Barge system worse for wear

Barge industry officials call it a silent but growing problem. Aging infrastructure, including locks and dams on the upper Ohio River, are quietly choking the flow of goods in and out of the region.

The problem was demonstrated in early July, when delays caused by routine repairs on the Montgomery lock had barge operators waiting as long as three days to move gas, coal, iron ore and other products in and out of the port of Pittsburgh. One barge company operator estimated the delays were costing the region more than $100,000 a day.

Dubya and Congress need to get humpin' on maintaining our vital infrastructure.

Let's see if we can to this without creating another humungus govermental agency. I am afraid the only way government (Republican or Democrat) thinks things can get done is by creating more government agencies, offices, employees and paperwork.

Congress is obligated to match money in the fund, which is earmarked for lock upgrades and repairs. To date, however, the federal government has been reluctant to release money from the fund, instead opting to use it to offset deficits in the federal budget.

Makes sense to me. Congress passes a bill to provide the funds to do something necessary (no pork here …. no fat entitlements …. simply necessary infrastructure maintenance….). And then they proceed to use the funds that were earmarked for the necessary to instead pay off the debt incurred as a result of their overspending on the generally unnecessary.

When you live in an entitlement-laden/focused country (whose leaders’ ultimate aim is a socialist society) you cannot waste money on things such as seeing to it that goods are transported from one part of your country to the other. Where are your priorities?

And get rid of the ‘but they were collected, and promised, specifically for use to keep our infrastructure from deteriorating’ argument. Such nonsense better belongs back in the nineteenth century. We, in America 2002, put people first, don’tcha know? It’s far more altruistic to house/feed/educate/provide healthcare for the _____ (fill in the blank with the adjective of your choice …. some suggestions: lazy, perennially unemployed, supposedly disabled, illegally here) than it is necessary to make sure that the country’s transportation system runs like a well-oiled machine (actually, some of us would even settle for a slightly rusty one at this point, but it appears that our sites may be set too high).

Dream on, John. You must realize that there is a huge difference between big business (the former backbone of capitalism) and the federal government. So exceptions to your accounting standards rule must be made when good intentions are involved.

Big business is, without exception, the enemy of the people. It exploits the working class and fills the pockets of the wealthy. Whereas the federal government exists for the sole, humanitarian purpose of taking care of us.

You gotta get your white hats and black hats straight, John. Stop asking questions and pay more attention to the good guy/bad guy casting. There'll be a test when it's all over.

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