Once again I am watching The Crumbling of America and all I can think about is....

[WCGreen]

how many people could be put to work to repair all the bridges, deal with all the dams, update all the sewer systems, redo the grid.

There is more danger waiting here if things start collapsing than any REAL fear from foreign attack.

To hold the country hostage in order to privatize the infrastructure is a crime and that is exactly why we are not keeping up all the many public works.

These guys have plans to swoop in and purchase the public highways and then charge tolls that will turn out to be a huge burden on those who reside in the lower income levels.

It's tantamount to a crime to not fund public works in order to shift more money to political contributors.

[Cleita]

1. So it's time to join the 99% and take America back for the people. No? n/t

[Doctor_J]

42. How?

Our choices for November are limited. There certainly aren't enough real American running for office to make this an issue

[Cleita]

45. President Obama can't get much done with all the obstruction in Congress,

so what are you doing to elect Congressmen and Senators he can work with?

[Doctor_J]

48. He had huge majorities in 2009-2010 and improvements were meager

So the fact that he wasn't able to get anything done was...my fault?

You might want to stop posting bromides - "Stand with the 99%! He's doing his best! Vote in more real Dems!" and get reality-based

[Zalatix]

49. He faced a Blue dog infestation.

Again, that is a problem we can eliminate by voting in true Left politicians when these guys leave office. And a LOT of Blue Dogs left office.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. C R U M B L I N G n/t

[WCGreen]

5. This lap top I post with has serious key board problems...

I always run posts through spell check but sometimes it doesn't catch stuff.

[pangaia]

34. Hey "Kurt"..

No problem, man,. Your post is too good!
All you need are most of the letters, anyway... :&gt

I never even thought about what you say in your post....so obvious, thought isn't it.

[2pooped2pop]

52. ahhh, I see the spell checker did get you

You post several paragraphs of info but some can only see a misspelled word? They apparently cannot understand the meaning or perhaps some only come here to grade papers?

I think I will start misspelling everything just to give them something to do.

[mmonk]

3. That's the plan I'm afraid.

[truedelphi]

4. All it would take is cloning Eisenhower -

People think that FDR was behind the biggest "Back to work" programs in the nation ever. But Eisenhower pulled off even more than FDR did (OF course the economy under him was semi-thriving to begin with.)

Under Eisenhower, the nation built the highway system, the community hospital system, the community college system, kept the GI Bill funded so tens of millions of returning GI's had education, and a whole lot more.

These efforts were so successful that people moved out of their cramped three room apartments into tract homes in the suburbs. Which meant the Detroit auto industry was kept busy,k as well as all the construction trades for new housing.

Since 1990, we have had Republican Administrations followed by Democratic Administrations, one after the other, and no one of either party has the gumption to do this again. Although both parties seem especially gifted at the NAFTA, GATT and Trans Pacific Plan style arrangement of hurting American workers.

[JDPriestly]

30. True. The guys came home from the war and started families.

There was so much to do, and these men had skills and could do things. Many of them had grown up working physically hard on farms.

There was a recession under Eisenhower. What I remember is poor people from the South finding their ways into the north. They were looking for work -- and must have found it. That was a period during which our country flourished. The Viet Nam War and the Nixon era with its oil crisis in 1973 began our slow decline.

We need to pick ourselves up as a nation.

Romney is not the man to do it. Takes someone who really loves America and Americans -- all of us. Romney is definitely not the man of the moment.

I have to add that alternative energy -- new sources of energy -- and a grid that deals with them all are needed.

[pangaia]

35. Actually it started in 1980.

That is One Nine Eight ZERO ... with that fascist punk.

[Brigid]

6. I'm watching too.

I have wondered forever why we are having such a huge debate in this country about infrastructure improvement and repair. I think you've hit on the reason.

[ieoeja]

19. Republicans are very much in favor of it.

But they want it done by people on welfare for no more money than they receive on welfare.

It is part of their disconnect from reality.

Given: 99% of people on welfare are just too lazy to work.
Given: 99% of people on welfare are multi-generational and have been on welfare their entire lives.
Then: if they want welfare, make them work for it.

Purpose 1: we get something out of them.
Purpose 2: it teaches them the value of work so that they will want to do more work.

Reality: most people on welfare are incapable of very challenging work.
Reality: the time limit for welfare is 3 years across your entire life, so obviously nobody is multi-generational.
Reality: a work-for-welfare rule has been in place since early in Clinton's presidency. Not doing the heavy lifting. But it is there.
Reality: a TVA or CCC program would be much, much more expensive than anything the United States is doing today. Even if we get hard-hats working for welfare, we have management, engineers, and materials. This is not going to simply come out of our "welfare" budget.

Sadly: conservatives believe the "givens" and disbelieve "reality".

[Xyzse]

8. It is what they want.

They like things to be privatized because they think it will be far more efficient.
People like my mother who can only go by black and white can't seem to figure out that there is a time and place for each one.

Any how, that's what one gets when one gets their news through punditry rather than thinking things through.

[bongbong]

10. That's just what they tell the public

> They like things to be privatized because they think it will be far more efficient.

That's for public consumption. Why TPTB really want to privatize everything is that taxpayer money would then flow right into their pockets.

[Xyzse]

11. I agree

It is pretty dumb but that is how some fall for it easy.

[closeupready]

28. 'right into their pockets' - yes, since contractors are GOP

for the most part, or constitute a big chunk of their constituents. And/or campaign $$$. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

[CrispyQ]

13. I honestly think there is a large segment of our population that believes

that when something is privatized, the tax payers no longer pay for it.

No shit, I think it's true.

[nanabugg]

9. Posting this again incase you missed it before. Two important links

http://sciencefriday.com/segment/08/31/2012/time-to-overhaul-america-s-aging-bridges.html

Updating to add the second important link on this subject.

http://saveourbridges.com/index.html

[WCGreen]

16. They are rebuilding a huge new bridge here in Cleveland. It snakes over the Cuyahoga River Valley

for almost a mile and connects the east and west side.

[CrispyQ]

12. There was a TV show on the History channel a year or so ago,

"Inspector America." They had a structural engineer go to various bridges, damns, seawalls, & give his assessment of the structure. He would sometimes go with the local engineering crew that kept an eye on these things. They would show him exactly where the worst spots were & tell him what had been done & what needs to be done.

In some cases, he would interview the locals. In one case it was a bridge that connected a small community to a larger community. Many people stated something to the effect of, "Every time I have to drive the bridge, I hope it stays till I get to the other side."

I don't think the show is on anymore & I've wondered if people didn't like to watch it because it reminded them of the crumbling infrastructure in their community & which of their bridges might collapse on top of them.

Everyone knows this is a huge issue & it would help America to fix these things in so many ways. Why aren't people on the phone every day demanding Congress do something about jobs & infrastructure? It has to be tons of people every day. But I'm one who's not.

The seawall in Seattle was pretty shocking.

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=483290

[WCGreen]

15. I remember that show. I think it was a bridge over the Ohio River connecting

Ohio with Kentucky.

[CrispyQ]

18. I was in Denver a few years back when a piece of highway overpass

dropped onto the highway below killing at least one, IIRC. We had passed under it about 45 minutes before.

Every community has something like this. And we tolerate it.

[WCGreen]

20. Just think how many people we could get to work and how

much money we could have coming in to pay down the deficit.

We are fast turning into third world country in many areas of this country.

We could put millions of people to work for three decades to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century.

[Brigid]

38. I remember that show too.

We've got I don't know how many infrastructure projects desperately needing to be done, and so many unemployed people desperately needing work, and yet the number one priority for the Repugs is to deny Obama a second term. One of these days, there is going to be a major infrastructure-related catastrophe. If it relates to a shovel ready project that has been on the back burner forever because of their intransigence, I hope people will recognize it and make them pay a heavy political price.

[nichomachus]

14. Stop worrying. The GOP will fix the infrastructure

once people are desperate enough to work for $1 a day.

[K Gardner]

17. I am in a fairly large southern city and we have NO high speed Amtrak or train service to

anywhere. One has to drive 4 hours to the nearest station. Just that alone is a DISGRACE.

High speed rail could put thousands and thousands to work, benefit the economy, tourism and the environment. I don't get it.

[CrispyQ]

21. I've been riding the bus for a few years now & they cut service to my community

in January. The morning bus was so packed that the driver passed by dozens of potential riders because there was no room! They added a few more routes, but it's still standing room only & still a few get passed by.

Think of the advantage that reliable transportation gives one. All those without, who struggle to get ahead, have that additional obstacle to overcome. I also think there is a stigma, especially outside of metro areas, that public transpo riders are low life's & losers.

It is a disgrace.

[WCGreen]

23. What happened here in Cleveland is they guessed wrong about where

the people would live once the suburban development played out.

The do have express busses out by us and have a free parking lot for people who don't want to pay an arm and a leg downtown.

I

[closeupready]

29. Airlines lobby HARD against any sort of national rail.

They, like many "free market" Republicans, don't want the competition - they want to monopolize markets.

[julian09]

39. Oil lobby is also against rail lines, would reduce oil demand. nt

[JDPriestly]

22. You are really on to something.

But when Obama is re-elected, we have to make sure he does not allow this to happen. No distractions. The rich have to pay a share in taxes that equals their relative wealth in our country, no less.

[silvershadow]

24. Yes, it more or less is a criminal takeover of our government, and our democracy.

I have said this all along about the privatization scheme. It needs to stop. We are in real trouble here. Not quite ready to put out my flag in "distress" mode, but I have to tell you, we all need to have some real conversations about BIG issues. The other sides ideology is a disease, a cancer.

[Did I Just Type This]

25. Great write up...except

You forgot to mention the federal and state gas taxes that is supposed to pay for the highways and roads...I am wondering if they will stop these taxes after the highways are privatized?

[WCGreen]

40. They also use that money to pay down the debt used to fund a lot of

projects already bordering on failure...

[October]

26. One of the best posts I've seen

Sadly true.

[ret5hd]

27. "...purchase the public highways..."

you think small...way small.

they are planning on purchasing our coastal lands, our parks (yosemite, grand canyon, etc), even our cities, counties and states.

don't fool yourself. they want everything.

[midnight]

31. WCG I agree with your: It's a criminal act not to fund public works so that the privateers can take

over our infrastructure....

[jtuck004]

33. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Where's the money going to come from?

Our party is already touting the benefits of spending $40 Billion a month supporting those who can buy into billion and a half packages of securitized debt with QE3, because it's good FOR ALL OF US that these millionaires and billionaires be protected from the loss of their assets. We are ALL better off for that, we are told.

But YOU want us to INVEST in our neighbors to fix a bridge so a family of four won't lose their mom or dad who is going to work and falls into the river, and so the workers can pay taxes to support teachers and community infrastructures, buy things from the store to support other's income, buy health insurance so they don't have to go to publicly-funded emergency rooms with greater costs, and overall build a stronger and more secure nation.

Not an econ major, eh? You would probably be in favor of a jobs program that would put more than 1/27th of the people who are dying to go to work to, well, work, I am guessing. And probably want jobs that pay more than the $7 - $12 or so an hour, the kind of jobs that are being created today faster than any other.

For us to do that we would have to divert the $40 billion open ended asset backed securities purchases and 0% interest loans to banks so they can profit, and then lose ALL THE GREAT BENEFITS WE ARE TOLD WE ARE RECEIVING FROM QE3.

How the hell is that gonna help anyone?

[OSPREYXIV]

36. Planned obsolescence?

This is not accidental. Retardism is the result of ONE MAN'S miscreance.
Faux has been like giving battery acid to a baby. Murdoch is a figurehead
for even more aggressive and anti-American interests that have taken
our institutions apart. We simply don't have the cultural capacity for the
long game. That has been reinforced by 9/11. Part of our collective myth
is that scene where the poor sap isxattacked by a bully, gets up, shakes
his grogginess off and goes on to win the longshot. We just don't get the
double plus long con job. Nobody does. History is what happens off-stage,
outside the ever-smaller frame of reference (tv/net) , beyond the margins
of newspapers. If you think tbis is a crock, pick up a primer on cybernetic
theory and think about how easy it is to warp public opinion. Unevenly
rigged game? Understatement of the millenium.
If you think casino banking, LIBOR rigging, class warfare and the rest
of what's fast becoming more than even Rotor-Rooter can handle is
spontaneous, their plan is working.
We are entitled to real representation, freedom of speech and the
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Mitt Romney et. al. are not the disease. Their mindset is a symptom
of what has happened. Truth is the innoculation, the cure. Destroy
the truth by telling big lies endlessly repeated while subverting each
branch of our government and we lose our freedom. The struggle
begins on the first Wednesday in November, 2012.

[BlueToTheBone]

37. Oklahoma is a prime example.

They quit fixing the hiways in the 50s and brought in toll roads which are just as shitty and require exact change.

[Doctor_J]

41. This is why some of us don't jump for joy at voting for another "centrist"

/corporate Dem. Nothing is going to be done about the real problems regardless how many seats we pick up or even who lives in the WH.

[WCGreen]

43. Do you honestly believe that if a progressive was in the White House,

with all things being the same, that he/she would have been able to get anything done.

[Doctor_J]

47. Do YOU honestly believe that there will be a progressive any time soon?

Someone who will divert all of the war funds to US roads and such?

[WCGreen]

50. I honestly believe that a lot of money could be diverted toward infrastructure

projects, especially if president Obama is reelected with over 320EC Votes.

[DCKit]

44. You ain't wrong. nt

[HiPointDem]

46. god, another thing i hadn't thought of, but that's their usual game plan -- stop funding it, then

say it's going to hell but these private investors will fix it.

i'm glad i'm old & i feel sorry for the young people who will grow up thinking there is no alternative to capital-world.

[porphyrian]

51. Elect Obama and take back Congress, then we'll get it done. n/t

[Octafish]

53. Gee. If the banks collapse, there'll be no money left to screw America with, or the planet.

C'mon, WCGreen. Get with the program.

For the hard of reading: