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Question 1:The US should increase spending now on roads, railways, bridges and airports (new projects & maintenance)
Why or Why Not?
Choices include Strongly Agree, Agree, Uncertain, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, No Opinion
A panel of top economists at top research universities weighed in on this question; 45% disagreed, 26% were uncertain, and the remaining 19% agreed or strongly agreed.
Representative of the disagree-ers: "Long term investments should be timed strategically, when the economy is slowing --not at 4.3% unemployment"
Representative of the agree-ers: "The need to improve infrastructure in the US is independent of Keynesian stimulus reasons. We now have low interest rates so now is a good time. But how we choose which projects get done is very important.
Representative of the uncertain: "I am sure there are very useful projects. I am not sure those are the ones that would get funded."
Railroads have always been privately owned. They remain so to this day.........
The US had an opportunity to nationalize the rail lines in the 1930s, but it never got much attention. The Russian Revolution was only 20 years in the past, and public ownership of anything terrified the capitalists. Since then, the US rail system has deteriorated so badly that nobody in their right mind, including the federal government, would want to own it. Bring it up to 21st century standards would cost as much as invading Iraq. It's no accident that any freight with a delivery date goes by truck. If you put it on a rail car, it can get lost for 3 months. Private ownership of railroads has been an abject failure, though the old Right of Way makes great walking paths after they tear up the lines.
I disagree that the federal government should be handling this. Anytime a large government body administers a large project or set of projects it leads to a serious missllocation of resources (bridge to nowhere).
I do believe there are a significant amount of infrastructure projects needed in this country. They should be bidded managed and paid for at the local level.
All these transportation venues can't be self sustaining or paid for by the states they are going through. . Because they are used by everyone in the country. It would be a nightmare to try and section off by state use.
If a family takes a train or a plane from NY to Florida or California it would be impossible to keep all the tracks in the same shape through that many states. And what if they fly from California to say Kentucky. Kentucky probably doesn't have the revenue California does to maintain their infrastructure. So we're just gonna do what? Cut out the state of Kentucky from the country?
This would be so unworkable you would stop transportation in its tracks throughout the country.
It's actually more expensive to build or repair a road the further you go from major population centers so small towns would take the brunt. Small town of 600 people doesn't have the revenue to maintain their streets.
We need to spend more because our infrastructure is so far behind not only in repairs/maintenance but technology also.
I disagree that the federal government should be handling this. Anytime a large government body administers a large project or set of projects it leads to a serious missllocation of resources (bridge to nowhere).
I do believe there are a significant amount of infrastructure projects needed in this country. They should be bidded managed and paid for at the local level.
You should go someplace with a functioning rail system sometime. There is no such thing as a decent privately owned rail system in this world. Maybe you would like it if we went back to private ownership of highways too? A simple look around at reality will show that private ownership of infrastructure is nonsense, simply because there is no way to make it both effective and profitable without restricting the economy.
Prime example of the need for infrastructure spending.
I've read different cost estimates for building a new lock--- to being near 1 billion. The lock has been approved for 30 years but never funded.
There have been thoughts about doing a conveyor system to bypass the rapids but the big boats are really pretty efficient at it. The large ones, 1000fters, carry about 70000 tons at about 1 gallon of diesel per ton going 600 miles.
The poor condition of roads and other infrastructure is causing lengthy delays for trucks and even commuters. We shouldn't be waiting for bridges to collapse before rebuilding them.
And the anti-tax, anti-spending folks still don't get it.
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