Tag Archives: infrastructure

national news

Infrastructure repair? Not an issue with this derailment

There goes the immediate argument for repairing, rebuilding and renovating our nation’s rail infrastructure.

It’s not that we don’t need to fix our total infrastructure — highways, bridges, airports and, yes, railroads. Accordingly, Donald Trump’s insistence that the government spend a trillion dollars for a comprehensive reworking of our nation’s transportation system is spot on.

However, the derailment that occurred Monday morning in the Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., area appears to be the result of human error. You see, the Amtrak train that few off the rails was roaring along at 80 mph on a stretch of rail with a posted speed limit of 30 mph, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. That’s nearly triple the speed limit.

The train was making its initial run on a route between Seattle and Portland.

The wreck has killed at least three people, injured scores of others.

It also has created a serious discussion about training rail engineers and whether this particular engineer was (a) asleep at the controls, (b) distracted by someone in the locomotive or (c) simply being careless.

In the meantime, we should offer prayers and support for the loved ones of those who died and for those who were injured in this terrifying event.

national news

Oh, yeah, the victims … the victims, Mr. President

On occasion, it’s worth noting that the initial response to tragedy can be construed as the thing that comes to one’s mind first.

An Amtrak train derailed this morning between Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. Millions of Americans saw the TV coverage live at the time and thought, “Oh, my goodness! Those poor passengers … and the motorists who were caught on the interstate highway below!”

How did the president of the United States respond immediately?

He tweeted some nonsense about how the accident makes it imperative for Congress to enact an infrastructure improvement plan he has put forward.

Critics jumped all over Donald Trump for the seeming insensitivity in that initial Twitter message. He then fired off another one expressing his dismay for the victims and offered prayers for them.

Fine, Mr. President. We appreciate the thoughts and good wishes.

Many of us would think more of them if they were contained in the president’s initial response to the tragic derailment.

national news

These projects don’t pay for themselves

Donald J. Trump’s proposal to cut taxes — notably for the wealthiest Americans — is getting considerable play in conservative media and political circles.

The president thinks he’s on to something. He has pitched what his team has called the most sweeping “tax reform” package in U.S. history.

Now …

Let’s get real for a moment.

* The president also wants to enact a few big projects. He has proposed spending an additional $54 billion next year alone on the Department of Defense. He contends the military is depleted and, of course, blames the previous administration for all but rendering us defenseless against our enemies.

* He also wants to rebuild our nation’s roads, bridges and airports. The price tag for that? A cool $1.2 trillion. This is a project worth doing, given the sorry state of our highways and airports. I’m still baffled as to how this plays among fiscal conservatives who (a) voted for Trump in 2016 and (b) say they dislike spending money the government doesn’t have in the bank.

* The president also wants to build that “big, beautiful wall” along our southern border. The price tag varies on this matter, but I’ll go with the bigger number that’s been floated: $25 billion. I do not believe the wall will be built. Nor should it be built. Still, the president insists that it will and he no longer is saying at every campaign-style rally that “Mexico will pay for it.”

These things do not pay for themselves. Thus, Americans across the land need to ask themselves: Are we willing to step up to shoulder the cost of all these projects or are we going to ignore the reality that the money must come from each of us?

The tax cut mantra has become standard Republican Party policy. President Reagan famously sought to cut taxes while “rebuilding” the military. He railed against President Carter’s budget deficits, only to preside over a skyrocketing deficit during his two terms in office. President George H.W. Bush challenged us to “read my lips” while vowing at the GOP convention in 1988 to never raise taxes; which helped get him elected. He then raised taxes — wisely, in my view — and it cost him votes among his conservative GOP base in 1992. President George W. Bush cut taxes in 2001, then went to war with international terrorists after the 9/11 attacks; the deficits exploded.

A new Republican president is now proposing another massive tax cut while at the same time seeking to do big things. With what, Mr. President? Where’s the money coming from?

I hate the wall idea. If the president wants to stem illegal immigration, then invest more money in better enforcement along both of our lengthy borders — north and south — and at ports of entry along all three coasts.

The defense buildup doesn’t need to cost nearly what Trump is proposing. Our military remains the strongest in the world.

Infrastructure improvement makes sense, but it’s going to cost Americans a lot of money to get it done.

Are we going to fall for the GOP tax-cut dodge because we don’t want to pay for the things we insist that government do for us? Or are we going to understand that our government requires us to spend a bit of our money to make it work?

national news

What about the deficit and the national debt?

trump

Hey, wait a second! Didn’t Republicans around the country gripe their voices hoarse about the size of the federal budget deficit and the debt that President Obama was running up?

Didn’t they proclaim that the world would come crashing down around us all if we didn’t get a handle on the debt?

That was before Donald J. Trump got elected president this past week, apparently.

Now it looks as though we’re about to blow the deficit apart and run up even more debt, now that the GOP is in control of the White House and Capitol Hill.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/deficit-donald-trump-republicans-231372?cmpid=sf

Trump wants to enact a massive infrastructure spending bill — while cutting taxes.

Let me see if I can figure this out. You spend billions of dollars, cut revenue to pay for it and then you watch the debt pile up and, oh yes, run up annual budget deficits that under Obama’s watch had been cut by two-thirds.

As Politico reports: “’There is now a real risk that we will see an onslaught of deficit-financed goodies — tax cuts, infrastructure spending, more on defense — all in the name of stimulus, but which in reality will massively balloon the debt,’ said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.”

I guess the GOP is going to return to the refrain that came from former Vice President Dick Cheney, who once declared (in)famously that “deficits don’t matter.”

Well, they do matter, Mr. Vice President. I consider myself a deficit hawk and it troubles me that the upcoming GOP spending spree well might threaten our economic recovery.

If we determine we need to repair our roads, bridges and airports, then we ought to dig a little deeper for the money to pay for them.

And to think the Republican Party once ran on the principle of fiscal responsibility.” What the new president is proposing — and what the GOP-run Congress is likely to approve — is anything but responsible.

Uncategorized

Infrastructure now becomes controversial

Americans not even as old as I am can no doubt remember when infrastructure spending drew support from politicians of both parties.

It was a consensus deal. Get it done. We need those roads and bridges in tip-top shape. We drive our motor vehicles over them. We’re carrying the kids and pets in our SUVs. We’re hauling travel trailers across the country.

Hey, these are our public roads and highways and we need to spend public money to keep them maintained.

Remember those days?

They’re gone.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/obama-mocks-congress-highway-spending-108491.html

President Obama wants to spend money to fix our roads, bridges and highways. They’ll create thousands of jobs. And, yes, they’ll make our roadways safer for Mom, Dad and the Kids.

To no one’s surprise these days, Congress is digging in on that one, too.

Obama spoke the other day at a bridge that needs repair. He’s asking Congress to reauthorize money for an infrastructure trust fund that’s about to run dry. Congress isn’t moving on it. Imagine that.

The House of Representatives, where these spending initiatives begin, is run by Republicans who are angry with the Democratic president because of his taunts over his executive action. “So sue me,” Obama said the other day when he mentioned employing the executive authority he possesses.

The notion of spending money to keep the country moving safely is supposed to be a bipartisan effort. Sadly, nothing of substance enjoys bipartisan support. Who’s to blame? Republicans blame Obama; the president blames them.

The system is broken, ladies and gentlemen. Meanwhile, our bridges and highways are crumbling beneath us.

Repair our infrastructure before someone gets hurt.

Uncategorized

LaGuardia airport like ‘Third World country’?

Vice President Joe Biden is prone to overstatement at times, which I guess every American knows already.

How about when he recently compared New York’s LaGuardia Airport like a Third World country.

Mr. Vice President, I’ve flown in and out of LaGuardia. Yes, it’s crowded and old. Third World country-like, however, is a serious stretch.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/06/biden-laguardia-like-a-third-world-country/?hpt=hp_t2

If you’ve flown into Belize City, or Phnom Penh, or Hanoi or Delhi, well, those are Third World airports. Actually, Hanoi and Phnom Penh have undergone serious upgrades and reconstruction since the times I flew into those terminal.

Athens’s airport — the one in Greece, the Cradle of Western Civilization — once looked like it began operating during Greece’s Golden Age. It, too, has been replaced by a modern, gleaming terminal.

I guess the vice president’s larger point is that infrastructure needs serious help in the United States. We keep falling farther behind other countries in the quality of our transportation amenities, and that includes airports, highways, bridges and rail lines.

“Just in the last decade the United States has fallen 20 spots when it comes to the quality of infrastructure in America. It’s embarrassing and it’s stupid. It’s stupid. That puts us literally behind. They rank us behind Barbados. Great country, one airport,” he said.

“Look folks, not a joke, we need to reinvest and modernize our whole infrastructure, especially in rail,” Biden added.

The country needs investment in these things. Yes, “investment” means spending money. These projects create jobs and, yes, move people around more efficiently and safely.

I’ll excuse Joe Biden’s overstatement about LaGuardia. His larger point is worth heeding.