(History Channel)
The United States has poured $53 billion into Iraqi infrastructure over the past six years, building schools, hospitals, water-treatment facilities, and government buildings in an attempt to rebuild the physical as well as political structures of civil society. But officials are afraid that money may go waste if Iraq doesn't quickly develop the capacity to maintain and operate those facilities.
The NY Times reports that the Iraqi government has delayed or completely avoided taking responsibility for hundreds of infrastructure projects. Already, some buildings sit empty because Iraqis can't staff them. An American hospital was closed as soon as it was handed over to Iraqis because it lacked a medical staff, supplies, and electricity.
The inspector general of Iraq reconstruction says he has been consistently warning American officials that taxpayer money may be going to waste on Iraqi infrastructure projects, but buildings have continued to go up and contractors have continued to get paid. Experts say there is plenty of blame to go around: Iraqis have been guilty of mismanaging projects, and Americans have been guilty of building without asking Iraqi locals what they need or will be able to use after Americans have departed.
America's Crumbling Infrastructure (History Channel)
I'm sure someone out there will chime in with comments about how we "can't afford" to fix our infrastructure, or how modernization should be left to the private sector. But they never complain about spending a billion dollars every couple of days on useless, illegal wars or superfluous military bases.
That's where the money is, and that, unfortunately, is where our government's priorities have been.
We neglect things here at home like our infrastructure or our health care because we're in a perpetual state of war. Our economy is a war economy. And it shapes all debates, all news coverage, all conversations, the food we eat, and how we build and maintain our cities.
I'm not even sure ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would not change our war economy.
Our war is much deeper and wider than that.
But ending the war economy would allow us to start considering a sustainable future here instead
Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, (Minnesota Public Radio)
of an apocalyptic one. It would be good for the kids.
Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, (Minnesota Public Radio)
We had trillions to spend in Iraq to make us "safe" after 3,000 Americans died. Yet, every single year, 15 times that many Americans die from lack of health insurance, yet health care reform opponents crow that we don't have the money to do something about it. Yes, we have the equivalent of fifteen 9-11's every year from lack of health insurance, and Republicans and some Democrats are telling you we can't afford to do something about it.
We have trillions to dump into the Middle East to protect our oil supplies. Yet, we have no money to make a real "Manhattan Project II" to make us energy independent. America was once a leader in science and technology --before science was politicized and discredited for political gain. American once had a "can-do" spirit that would have demanded we innovate our way out of our greatest threat to our national security --energy dependence. How is it that we have trillions to spend defending oil supplies but no money to innovate energy independence?
We have trillions to spend in Iraq, yet no money for high speed rail. At 200 mph one could travel from Chicago to NY in merely a few hours, in far more comfort than flying (and even bring a bottle of contact lens solution).
Complain about the trillions spend in Iraq (and now Afghanistan), and you're "soft on security." Complain about spending a fraction of that safeguarding the people who travel on our bridges and highways, and you're "fiscally responsible."
Authorities say a burst water main in the Los Angeles suburb of Studio City has forced people out of their homes and flooded the famous Ventura Boulevard. (Sept. 6, 2009)
I don't know why so many Americans, particularly suburban and rural Americans, view any kind of public transportation as something to be fought for tooth and nail. Yet they complain mightily when a mishap occurs. Just this past week a water main break occurred that created a commuter traffic nightmare for hours. Where? River Street in occurred that created a commuter traffic nightmare for hours. Where? River Street in Santa Cruz, CA.
Atlanta has MARTA (or as the locals call it, "Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta" --make of that what you will). MARTA gets no funding from the state and is constantly ridiculed for not being able to "make a profit," as if doing something good for the community or the environment, or the well being of individuals who would otherwise sit in logjam traffic 50 extra hours a year. The idea that public transport (or high speed passenger rail) isn't supposed to make a profit, that it's there to serve a different purpose, never occurs to opponents, because they can't conceive of anything that goes against their mindset.
Well, here are two free market ideas that should give all profit-minded capitalists a reason to support public works projects:
1) It creates jobs. Republicans in particular should be clamoring for the Obama Administration to create a national infrastructural job corps along the lines of FDR's CCC and WPA, and direct such efforts to addressing our roads, bridges, tunnels, highways, information superhighways, public rail transit, parks, beaches, electrical grids and other arterial systems that deliver access, energy and necessity to American homes and businesses all across the land. The administration claims to have set aside $100 billion for America's infrastructure, but these are monies being distributed piecemeal on dubious projects. Something larger and demonstratively national in scope, so that anyone anywhere has an opportunity to work on such projects. And here's the good news: These would be jobs that can't be outsourced. All of the jobs to build and re-build our infrastructure are essentially impossible to export. We need that improvement as well.
2) Rebuilding the infrastructure is a long-term investment. If America were a company, and it refused to invest the necessary money on new technology and an improved physical plant, it would become less competitive, slipping further and further back until it went out of business. America won't go out of business, but if it wants to remain a leader in the global economy, it has to act like one, and we are long overdue. Not only could such an investment create jobs, if done right it could also provide tangible benefits to the American people, such as reduced traffic congestion, improved air quality, clean and abundant water supplies and protection against natural hazards.
America, wake up and smell the latte. We must continually remind ourselves of the hundreds of billions of dollars that were wasted as the U-S was rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq, after we destroyed it, while neglecting our own needs here at home. Dumping our resources into the black hole of the Middle East while our citizens die at rates many times faster than any terrorist has ever killed and our bridges crumble and transportation goes to pot is madness. Madness brought to you by the guys who benefit financially from it.
For the sake of our national well-being and our worldwide reputation, we need to pull back from being global cops and busybodies and turn our attention to taking care of ourselves, rebuilding our infrastructure, our economy, and our national morale.
Steam Pipe Explosion - Midtown Manhattan (July 18, 2007)
More reading on infrastructure in this article.
Comments
"The United States has poured $870 billion into American infrastructure over the past 8 months, building schools, hospitals and government buildings in an attempt to rebuild the physical as well as political and union structures of civil society. But officials are watching money may go to waste because America doesn't quickly develop the capacity to maintain and operate those facilities, or to track the money."
400 some non-existent congressional districts sucked billions in "stimulus" money from the taxpayer.
I question if the controls in Iraq are any worse than the controls of this government.
It's high time America looks after America first and quits being a sugar daddy to the rest of the world like Israel, Iraq, Africa etc. How many billions of dollars go to these places every year and to people who have absolutely no loyalty to the US whatsoever.
Blind follower: That's the question, isn't it. This business of funneling money to this state or that district just makes you wonder whether it's a political favor on one end (federal) or squandered inefficiency at the other (local). That's why I'd rather see some broad national plan that says: We're fixing the nation's highways, the nation's parks, or whatever, rather than these little piecemeal projects nobody knows about. It does two things: One, we're saying specifically where the money is going, and two, it creates a sort of unified agenda I think a lot of us can get behind: Enough with babysitting all these other countries; let's take care of ourselves first.
It's like the oxygen mask in the plane: You put yours on first before your kid's. We're not gonna be able to do much good for other countries if we're not much good to ourselves.
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