Hate Big Government? Expect more bridge collapses, steam pipes bursting, etc..

[XOKCowboy]

Our infrastructure is crumbling. It takes money to fix it. That means taxes. Fucking deal with it.

We can spend BILLIONS rebuilding Iraq while America crumbles.

[Deja Q]

1. But the politicians say they want to run government like a business.

:hide:

(But the bridge was under serious reconstruction and the last few days have been unrelenting with heat and humidity. The buckling may be entirely coincidental and not due to cost cutting chicanery.)

[XOKCowboy]

4. OK a knee jerk reaction but....

I think we'll be seeing more and more of this.

[bluerum]

5. Bridges do not collapse if they are well maintained. My guess is that

the postmortem investigation will reveal that illegal immigrants mistakenly removed a load bearing member due to a misunderstanding. :sarcasm: This will give Shrill O'Lie'ly months of new material to stoke the fires of hatred, bigotry and warmongering.

It will be a long hot summer.

[northernsoul]

43. The original design may have been problematic as well

One of my immediate thoughts after the shock wore off was whether or not the engineers in 1967 foresaw the kind of sustained heat we've had for the past several summers, and if that had anything to do with it.

[malaise]

2. That simple n/t

[partylessinOhio]

3. America, land of built-in destructions just waiting to happen like ticking time bombs.

:nuke:

[dflprincess]

6. After the pipe in New York burst, I heard it would cost something like 1.3 trillion

to completely repair the U.S. infrastructure...Gee, I wonder where we spent that money.

Also note, that Tim Pawleny, the Republican governor of Minnesota refused to even consier raising our gas tax a lousy $.05 - and that was money that was dedicated to road maintenance. Not that a raise in the tax would have come in time to save this bridge, but I'm sure there's paw-lenty of others in bad shape. I just hope he's happy now.

[XOKCowboy]

9. I'm sure he'll be a hero when he shows his constituents how he kept taxes down...

Yr right. The money we've spent occupying Iraq would have gone a long way to end suffering back here. Too bad we don't have any oil to speak of.

[NashVegas]

7. No Problem! We'll Just Privatize!

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3282/a_win_in_the_water_war/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/20036897/for/cnbc

NEW YORK - What Wall Street had thought would be a flood of U.S. infrastructure deals has turned out to be a trickle.

Last year bankers predicted cash-strapped state and city governments would sell or lease airports, toll roads and other public assets to investors with billions of dollars clamoring for stable, long-term returns.

Instead, public resistance against such sales has caused government officials in many states to hesitate, slowing deal traffic to a crawl.


Still, I wouldn't count them out just yet.



Yet bankers and privatization experts said U.S. deals eventually will happen. After years** of underinvestment, for example, more than $500 billion is needed to repair roads and build highways to handle growing traffic.

Lawmakers meanwhile are hard pressed to raise taxes further and may be limited in their ability to increase public debt.


How many years would that be? 6 and 1/2, perhaps? 16? Bush I signed privatization legislation in 1992.

[XOKCowboy]

11. Catch 22

People don't want "taxes" but will vote in a private company that will low-bid the contract out. Sad. Really sad that people have been so brainwashed by the Right Wing.

[Old and In the Way]

13. Exactly...now public works don't work.

Time to make a new Republican growth industry. Work will be shoddier because they'll short materials and maximize profits...but responsibility will have been outsourced as well. It's a win-win, because IOKIYAR

[lonestarnot]

8. You stole my about to post!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

10. We are NOT rebuilding Iraq, we are putting up a very, very expensive

"embassy" there.

[XOKCowboy]

14. You obviously haven't been watching Fox's

reporting about all of the schools and hospitals being built. You don't believe them? Why do you hate America?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

16. I am an anarchist. Didn't you know?

:evilgrin:

[XOKCowboy]

17. Some of my best friends are anarchists...

:)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

20. I have to go "do stuff"...

like eat dinner Agent Mike :P

See ya on the flipside XOKCowboy :toast:

[BlooInBloo]

12. Wonder if there's anything that could be a campaign issue in all of this.

[Old and In the Way]

15. It ought to be.

By the time the Republicans are through, there won't be anything left worth destroying by the terrorists.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. Yes, but our taxes are going into the pockets of Halliburton, Blackwater, agribusiness, oil....

etc etc etc ad infinitum

[mmonk]

19. Funny, the first thing I said to my family when I saw the bridge collapse

on TV was "well let's keep those tax cuts coming".

[Spiffarino]

21. "Big Government" is a Republican meme.

I refuse to use their language as it only serves their interests.

This is about good government, government that does what it has always been tasked to do, and that is to build and maintain the country's foundational infrastructure. Only idiots like Bush and his Texas twits think every government function should be privatized.

The American people are not stupid, just poorly served by their schools and media. Government has always been in the business of improving the nation's infrastructure and making it a better place for its citizens to live. This tragedy is yet another example of what happens when the people of America are sold on lies.

[XOKCowboy]

23. I agree completely...

I would have put a :sarcasm" behind it but it was in the subject line. They were told that the cliche "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" was a joke and believed it. They didn't think about their father's going to school on the GI Bill or their grandparents who depended on Medicare and Social Security to get by. If THEY had to help someone else then it was welfare fraud.

It's pitiful.

[MasonJar]

22. That is one clear and present danger in the country of Bushistas.

Let's get that very valid point out there front and center.

[tularetom]

24. Truer words were never written

I'm a retired civil engineer and I spent well over 30 years of my life begging local state and federal government officials for more money to repair public facilities. Usually with very limited success. Spending tax dollars to fix a 50 year old water main just isn't very sexy, like dedicating a new city hall that cost more than 100 water main replacements. Education and public safety (not to mention Iraq)are more urgent in the public eye than investment in our infrastructure. Every time something like this takes place I think people will finally wake up but it never seems to happen.


"Our highways and bridges are falling apart" Merle Haggard "America First"

[XOKCowboy]

26. People think if the potholes get filled then everything's all right..

It's what's underneath those potholes we need to worry about. This tragedy highlights that fact.

[tularetom]

30. I worked for a public agency that maintained over 200 bridges

Many of them small some large and some almost 100 years old. By law we were required to have all bridegs inspected on a 2 year cycle. The last cycle before I retired, 125 of our bridges were rated either "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete (narrow deck, inadequate guardrails etc). I'm gonna say at least 75% of those were structurally deficient some pretty scary. Every year we had to post load limits on at least 2 or 3 bridges. Yet every time I went before our elected officials with a budget request for more funds to fix these old bridges, I got laughed out of the room. All their discretionary funds went to the sheriff and they could give a rats ass about fixing bridges. Of course they raised hell when a pothole appeared near their home or their buddys farm but they expected all this to get done with no local funds (we operated strrictly on state gas tax funding).

Every time i think about how much infrastructure could be repaired with the $ we are pissing away in Iraq I want to puke.

[Yavin4]

25. Rebuild Iraq? Since When? They Still Don't Have Electricity

They have crumbling infrastructure problems as well.

[XOKCowboy]

27. Bridges getting blown up in Baghdad we've sadly come to expect..

but bridges collapsing in America we're surprised at.

Iraq's infrastructure is crumbling because we're bombing the hell out of it. Ours is just dying by neglect.

[VP505]

28. We are pumping

lots of money into rebuilding Iraq but whether anything is actually being rebuilt is entirely another story.

[WinkyDink]

29. It doesn't have to mean "taxes", not when a TRILLION DOLLARS has been thrown away in Iraq.

[XOKCowboy]

34. True enough...

but if Iraq wasn't even in the picture the Repugs would be giving it away as "tax cuts" and the bridges would still be collapsing. The masses have been brainwashed into believing that all government is bad and this is the result.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. Ironically, I replied to a thread today that talked about Obama wanting to give 20 Billion

to countries overseas. It upset me, and I gave a litany of what we need that money for and one of those items was for our infrastructure.

[napi21]

32. That's what I said when I heard about the NY steam pipe!

I said it AGAIN when I saw the bridge collapse today.

I grew up in Pgh., Pa. and Pgh. has LOTS of bridges and they're all older than the one in MN! I remember being quite nervous when I was sitting in B to B traffice in rush hour and the damn bridge would shake from some semi movine a bit faster in a different lane than me. Yea I know they have to flex or they'd fall, but it's frightening none the less.

The popes under the Pgh. streets are VERY OLD! It's a matter of time!

I now live in Atlanta, and although Atlanta is much younger than Pgh. we've already had many problems with water mains breaking under the streets. The Mayor keeps saying that we need to repair the infrastructure, but nobody listens! It's an "If it ain't broke don't fix it" society!

The worst is yet to come!

[XOKCowboy]

35. What's funny? Both times there was initial speculation about "Terra!!!"

Once again Pogo's immortal "We have met the enemy and he is us" comes true. :banghead:

[napi21]

36. IF he's still alove, Osama must be celebrating! He won! n/t

[Pushed To The Left]

33. K & R! Excellent point. The far right would rather let the infrastructure crumble and for people to

die rather than for rich people to pay more taxes than they want to. The more I find out about the right wing ideology, the more I want to wipe it off the political map!

[eridani]

37. Unfortunately we aren't rebuilding Iraq either

The Rethugs are just shovelling money at their well-connected friends, who walk off with it without doing the work.

[liberalla]

38. Maybe I'm weird or slow, but I just don't get why taxes are so BAAAADDDD!

I'm happy to pay taxes for my government to build public buildings and highways, and to fund public agencies to keep our food, water, air, workplaces, etc. safe. Those are things I can't do by myself. (I'm NOT happy paying for this war.)

I just don't understand why so many people think taxes are the worst thing in the world. The cutting of taxes by this illegitimate administration is not good, and what it's ultimately going to cost us is way more than $$$. The deterioration and collapse of the infrastructure is one part of it. There's many more of these crises ahead, all brought to you by the Republic party. IMO.

p.s. OK. I'll admit to being weird, but not to being slow. :silly:

[HughBeaumont]

41. Take a look at the wisdom of Cleveland's finest Repukes:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1494230

You kind of NEED taxes if you expect America NOT to fall into a cesspool of crumbling asphalt, concrete and rebar. You NEED taxes to be protected: NOT from "terr'sts" but from burglary, arson and other assorted crime. You NEED taxes to be educated. You NEED taxes for your DAMNED HEALTH.

But the Repukes only gladly pay taxes to the Pentasewer so our Military can do Bewsh's bidding. Everything else can go to hell.

[jazzjunkysue]

39. Randi always has the answer to the "libertarians".: "Ok, then stop driving."

She's right. If you really believe you don't need government, then be ready to give up

roads
bridges
schools
clean food and water and air
hospital care
medicine
laws
courts
prisons

Basically, if you really don't think you need government, move to the Sudan and see how you like it.

[annabanana]

42. of your list..

hospital care
laws
(already mostly privatized)

prisons
(completely privatized already)

[RB TexLa]

40. Didn't we just have a huge transportation bill passed and signed last year