Crumbling of America

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

I watched the History Channel show last night explaining the terrible condtions our infrastructure is here in the US. If we we do not do something soon we are going to become a poor 3rd world power in the next decade. The ASCE's 2009 Report Card gave the US a "D" on our infrastructure. The ASCE extimated the cost to bring this up to a "B" would cost $2.2 Trillion dollars over the next 5 years. The stimulus package of nearly $800 billion only allocated $72 billion for our infracstructure. Bridges, dams, levies and sewers don't vote.

America's infrastructure is collapsing. Tens of thousands of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A third of the nation's highways are in poor or mediocre shape. Massively leaking water and sewage systems are creating health hazards and contaminating rivers and streams. Weakened and under-maintained levees and dams tower over communities and schools. And the power grid is increasingly maxed out, disrupting millions of lives and putting entire cities in the dark.

Nearly 50 years of gross mismangement of our treasury is coming home to roost now. We fought two wars during this time in Vietnam and the current Iraq/Afganistan wars that should have never happened. The Great Society and all the entitlement programs it created has the US on the virge of bankruptcy and facing a debt of $11 trillion that is expected to double this by 2019. Where is this $2.2 trillion for the necessary repairs going to come from?

[b.c]

I watched this same show a few months back. It sure paints a very scary scenario especially when you consider our true debt at approx 56 Trillion due to committed obligations of SS, Medicare and Medicade. No doubt that future generations will have a much lower standard of living here in America. Very very sad.

[MarsofBorg]

Maybe America is not on the decline ...check out this book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Next-100-Years-Forec...1156&sr=1-1

[Smitty]

Haven't people been talking about the crumbling infrastructure for forever and a day? Everything we build has a lifetime. Everything. What do we do? We pretend that concrete and steel will last forever and that you don't need to do anything. For years people have been saying that we need to fix this stuff, but there is never any money for it until a bridge collapses, and people die.

 

The simple fact is that this country almost always runs in crisis management, and very rarely as planned.

 

If you do need to rebuild something, you just can't rebuild it, you have to factor all the new design requirements into it. In Seattle, we have the Viaduct. Can't rebuild it 'cuz all the fools don't like it, and they don't think anyone uses it anyway, so here's a great iDea - Don't rebuild it! Let's build a tunnel! Great! A tunnel along a coast line in a not seismically stable area. Can anyone see the disaster movie yet?

 

Doom and gloom, along with Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt, should not be what motivates people. Tragically, I don't think that people can deal with things in any other manner.

[samsong]

Maybe America is not on the decline B) ...check out this book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Next-100-Years-Forec...1156&sr=1-1

Interesting read on the book, particularly the part about China. I agree with it. China is growing but I don't see them as a threat for the same reasons pointed out by the book.

 

Thanks.

[Yan and Tom]

I watched this same show a few months back. It sure paints a very scary scenario especially when you consider our true debt at approx 56 Trillion due to committed obligations of SS, Medicare and Medicade. No doubt that future generations will have a much lower standard of living here in America. Very very sad.

 

This 56 Trillion figure is true the same way that it would be true to say that, if it cost me $30,000 a year to live and I lived for another 30 years that I have an unfunded debt of $900,000. It doesn't take into account anything I have in savings or any future income that I might earn. It is an intellectually dishonest figure meant to scare people.

 

The crumbling of our infrastructure however does worry me a bit. I say that it began in earnest with the rise of "anti-tax" crusades in the 80's. We've been living off the hard work and sacrifices of my father's generation (I'm 50 now) since then. If Obama's stimulus plan had been weighted more heavily towards infrastructure and less on tax relief we would be moving more quickly to restoring the vitality of our country.

[3timescharm]

None of these problems will ever be solved as long as people keep asking for handouts because they are to lazy to wrk for something. Our Government is more interested in buying votes than fixing anything or doing what is right.

[warpedbored]

Sometimes I wonder how much of this stuff is self fulfilling prophecy. Last November no one knew the economy was in trouble. Almost overnight everyone was in a tizzy. Consumer confidence has a lot to do with whether or not the economy grows. If people are worried they stop spending.

 

Eventually after Japanese car quality surpassed American cars the American auto industry responded with cars of at least equal quality to the Japanese yet the idea that Japanese cars are better still persists.

 

Ever since I was a boy I've been hearing that America is going to hell in a hand basket yet our quality of life is still among the highest in the world.

 

I think if people would concentrate on what's right with America and work to improve it instead of wringing their hands and crying the sky is falling we would all be better off.

[b.c]

Last November no one knew the economy was in trouble.

 

I understand and agree to some extend to what you are saying, but we were warned about the economy:

 

This guy can seem like a nutjob but he has been accurate. Its an enlightening video series.

[Yuanyang]

That's (TV program) actually been out awhile. If we can dig a little deeper then a few more Trillion would really stimulate the economy.

[maxsalvo]

I think if people would concentrate on what's right with America and work to improve it instead of wringing their hands and crying the sky is falling we would all be better off.

Well said!

 

For interesting reading, check out this book.

The Balance Sheet

[Feathers268]

The problem is, getting money to repair roads or power lines is not very glamourous. Congress people can't have some fancy ribbon cutting cerimony for road repair of improvements.

[heyjimi]

I saw this a few months back,but it almost sounded a bit like anti america crap,because the next episode that came on after that,was "mega disasters", what would "America" look like if there was a drought,a global warming etc,etc....and of course i got the feeling...what? this could only happen to big bad America....like the Global warming propaganda film some years back "the day after tomorrow",and of course one had to laugh when big bad America is now being punished for polluting the world...but Mexico did not get affected at all by this global warming.Back to this show,yeah there are some Bridges in need of repair,some roads in need of repair,but they picked out a few bad bridges out of hundreds of bridges in America that are in fine condition.

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

I saw this a few months back,but it almost sounded a bit like anti america crap,because the next episode that came on after that,was "mega disasters", what would "America" look like if there was a drought,a global warming etc,etc....and of course i got the feeling...what? this could only happen to big bad America....like the Global warming propaganda film some years back "the day after tomorrow",and of course one had to laugh when big bad America is now being punished for polluting the world...but Mexico did not get affected at all by this global warming.Back to this show,yeah there are some Bridges in need of repair,some roads in need of repair,but they picked out a few bad bridges out of hundreds of bridges in America that are in fine condition.

Fear sells just like sex.

[maxsalvo]

Fear sells just like sex.

Yes and even more so with older people.

 

This topic and those like it remind me of what an Australian friend told me not long ago -Don't let the truth stand in the way of a good story"

 

For me, it gets harder and harder to watch the various news channels anymore. It seems as if they all have hidden agendas and who knows where the money came from to do the so called studies and research that many of the stories are based on.