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The World Socialist Web Site reports
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its quadrennial "Report Card" last month on the condition of infrastructure in the United States. Once again, the association gave the country an overall grade of D+, the same as in 2013.
The report is a damning appraisal of the state of American society under capitalism, and the Obama years, which saw essential social needs starved of funding while the stock market tripled in value and vast public resources were squandered on war. This will only accelerate under Trump.
The ASCE report assesses the state of sixteen different categories of infrastructure: aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, hazardous waste, inland waterways, levees, parks and recreation, ports, rail, roads, schools, solid waste, transit and wastewater.
Twelve of the sixteen sections evaluated earned a D grade. The report defines a D grade as "The infrastructure is in poor to fair condition and mostly below standard, with many elements approaching the end of their service life. A large portion of the system exhibits significant deterioration. Condition and capacity are of serious concern with strong risk of failure."
According to ASCE, the total costs to bring all US infrastructure into an adequate condition would exceed two trillion dollars.
[...] ASCE's answer to this crisis is not only inadequate but downright reactionary.
[...] In the section of the report titled "solutions to raise the grade" the authors suggest that "Infrastructure owners and operators must charge, and Americans must be willing to pay, rates and fees that reflect the true cost of using, maintaining, and improving infrastructure." Other sections advocate "user generated fees", hiking the gasoline tax, and other regressive proposals that would disproportionately affect the country's poorest citizens. The report also calls for more "public-private" partnerships, along with the streamlining of approval for private investment in public infrastructure projects.
Such free-market measures would only create an ever-greater class-based infrastructure system, where only those who could afford to will be able to drive on high toll expressways and bridges, send their children to quality schools, drink clean water, and live in areas not threatened with constant flooding or environmental disasters.
View the ASCE's report card here.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Monday April 17 2017, @01:25AM (6 children)
Along the same line as Texas Solution to Untested Rape Kits: Ask Drivers for Donations at the Department of Public Safety office [soylentnews.org] ..? It's the same thing. If the money that is already taken by IRS is squandered. Well then there will be not much left. In fact given sufficient bad priorities no amount of money will ever do. So the problem isn't money but how they are prioritized.
If the bad priorities continue. There will be little capacity to generate the value (not money) to back up the monetary system and then there will be no any resources to do either wars or infrastructure. It's like peeing in your pants. Gets you warm quickly one time, then you have to deal with the consequences for a long time.
Bu- but oil! ie petrodollar. Well I would not bet my future on that. Peak cheap oil and carbon reduction by regulation or natural disaster(s) will end it in a ordered or chaotic manner. Any way you like it.
Some things are really good to do on a individual basis. Others are more suitable for a collective effort. They tend to be few but really required. Either everybody could have their own dedicated cable to Google or one could share the same super fiber..
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday April 17 2017, @05:04AM (5 children)
Electric cars and hybrids are really a tiny portion of the fleet these days. But they, along with increased mileage of iCEs have cut the gas tax revenue to such an extent that many states are thinking of imposing a mileage tax on electric vehicles.
Still, except in the middle of poor cities, the roads are not that bad, at least in the western half of the country where I've spent three weeks traveling around thru 6 states. After a tough winter you expect rough roads, but I was amazed how little of that I actually found, and how much of the rural (non freeway) roads are in very good condition. You had to go into cities to find pot holes. And usually into poor cities.
We encountered stretches of freeway being rebuilt in place in just about every state we entered. Its not like Zero money is being spent.
You have to consider the source of this story. I doubt it is as bad as they claim. I'm sure its not as good as we would like it to be.
They've never given a overall grade above D in their entire organization's life.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday April 17 2017, @05:20AM (4 children)
The gas tax is a fixed amount per gallon. Since 1993, it has been 18.4 cents per gallon. That little feature combined with inflation has done more to cut revenue than improved mileage has. It should have been a percentage all along. That it isn't is a huge gift to Big Oil.
Yeah, the report can't help but be biased, try as they might to be neutral. The writers are interested parties who stand to benefit by the growth of their profession from all the infrastructure work they recommend.
I should like to see growth in other means of transport. We wouldn't need so many highways if people weren't joined at the hips to their cars.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday April 17 2017, @05:36AM (3 children)
Efficient transportation would be high speed trains. Directly into city cores, TSA free and even if someone brings something bad. Trains are tough vehicles.
At least between larger cities some kind of train autobahn would probably be profitable.
Japan, China, Europe can do it, but not USA?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday April 17 2017, @01:36PM (2 children)
That's politics for you. For decades, there's been talk of building a high speed passenger rail line between Dallas and Houston. Texas is very pro-transportation, yet it has never been done. Texas is not so keen on public transportation. Among others, airlines oppose the idea. Many among the public are easily spooked into feeling that passenger rail enables poor, crime prone people to get around better, and will therefore cause a rise in crime. Dallas recently connected its 2 major airports with light rail. Somewhat predictably, taxi drivers were opposed. There are always some special interests to take the anti-social side of a non-issue issue.
Another long discussed route for high speed rail is San Francisco to Los Angeles. California is of course much friendlier towards public things. But they are very much against tearing up even a little of the environment to build more roads. A blindingly obvious road improvement they ought to do but haven't is extend I40 to I5.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday April 17 2017, @07:46PM
Maybe time for Schweitzer style of governing. If enough people sign a petition it is to be voted on by constitution. And the result is the law.
In the end there are certain parameters that make a society successful. Whenever people for whatever reason steer outside of these parameters degradation follows.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday April 17 2017, @08:05PM
Some additional thought. If the politics get the country stuck then the society at large will fall behind and others will take the economic and technological lead. This affect the doctrine of cultural values too, like freedom, rule of law, self determination etc.