The real Bridge to Nowhere -- today's open thread
The real Bridge to Nowhere -- today's open thread
The NYT's Bob Herbert does Philly:
Gov. Ed Rendell likes to tell a story that goes back to his days as mayor of Philadelphia.
As he recalled, the city had a long cold snap with about a month and a half of below-freezing temperatures. Then, abruptly, the mercury rose into the 60s, he said, “and 58 of our water mains broke, causing all sorts of havoc.”
The pipes were old. Some were ancient. “My water people told me that some had been laid in the 19th century,” said Mr. Rendell, “and they were laid shallow, without much protection. So with any radical changes in temperature, they were susceptible to breaking. We had a real emergency on our hands.”
Infrastructure, that least sexy of issues, is not just a significant interest of Ed Rendell’s; it’s more like a consuming passion.
Ed Rendell's "consuming passion" is for....bridges? Who knew? Seriously, the column is a hammer on the nail of the head of the problems we face in this country, and the solutions should be that simple. Our infrastructure needs fixing, and the repair work creates jobs in the short run and leads to a more efficient economy in the long run. It's a no-brainer, except that all debt-and-spending is now politically toxic, thanks to all the non-productive waste -- Iraq, tax cuts for the rich, and a general lack of fiscal discipline -- of the George W. Bush years. We complain, with some justification, about all the money we owe to the Chinese, but we really should worry more about how the Chinese are cleaning our clock by investing in things like high-speed rail. Our inaction is likely increasing our debt, by the way, because of the high cost to the federal treasury of chronic unemployment; if you are not working, you are not paying taxes.
This shouldn't be hard, people. And yet it is.
Discuss whatever's on your mind.
Comment removed.
Republican debt, spending, and lack of fiscal discipline is bad. Apparently though, Democrat debt, spending, and lack of fiscal discipline is good because Will neglects to mention what's been going on the last year or so. I know, your shocked, right?— jmc
NOTE: DEMOCRATS have controlled Congress for the past FOUR YEARS. But thanks to Obama, this is one change he will be able to take credit for.— WriteWinger- Sounds like you've got it all figured out. All our problems are due to Bush's presidency, tax cuts for the rich, and the war in Iraq. What's there to discuss?— Mark Schecklgruber
- So China will be stuck with a bunch of rails that no one really wants unless they are heavily subsidized. Brilliant. "It's a no-brainer, except that all debt-and-spending is now politically toxic, thanks to all the non-productive waste" Or the massive unfunded entitlement programs set to suck up 80% of the budget in the near future.— RG
- either this guy is mentally ill, or he is like that kid that we all knew who would make snow balls, and then try to convince others to throw them— Tom813
- I got it now: Kennedy, Murtha, L A U T E N B U R G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— WriteWinger
- Wilbur- do you mean infrastructure like this?--Obama will announce on Tuesday an $8.3 billion loan guarantee to help Southern Co build two reactors, a move that the administration hopes will invigorate the nuclear power industry after nearly three decades in which no new plants have been built. I didn't think you did either. (HTML deleted)— WriteWinger
- The Colts are blaming George Bush also- for their Super Bowl loss.— Manny Trillo
- I just checked my calender- it's 2010- February- and Barack Hussein Obama is the president.......Bunch where have you been? in TPS's basement?— Manny Trillo
- Thank God the Health care give away didn't pass...— palmyra21
"So China will be stuck with a bunch of rails that no one really wants unless they are heavily subsidized." . . . . . . LOL, nobody wanted the interstate highway system either, unless it was heavily subsidized. Oh, but that's socialism.- I'm glad Obama's doing the nuclear plants -- it is infrastructure that will reduce pollution from greenhouse gases, a much greater risk than the nuclear safety issues.— will
- ---}}} So China will be stuck with a bunch of rails that no one really wants unless they are heavily subsidized. {{{--- ---}}} Good point, RG. Because, clearly, the rapid growth in public sector spending in China, certainly overall and even in terms of % of GDP, had clearly restricted the growth of its economy. LOL!— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
