See: the new Oakland Bridge.

our steel industry has been reduced to that sad of a state.

They 'saved' something like 450 Million by having the modular sections built in China and shipped in segments over the Ocean.

I say 'saved' because that's money that could have went straight back into the domestic economy and returned via the tax base. But I guess that's not the point of infrastructure spending.

and even run our government. WOW! Yea ...lets outsource our own US government.

...with strong bipartisan support, after years of efforts. Note that neither side made much of it and it hardly earned a mention in the news.

Of course much more is needed, but it'd be nice if what was done got some notice.

Of course only after the bankers have been given yet another check.

... I guess we'll just have to get used to driving more slowly and steering around the sink holes.

But every problem brings with it an opportunity! Somebody will cash in by selling maps showing alternate routes around fallen bridges and washed out stretches of road. Eventually a whole new industry will spring up: cross country travel guides. Like the old wagon masters, they can lead a group of motorists to their destination by the safest and most efficient route, using satellite maps to keep up with which roads are still passable, which require four-wheel drive, and which should be avoided completely due either to impassable roads, or to lack of local law enforcement and danger from highwaymen.

They could give a shit about some father driving his family around and dodging chunks of concrete falling off of bridges that haven't had any maintenance in decades.

But we built a whole mess of stuff over there in IRAQ and gave millionaires the wherewithal to end up billionaires while the rest of us were told to tighten up your belts.

Fuck...

I'm suprised there ain't a real revolution brewing somewhere...

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is the Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the recipient of fourteen honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. An section of his latest book Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier was recently excerpted in Natural History magazine.

http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/perspectives/012148/by-the-numbers

The article presents many interesting perspectives. Here is one brief section particularly germane to the topic of this thread:

But this whole thread is excellent.

R&

Last edited Tue Jul 24, 2012, 10:27 PM - Edit history (1)

This part of what he said is so perfect:

That the bill for getting our infrastructure up to an acceptable level, let alone improve it, is $2 trillion. That's right, $2 trillion.

That's just for fixing and upgrading to current standards of what we have left.