THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 22, January 19, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
INFRASTRUCTURE: LET'S SPEND MONEY ON IT
By Alan Caruba
AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE OF HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES, PORTS, & AIRFIELDS: SERIOUS MAINTENANCE & UPGRADE
NEEDED -- INVESTMENT IN MAINTAINING & IMPROVING OUR NATION'S KEY INFRASTRUCTURE PROMOTES ECONOMIC
GROWTH & PROSPERITY & IS CONSISTENT WITH CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL PRINCIPLES
FULL STORY:
There is one aspect of President-elect Obama’s proposed agenda that I like very much, and it has to do with investing in
the nation’s infrastructure of highways, bridges, ports, and airfields.
As a youth, I can recall President Dwight David Eisenhower, and, from the vantage point of many decades later, I am
amazed at how effective and foresighted he was. As President, perhaps his greatest legacy was the creation of a system
of interstate highways. He funded it with a gas tax, and it literally transformed the nation economically and socially.
Today, those highways, begun in 1972 and not finished until 1993 at a total cost of $130 billion, are in need of some
serious maintenance and upgrade, as are other elements of our infrastructure.
Attending to this vital national need will generate lots of jobs, well beyond construction. These are not the “green jobs”
that Obama talks of, but real jobs that will produce real results in the form of an improved highway system, as well as the
expansion of our ports and other transportation facilities.
Writing recently, Anthony Coscia, Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, had this to say about
the nation’s infrastructure:
“America is literally falling apart. According to the U.S.
Department of Transportation, one-third of the nation’s
major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 26
percent of its bridges are structurally deficient or
functionally obsolete.”
Back in September, 2008, the Washington Post reported that the Highway Trust Fund was about to run out of
money before the end of the year. Left unmentioned, however, was why. Billions of the Fund’s money have been
diverted to boost the production of ethanol. When the ethanol lobby realized it was going to be rightly blamed for
potholes and collapsing bridges, it got the Energy Policy Act of 2005 passed to facilitate direct financing from the U.S.
Treasury. Who voted for this? U.S Senators Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Tom Harkin, and Richard Lugar, to name a few.
“The nation’s air traffic control system still relies on
radar technology dating from the 1960s, leading to
chronic flight delays and near collisions on the
runways. Traffic gridlock on the nation’s highways
and airways costs the U.S. economy more than $100
billion annually.”
Part of the problem is that the states are responsible for some 75 percent of the cost of all infrastructure projects with
the U.S. national government picking up the rest. Governors, being politicians, know that highway repair is not a big
vote-getter, so they have tended to ignore it. Some have actually leased parts of the nation’s highway system to foreign
companies. Infrastructure is an American priority and should be funded by Americans.
Coscia notes:
“The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates it
will cost $1.6 trillion just to bring the nation’s
infrastructure to a state of good repair.”
This would be money well spent. Right now, there are $79 billion in projects whose plans have been completed and could
begin tomorrow, if the money was available. The Obama administration and Congress need to make it available.
At issue, too, is where those projects are located. Bear in mind that 65 percent of America’s population lives in
metropolitan areas and accounts for 75 percent of the economy. This is no time for more “bridges to nowhere.” The
nation’s cities should be first in line to upgrade existing structures and add new ones.
Among those structures in desperate need of upgrade, are the crumbling water mains in cities from Boston to Tampa to
San Antonio and elsewhere, most of which were built generations ago. The estimated bill will be $277 billion, according to
the Environmental Protection Agency. What is more vital to life than water? Spend the money!
This is, ironically, a quintessential Conservative cause, even if it will take a recession and a nation’s capitol filled with
Liberals to make it happen. Republicans in office should embrace infrastructure as a key issue, now that Congress has
returned.
As Emil W. Henry, Jr., Assistant Treasury Secretary from 2005 to 2007, wrote recently:
“Like the maintenance of a strong military, investment
that protects prosperity -- investment in key
infrastructure -- is consistent with Reagan principles.”
He, like so many others, says: “Our infrastructure needs are at a critical juncture.”
There will be voices opposing this task, and they will all be from environmentalist groups, like Friends of the Earth and the
Sierra Club -- groups that are already on record as being against building new highways, new coal-fired or nuclear
electrical energy generation plants, and just about anything else that will ensure that our complex society can function and
our economy can keep pace with the rest of the world.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Infrastructure Problems & Issues:
Energy, Transportation, Water & Sewer Systems,
Security Systems, Education, & Parks & Recreational Facilities
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba is a veteran business, science and political writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National
Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary,
"Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s most recent book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press. Books
previously authored by Caruba include A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam, The United Nations Versus the United States: The
UN's Plan to Control Planet Earth, and America: A Nation Without Borders -- A Pocket Guide to Immigration Issues.
© Alan Caruba 2009
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity