U.S. Infrastructure Needs Billions Of Investment, Executives Warn

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

Repairs to roads, rails, ports, and the electrical grid offer big financial opportunities for equipment makers, but projects would have to surmount enormous hurdles.

By Reuters
InformationWeek
February 28, 2008 06:44 PM

CHICAGO - The aging U.S. infrastructure needs billions of dollars of new investment and repairs from roads to rails, ports and the electrical grid, executives told the Reuters Manufacturing Summit this week.

That huge repair bill offers big financial opportunities for equipment makers, but projects would have to surmount enormous hurdles first, such as getting approval from lawmakers loathe to seek tax increases, executives said.

Several high profile infrastructure failures in recent years such as the deadly interstate bridge collapse in Minneapolis last year have exposed flaws, but tend to be forgotten quickly and the topic has barely gotten notice in the presidential race this year, executives said.

"You would have thought that that bridge collapsing would have been a wakeup call," Norfolk Southern chief executive officer Wick Moorman said. "It doesn't seem to have done anything."



Read more: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206900902

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Get Out of Iraq and We'll Be Able to Fix Our Infrastructure.

[Jacobin]

1. More like trillions

But of course, spending that money would only get people jobs, have the money spent in the U.S., and improve this country. We shouldn't try that. We need to go invade another country and 'fix it up', like we fixed up Iraq

[MikeNearMcChord]

2. And let's raise taxes on some of these executives

They have had a field day, for the last 26 years, time to pay the piper.

[maseman]

3. We are slowly collapsing from within

The greatest nation in the world shouldn't have bridges falling down, potholes the size of f-ing Road Island, electrical grids on edge of going out (remember August 14th, 2003 Northeast?)

Our politicians run on "no new taxes" and get hammered if they deviate. That's fine. But we will be a third world country in 50 years.

[BeHereNow]

9. I think less than 50 years...

I'd wager ten.

BHN

[Journeyman]

4. So how many IraqAttaq years are we talking here? . . .

At $720 million a day, $5 billion per week, $20 billion per month, we'd have around $240 billion a year in spending change if we just cease the tremendous drain the IraqAttaq is causing us.



In casual discussions, I use these numbers as a monetary standard in which one hour equals $30 million, a day is $720 million, a week is $5 billion, and a month $20 billion. Then I insert the terms as possible.

"Yes, I think the town should build a new library -- after all, it'll only cost $3 Iraq Hours."

"A new highway through that part of the county would be great and would only cost $1-1/2 Iraq Weeks to build."

"It's true, health care for all children in this state would be expensive, but we're only talking about $4 Iraq Months each year."

It brings the cost of the IraqAttaq in to sharper focus, and helps people conceptualize in easily understood terms the tremendous, needless drain this occupation exerts on all our lives. It's also a somewhat innocuous way to bring the Catastroph@#k into normal conversation (especially these days, when so many former supporters are loathe to even consider this disaster's true impact on their world).

[fed-up]

6. can I recommend your post? nt

[Vogon_Glory]

5. From The Best In The World To

Some of us older, gray-haired DU'ers remember when the US had a civil engineering infrastructure that few other, if any, industrialized countries could match. The slow downhill slide of our infrastructure started on Ronzo's watch and began to accelerate after the Rethugs took control of Congress in 1995. It is getting even worse under Team Shrub.

Soon we won't have an infrastructure that's the envy of the world, we'll have one that isn't even first of the Third World.:argh:

[CHIMO]

7. So Let's Get This Correct

Companies want reduced taxes. Companies don't want Government involved.

Now companies are going to the trough!

When in the heck do we learn that we pay for everything!

[lovuian]

8. trillions spent on Bombs for Iraq

when we could have an incredible ifrastructure now

its criminal what they stole

[BeHereNow]

10. But, but, we're SAFE!!!!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
BHN

[politicaholic]

11. Bring on the Pork!

Republicans will be yelling from the mountain, PORK! Infrastructure could create millions of jobs, give the economy a shot in the arm, and bring in billions of tax dollars, FDR knew, and then that allows the republicans to cry, SOCIALISM!

It also could bring on some really nasty cronyism...unfortunately by the ones we love, the democratic party. Republicans love the ones from afar, democrats love the ones near to them...and the campaign money flows. This could mean trouble unless contractors submit bids to an over site committee. Allowing the the republicans to scream, BUREAUCRACY!

UGH! The American people can never win.

[Mind_your_head]

12. Hey, there's four BILLION of us (on the planet).....

and 300 MILLION right here in the you-knighted states of amurika that can/will support the "smartest guys in the room"

The 'smartest' (cockiest) guys in the room say, "hehehe, watcha gonna do about it"???

:shrug:

[kineneb]

13. "Paging the WPA, paging the WPA...

infrastructure repairs now needed."