things we did as kids.

Boys raised without at-home fathers become, basically, girls (not that there's anything wrong with that).< eye roll>

8 posted on 06/01/2024 9:28:37 AM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (The yoke of government must be kept light if Freedom is to Prevail.)
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To: CFW
the project will now work in a “blended” fashion, mixing with conventional speed trains

If they mean the tracks used by freight trains, those trains are often so long that passenger trains are frequently side-tracked.

9 posted on 06/01/2024 9:29:55 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: DesertRhino
Name the last dramatic building project in America.

The White House announced a $1 billion settlement agreement to dismantle a dozen or so dams in the Pacific Northwest. That's pretty dramatic.

10 posted on 06/01/2024 9:33:16 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: DesertRhino
This is the most recent one I know of:

Mike O’Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

11 posted on 06/01/2024 9:35:32 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: CFW

Johnny cannot build because of restrictive & regressive laws, NIMBY, regulations designed to force construction projects to cost way more than they should, & not begun for years after a proposal, union demands, etc. DEI and the rest are just newer restrictions.


12 posted on 06/01/2024 9:36:42 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: CFW

He mentions jobs that are coming available and that we need to train people to do those jobs. That’s only half the equation. The other half is having people willing to do the jobs. Most of the types of jobs he is referring to are hard, dirty, sometimes dangerous jobs. Few young people today are interested in getting their hands dirty or working long hours. Sadly, most of the kids I know today do not have any interest in the trades or anything that involves physical exertion. You can’t build a bridge or highway from your mom’s basement on a computer.


13 posted on 06/01/2024 9:37:07 AM PDT by redangus ( )
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To: Lizavetta
Our enemies have figured out one of the ways to destroy this country ... keep us sedated and distracted.

The enemies causing this are domestic, not foreign.

14 posted on 06/01/2024 9:37:15 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: CFW

Our schools have been dumbed down to accommodate the illegals and other “protected groups.” They can’t even learn 4th grade arithmetic so it’s been phased out of schools.


15 posted on 06/01/2024 9:38:08 AM PDT by Diversity Is Our Weakness
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To: CFW

And we did it all, including building a war machine for other countries, without using the metric system.


16 posted on 06/01/2024 9:38:09 AM PDT by lewislynn ( Trump accomplished more for Americans in a 4 year term than any President in your lifetime.)
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To: DesertRhino

The Boston Tunnel, and it was a disaster.


17 posted on 06/01/2024 9:39:42 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (Stormy Daniels is a McGuffin)
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To: DesertRhino
Here is a List of Bridges built or being built in these United States. They're not news, because they're common.
18 posted on 06/01/2024 9:43:27 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: DesertRhino

Long Beach commiefornia just built a pretty big bridge.
https://polb.com/port-info/news-and-press/long-beach-international-gateway-bridge-named-08-24-2022/


19 posted on 06/01/2024 9:44:26 AM PDT by US_MilitaryRules (#PureBlood )
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To: Jeff Chandler
The water behind the Hetch Hetchy dam in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Yosemite is owned by the city of San Francisco.

Any calls for blowing that dam are quickly quieted.

20 posted on 06/01/2024 9:45:48 AM PDT by lewislynn ( Trump accomplished more for Americans in a 4 year term than any President in your lifetime.)
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