Posted on 08/06/2007 9:10:43 PM PDT by jazusamo
Democratic mismanagement of funds............same as the dikes in New Orleans.
In a similar vein, I remember reading about road repair years ago. There was a cheap fix available that would last five years. There was a slightly more expensive fix that would last thirty to forty years. Everyone was using the cheap fix, since that didn’t call for an immediate tax increase.
“It is not just the people but the incentives that are responsible for the neglect of infrastructure, while tax money is lavished on all sorts of less urgent projects.”
Stop right there! No wonder he is at Stanford!
Those who want universal health care will find out that the same thing happens with socialized medicine. The British hospitals are decrepit. The Canadian pols scrimp on MRI machines. All because maintenance is not sexy to pols who are looking for new issues all of the time.
There is a bridge in Stillwater Minnesota called The Stillwater Lift Bridge. The 35W bridge had a rating of 50 out of 100. The bridge in Stillwater has a rating of 2.8 out of 100.
The reason that it hasn’t been replaced is because the Sierra Club of Minnesota has successfully blocked it, citing environmental concerns.
If folks would do some digging into why old bridges don’t get fixed/replaced....enviro-whackos can many times be found in the mix.
” Everyone was using the cheap fix, since that didn’t call for an immediate tax increase.”
Our whole Congress is a cheap fix...........Look at illegal immigration!
So true! :)
The enviro wackos are responsible for so many things being screwed up in our country it’s unbelievable.
I wonder what the nuts are saying about the mess in the Mississippi River right now?
“I wonder what the nuts are saying about the mess in the Mississippi River right now?”
Raise gas taxes.
Check this out.....http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1877182/posts
Common sense trumps left wing PHd jargon every time : )
Sowell is a national treasure!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
ROFL! Those people are real head cases. It wasn’t 24 hours after the collapse and some were saying “it’s Bush’s fault.”
IWe can vote the rascals out but the new rascals who replace them will face the same incentives and in all likelihood will respond in the same way.A pattern that has persisted for more than two centuries is likely to continue unless something fundamental is changed.
What really needs to be done is to change the incentives.
Your thoughts? On turning infrastructure to the private sector, as Sowell suggests, I don't think is the best idea. I think what would happen is those who are friends with the politicos will get the contracts, and they'll put illegals on the jobs....under the table, of course. And shoddy workmanship will be even worse than government malfeasance. But, for sure, something must be done differently. Sowell, as usual, has valid points.
Bump... for great sense and marvelous articulation...
As usual...politicians have their own self interests ahead of all else....Meanwhile people are taking headers off collapsing bridges in their cars...
I wish he were President. His eloquence using simple language glows like the metal on the edge of a red hot knife.
Sowell has the wisdom and wit of a Bill Buckley but can express it so all can understand. Both Sowell and Buckley are national treasures.
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