John Nichols: Broken Bridges, Lost Levies and a Brutal Culture of Neglect

[marmar]

From The Nation:


BLOG | Posted 08/02/2007 @ 2:20pm
Broken Bridges, Lost Levies and a Brutal Culture of Neglect


As rescue workers continued to pull bodies out of the stretch of the Mississippi River that runs beneath the collapsed I-35W bridge in Minneapolis Thursday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters released a $5 million grant to help with cleanup and recovery at the site of the disaster.

That will barely be enough to cover the expense of extracting the bodies of the drowned and dismembered commuters who were hurtled into the river when the interstate highway bridge they were traveling on buckled and then fell into the river. And it will not begin to pay for the rebuilding of a vital transportation link in one of America's most populous cities -- an initiative that will cost in the hundreds of millions.

To get the money that is needed to repair the damage, limits on federal aid for infrastructure will have to be lifted.

This will happen now not because the money is needed but because dozens of Minnesotans have been killed and injured.

If the federal limits were not applied with an eye toward denying needed infrastructure funding to states, if the federal government accepted its responsibility to maintain the bridges, roads, levies and sewers of the United States, the death and destruction that comes from neglect might well have been avoided. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=219575

[Raster]

1. This country and its citizens are being strip-mined. This isn't just a class war....

this is rape, plunder and pillage on an unprecedented scale. As more and more public wealth is siphoned away to enrich the few and fortunate, our national infrastructure is left to rot and decay. And the rich with their multi billion dollar tax breaks don't give a whit about paying to refurbish our ailing bridges, roads, water system and electrical grid. This country--physically, mentally and financially--is in far worse shape than our corporatist overlords would have us believe. But hey, why fix a bridge when we can build a stadium? Why send kids to college when we can send them to Iraq? The next time another piece of national infrastructure fails or collapses, turn to your nearest billionaire and ask them how they are enjoying those rethuglican tax breaks.

Wake up America!:kick:

[marmar]

3. I just worry that it's already too late.....

:cry:

[ladym55]

7. But even Rethuglicans use our bridges and highways ...

And when bridges collapse, they don't necessarily wait until the BMW has crossed and the 1991 Honda Civic has come on.

We have a crumbling infrastructure, and as a nation we act like children when it comes to taxes.

Taxes are not evil things. Taxes are used to provide public services-- and maintain our infrastructure-- our roads, our water supplies, etc.

The ulta rich have behaved as if no services are needed for them ... not true.

[Raster]

9. taxes can be beneficial provided they are levied fairly. unfortunately today they are not

the rich pay far less than their fair share, as do most large corporations.

[ladym55]

10. You are spot on there

I agree. We need to rethink our tax code so again it is fair to people with lower incomes.

What I get very tired of is the attitude that all taxes are evil and unneccessary. We need public services, and we need to spend our government dollars to govern--not on funding special projects for the very rich or on wars that create profits for Halliburton.

[OHdem10]

2. When are we going to level with the American People

and start emphasizing all taxes are not bad. Good Bridges,
Good Highway Systems, Good Schools, etc cost money and
this is what taxes pay for.

Government cannot be run on the cheap. Iraq.. Had we followed
our tested strategy--overwhelming force, we would have
been out of Iraq long ago. No, we had to do a "lean mean
streamlined army" and we have 1 trillion (some experts say
2 trillion) down the rat hole and we will have to spend more.

This trying to do things on the cheap will always come back
and bite you.

There is a strategy. It will cost less to wait until there is
a crisis and bridge collapses to repair the thing. Steady maintenance
and scheduled rebuiling is more costly. Take your choice, America.
Do you value Human Lives lost or are they the cost of doing business???

Cutting Taxes for the rich and cutting spending on the Poor is
not the formula needed unless you are addicted to Conservative Economic
Fundamentalism.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. The Dems made a fatal error during the Reagan administration

Instead of countering the anti-tax propaganda with, "You hate taxes? Okay. Let's just shut down all schools, police departments, fire departments, roads, bridges, airports, libraries, parks, and courts,and stop paying for your grandma's nursing home" too many Dems rolled over and said, "Taxes? No, not us!"

I wish the Dems would learn: Never accept the Republicans' portrayal of any situation.

[abq e streeter]

8. perfect

I agree to at least some extent, with most of what I read on DU, that's why I'm here, to be part of a community of like-minded, informed citizens. And then sometimes, I see someone post something that makes me think: that's EXACTLY what I've been thinking. This is one of those times... thank you, Lydia Leftcoast, this should be posted in huge print on the wall of every Democratic party HQ in America.

[tblue37]

4. Americans need an intense series of history lessons about the

Gilded Age, the progressive movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the New Deal. FDR said he saved the upperclass and the corporations from themselves, because their mindless greed was destroying the economy and would have led to a revolution.

[Demeter]

5. Some Drill in Basic Arithmetic Wouldn't Go Amiss, Either