Infrastructure a future liability in USA
In light of the tragic and terrifying bridge collapse in Minnesota, it's time to consider if we have an infrastructure problem in this country. Much of our infrastructure was created in the 1930's to stimulate job growth. Our electrical grid is oftentimes overburdened, and many regions have out grown their local water supplies. I don't think we'll see events like what happened yesterday very often, but that doesn't mean we won't have a very real economic impact from the aging infrastructure.
This report in 2005 highlights the state of our infrastructure, giving it a grade of D. It makes me wonder what we've done in the meantime to improve that grade. Yes we are shutting down traffic for 20 days later this month to make some needed fixes, but overall I don't think we've done much in the last two years to better our infrastructure.
Why should we worry about this economically? Here's a history lesson. It was following WWII that America really became the economic superpower. We took this title from Europe, and one of the main reasons was our infrastructure. In the 1930s we attempted to build our way out of depression with roads, dams, power grids, and other public projects. Meanwhile, Europe was getting by on old-world infrastructure, much of which was damaged during WWII. The post war results of this were predictable.
Now, we have the old infrastructure, Asia is building new infrastructure, and even Europe has upgraded. I think this bodes very poorly for our future.
This report in 2005 highlights the state of our infrastructure, giving it a grade of D. It makes me wonder what we've done in the meantime to improve that grade. Yes we are shutting down traffic for 20 days later this month to make some needed fixes, but overall I don't think we've done much in the last two years to better our infrastructure.
Why should we worry about this economically? Here's a history lesson. It was following WWII that America really became the economic superpower. We took this title from Europe, and one of the main reasons was our infrastructure. In the 1930s we attempted to build our way out of depression with roads, dams, power grids, and other public projects. Meanwhile, Europe was getting by on old-world infrastructure, much of which was damaged during WWII. The post war results of this were predictable.
Now, we have the old infrastructure, Asia is building new infrastructure, and even Europe has upgraded. I think this bodes very poorly for our future.
Comments
One thing that I was wondering is that if (when, IMO) we go into a recession...could it be possible that rebuilding our infrastructure will be the government work program of the not so distant future?
I wish it could. I don't think it's a priority however. Much better to pay out social welfare and war bills than spend the money on infrastructure.
Plus, there's this. We are running a yearly national debt in excess of $250 billion now, and times are good. If we have a recession, where will the money to build things come from? Taxes!?!