No, Really, the US' Infrastructure is in Crap Shape and Costing Us Big Time

[Omaha Steve]

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2012/07/no-really-us-infrastructure-is-in-crap.html

Friday, July 6, 2012

No, Really, the US' Infrastructure is in Crap Shape and Costing Us Big Time
From Taylor Marsh:

Yes, it costs to bury power lines, as David Frum addresses, but it’s not like there isn’t an economic whallup that comes with the crash of a rampaging storm. From Frum:

1. There’s reason to think that industry estimates of the cost of burying wires are inflated. While the U.S. industry guesstimates costs, a large-scale study of the problem conducted recently in the United Kingdom estimated the cost premium at 4.5 to 5.5 times the cost of overhead wire, not 10. [...]

3. Costs can only be understood in relation to benefits. As the climate warms, storms and power outages are becoming more common. And as the population ages, power failures become more dangerous. In France, where air conditioning is uncommon, a 2003 heat wave left 10,000 people dead, almost all of them elderly. If burying power lines prevented power outages during the hotter summers ahead, the decision could save many lives. [...]

…and have you heard about America’s unemployment, the latest bad news hitting Monday on manufacturing? This from Frum, a Republican: Burying power lines is a project that could put many hundreds of thousands of the unemployed to work at tasks that make use of their skills and experience. Do I hear an amen?

That Americans won’t join in together to do something so simple as burying power lines, which requires investing in an infrastructure that prepares us for what climate change will continue to deliver, is another sign of our diminishing greatness.

Because of the Tea Party and Republicans no one has to dare mention “climate change.” Just talk about the economic hardship of people who lose their entire refrigerator of food because they don’t have a generator, causing even more economic fallout we don’t need. Talk about the deaths due to extreme heat, when people are left without air conditioning, the inconvenience of businesses that lose capital amid the extreme weather, patterns that show no signs of abating.

Folks -- this really isn't that complicated. The US infrastructure is falling apart. Here is the report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers:

2009 Grades
Aviation D
Bridges C
Dams D
Drinking Water D-
Energy D+
Hazardous Waste D
Inland Waterways D-
Levees D-
Public Parks and Recreation C-
Rail C-
Roads D-
Schools D
Solid Waste C+
Transit D
Wastewater D-
America's Infrastructure

FULL story at link.

[Zoeisright]

1. Yep. But most repukes are too stupid to see this.

And the 1% don't care, because they think it won't affect them, or they can make their own roads/clean their own water/remove their own shit/fly their own helicopters.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. WPA / CCC

It worked before, it would work again.