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malaise

(269,054 posts)
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:08 PM Oct 2013

What's the bullshit about "can the Federal government do big things"?

What the fuck is wrong with these people.

Who built the railroads?
Who built the highways?
Who built the bridges?
Who built NASA?
Who put a man on the moon?
Who built the fucking internet?
Who set up the fucking National Park system?
Who set up Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security etc.

STFU scumbags and parasites. The majority of the people attacking the Federal government made their money using infrastructure provided by the Federal government.

Go Cheney yourselves!!

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applegrove

(118,696 posts)
1. That's the new GOP talking point. Saw
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:15 PM
Oct 2013

the Republican guest on Crossfire last night talking about how the messed up roll out of Obamacare shows that Government can't do things properly. I wanted to reach in there and grab the guy by the scruff of the neck. This ACA roll out fiasco is the private contracters fault.

 

Bunnahabhain

(857 posts)
4. Pretty sure it was private contractors the build the first transcontinental railway
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:32 PM
Oct 2013

Well, private contractors, nearly indentured Chinese immigrants, and other unfortunates.

Government can and should do big things. Rarely can government do it without help. I look on government in this role as a convenor or facilitator.

malaise

(269,054 posts)
6. No one is against help but don't tell me the Federal Government cannot do big things
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:33 PM
Oct 2013

when it has done things no one in the private sector could deliver.

 

Bunnahabhain

(857 posts)
7. Well you said government built the railway
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:36 PM
Oct 2013

That's basically just not true; it was private contractors. Glad to see there's room in your thinking for help no matter what the form is.

Of course the government can deliver things the private sector cannot. Only the US government has the power of the US Treasury behind it. That helps to kick a lot of ass. There's a reason the US put a man on the moon first.

Progressive dog

(6,905 posts)
9. It wouldn't have been built without the government
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 05:03 PM
Oct 2013

It was built on government land, over a government route, with government subsidies.
From wikipedia

After years of study, argument, and lobbying by Theodore Judah and others as to where the "eastern" terminus would be and how construction would be funded, the construction and operation of a transcontinental railroad line was authorized by the Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 and the even more generous act of 1864
 

Bunnahabhain

(857 posts)
10. Completely agree
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 05:22 PM
Oct 2013

But that's a completely different assertion than "built by the government" and also acknowledges that public/private cooperation can (quite literally) move mountains. And again, as it hits close to home, let's not forget the thousands of Chinese immigrants used to build the Western portions.

 

Egalitarian Thug

(12,448 posts)
3. And the reason our government doesn't do great things anymore is the plague of idiocy
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:28 PM
Oct 2013

they and their ilk unleashed on the world.

malaise

(269,054 posts)
5. +1,000
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 04:32 PM
Oct 2013

Meanwhile here's the 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure from the ASCE
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/a/#p/bridges/overview
<snip>
Over two hundred million trips are taken daily across deficient bridges in the nation’s 102 largest metropolitan regions. In total, one in nine of the nation’s bridges are rated as structurally deficient, while the average age of the nation’s 607,380 bridges is currently 42 years. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) estimates that to eliminate the nation’s bridge deficient backlog by 2028, we would need to invest $20.5 billion annually, while only $12.8 billion is being spent currently. The challenge for federal, state, and local governments is to increase bridge investments by $8 billion annually to address the identified $76 billion in needs for deficient bridges across the United States.

Response to malaise (Original post)

 

FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
13. Railroads companies, construction companies, aerospace companies, and telecom companies
Thu Oct 24, 2013, 06:23 PM
Oct 2013

The government funded many of the first 6 on your list, but the implementation of all was done by private firms.

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