Over Here
So, how many people who were on the I-35W bridge on Wednesday evening are—or were—thinking that what this country needs is more tax cuts, or for those tax cuts that have already been made to be made permanent?
That's a question that tends to be overlooked as the Bush Administration pours hundreds of billions of dollars into the so-called "war in Iraq." Instead of spending the money to help bolster our infrastructure, it is being spent to do things like blow up bridges on the other side of the planet.
Apparently, there are 12% of the bridges in the country that are deemed to be "structurally deficient." Of course, these bridges don't have flashing warning signs that indicate to drivers that they might want to take another route lest the find themselves in a falling vehicle. The estimate is that it would take $188-billion to fix those bridges. Where might that money come from? Isn't that generally what things like taxes are for?
None of us likes to pay more than we have to for anything. And anyone who is going to stand up and say to the country, "If I'm elected president"—or senator or congressman or mayor or councilperson or—"I will immediately raise your taxes" is going to find her- or him-self in a precarious position—at best.
But all that that person needs to do is to point at the wreckage of the I-35W. Point at the areas in New Orleans and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast were repairs have yet to be realized. And explain to the country that dealing with things like this is what it means to be part of a country.
Funny, the rhetoric about the fighting in Iraq from the Administration has it that "We'll fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." Meanwhile, "over here" is crumbling.
Comments
All excellent points, Stephen. We're spending billions on an unjustified invasion of a despotic yet sovereign nation, while meanwhile, the country is falling apart around us. I heard last night that there are 592,000 bridges in the country, so if 12% of them are structurally deficient, that's over 71,000 bridges that need work. Meanwhile, we spend over a billion dollars a day just to pay the interest on the national debt.
And it's not just bridges that are crumbling. Almost every major city in the country had most of its infrastructure of sewers, etc. built in the late 19th century, early 20th century, with band aids here and there since then. All that stuff needs major investment. And those investments would create jobs and improve quality of life nationwide.
Posted by: Mike | August 3, 2007 8:13 AM