Infrastructure – definition of infrastructure , the system of public works such as bridges , roads , highways , tunnels, electrical power plants, water mains, sewerage lines, Dams, levees [ New Orleans ] , canals , locks, inland waterways [ Mississippi River ] , water treatment plants , airports , subways , high pressure oil and gas lines , etc. Also oil refineries which are outmoded because of government regulations , none
built in the past 35 years . A high percentage of our infrastructure Is 80 to 90 years old . The exact life was originally determined to be about 50 years of heavy usage . The American Society of civil engineers said our infrastructure is in disrepair, obsolete , is crumbling and needs to be replaced . The civil engineers gave the U.S. infrastructure a grade of D and this was back in 2005 . Many years ago the Army Corps of Engineers wanted to reinforce the New Orleans levies which were determined to be weak and inadequate . They were blocked from doing what was obviously necessary by environmentalist lawsuits . The resulting disaster from the 2005 Katrina Hurricane which destroyed much of New Orleans was because of the inferior levees . [ thanks to the environmentalists ] The U.S. has nearly 700,000 miles of ageing water pipelines and pumping stations. Cities lose as much as 30 % of clean water due to breaks. There is also microbiological growth in our antiquated water mains which contaminate the the water supply. Other examples of our antiquated infrastructure is Chicago’s famous elevated train system that is well over 100 years old and is obsolete , another is the Francis Scott Key bridge in Washington, DC which was built in 1923 therefore 90 years old . The Department of Transportation [ D.O.T. ] reports that 25% of the 600,000 bridges in the U.S. are structurally deficient or obsolete . Remember in August 2007 when the Interstate – 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River killing 13 people and injuring 145 ? In 2007 the American Society of Civil Engineers found that more than 152 levees to be at high risk of failing and over ¼ of all dams had exceeded their lifespan . Airports aside from overbooking and runaway congestion have an antiquated ground based tracking systems from the 1950s. This forces planes to use inefficient routes . It is estimated that the repair and restoration of U.S. infrastructure will be a 10 year project and we will have to invest $3.6 trillion by 2020 . That would be about $450,000,000,000 a year[ 450 Billion ] which in turn would create 10 to 12,000,000 [ million ] jobs . These 10 or 12,000,000 workers would pay taxes spend their income which would create more jobs and the government would save billions on welfare and unemployment . Considering that we supposedly have 24,000,000 unemployed or underemployed, this investment would drop the unemployment rolls by 50% . According to the census bureau they expect the population to grow by 40% over the next four decades, therefore without immediate restoration and renovations we can expect a massive gridlocks within the next 15 to 20 years. Waterways and canals are the cheapest form of transport but the locks and levees must be rebuilt and update its and the waterways must be dredged. The cost of Barge transport on waterways such as the Mississippi cost 2¢ per ton per mile compared to 4¢ per mile by rail and about 18¢ per mile by truck . Between 1950 and 1980 the U.S. was the most admired and prosperous country in the world , we used to be a creditor nation until the late 1960’s or so and now are one of the largest debtor nations probably worse than Greece . No country, no corporation, no small business , and no family or individual can prosper and survived by going deeper and deeper into debt. The interest alone is a killer . China spends 9% of its GDP on infrastructure , Europe spends 5% , and the U.S. spends 2% . Restoration of the infrastructure is an investment for the future. If the roof of our home leaks, would we ignore it ? If the tires on our motor vehicle were bald / bare, would we put it off for another year ?
Why are we bankrupt ? Where is all our money going ? Our national PRIORITIES should come before all else . Common sense and yet our so called ” leaders ” do not understand nor care.
1. Over 35 nonstop wars since 1950, wars that we initiated against poor third world countries . Why ? Cost MULTI – MULTI Trillions .
2. We have troops based in 135 countries around the world [ there are a total of 194 countries on earth ] …..Why ? Cost Multi trillions
3. Every year 40 + billion in foreign aid is given to corrupt third world countries with nothing to show for it . The poor are as impoverished as ever, the foreign aid seems to go into the pockets of the dictators .
4. Israel alone has been gifted between three and six billion dollars a year since the 1950s. Considering that they are a very wealthy country, I would say enough is enough.
5. Expanded bureaucracy in the state and Federal governments is estimated to have grown by 15% in the last 10 years alone.
6. Pork barrel projects are a favorite of our congressmen. In 2006 Congress spent $29,000,000,000 [ Billion ] on nearly 10,000 pork barrel projects.
7. Illegal immigrants come to this country and willingly work for lower wages or cash under the table. Many also end up on welfare , free schooling, free medical, and subsidized housing. It has been said and that the illegals will do work that Americans will not do . Of course our social parasites won’t be willing to take on these jobs if the government allows them to collect welfare, free medical, and subsidized housing. Why bother working when you can sit back drink beer and watch TV all day, no effort no fuss no muss. Life is good. …….[ but the money comes out of your pocket ]
8. Heavy industry is shipped overseas in order to enhance corporate profits. It was once said that Americans need not do dirty fingernail work but will graduate to white collar work . The problem is that the factory production work pays high wages whereas the white collar wages are much lower. Now even white collar jobs accounting etc. are also being shipped to India and China . Over 9000 U.S. factories have been shipped overseas. And yet our ” leaders ” could care less .
9. The Fed bailed out Corrupt gamblers on Wall Street such as Goldman Sachs and the too big to fail banksters, all part of a legalized 21st century Mafioso sanctioned of course by the Federal Reserve . [ which is NOT Federal but private bankers ] All are privately run for profit businesses that we the taxpayer had to bail out to the tune of seven + trillion dollars. They gambled and lost and we paid for their Greed.
10. Various private industries such as the auto industry were bailed out and or subsidized by the government/taxpayer . Remember ” Cash for Clunkers ” , perfectly good cars were scrapped.
11. Mediocre 3 rd rate colleges for the intellectually challenged with low graduation rates receive Billions in Pell Grants . Example ….Southern University in New Orleans , 75.8 % received Pell Grants ….4 % graduated
Texas Southern University in Houston 69.4 % received Pell Grants ……….13.3 % graduated , University of the District of Columbia [ D.C. ] 44.7 % received Pell Grants ………7.7 % graduated .
12. Welfare , subsidized housing and food stamps for young healthy professional parasites . China had a 1 child per family law in order to control excess population . Anyone receiving welfare should be limited to 1 or 2 children and after that aborted [ which I detest ] or castrated and neutered . Why should we the hard working taxpayer pay to support their 3 , 4 , or 5 children ? [ and they contribute NOTHING ] If our compassionate
Congressmen feel sorry for the ” Poor ” , they should adopt one or two families .
13. In 2010 the Pentagon could not account for 2.6 Billion dollars in Iraqi funds that was supposed to be for Iraqi reconstruction . And yet no one was held accountable . Steal a loaf of bread and you could be jailed .
14. The introduction of school busing since the 1960’s has accomplished little at the cost of hundreds of million dollars . At the same time our school system has been dumbed down so as not to embarrass the intellectually challenged to the detriment of the more intelligent children. The European and Oriental school systems are far superior to our schools . [ about 2 years ahead ]
15. In 2006 politicians diverted 16% of the money that should have gone into highway repairs and infrastructure to pet projects such as museums and bike paths.
16 48% of all households pay no income tax. Considering that we all benefit from services such as the fire department, police department, city Parks, highways , etc. , all should at least pay a token tax.
17. There are numerous agencies in Washington, DC such as the Department of Energy , Housing and Urban Development , Department of Commerce, Department of Interior and the Department of Education that are totally useless and should be abolished which would probably save us close to 1 Trillion dollars .
18. The Federal debt in 1997 was about five trillion dollars. In 2008 just before Obama was elected President , our national debt was 8 to 9 Trillion dollars. Now 5 years later it is over 17 Trillion dollars . Had he taken half of the additional 7 Trillion dollars of the debt he incurred and applied it to restore our infrastructure , unemployment would be radically reduced and our economy would be healthy . What FOOLS ye mortals be .
19. The Federal gasoline tax has not gone up since 1993 when gas was $ 1.06 a gallon. . The tax at that time was 18¢ a gallon, that is about 17%. Had the tax been pegged at 17% per gallon, we would now have more than enough to maintain our infrastructure .
20. The 1930 ‘s depression ………what Roosevelt did to create jobs …….what Hitler did to create jobs ……………..to be continued in Part 2 .