The idea that infrastructure will lead to higher employment for Americans (highway, Sanders)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The infrastructure problems are not going away but suddenly we can't afford to repair the bridges and roads that were built 70 years ago because........
....they were robbing the Highway Trust fund for the last few decades to fund mass transit projects.
The only honest critique against government funded infrastructure projects is that they can be terribly inefficient because of all the regulations to make certain the public has input and that the bidding and hiring process is open and fair. That, and there's at least a 15% premium versus private sector work just because... I don't know. That one bugs me.
Now the Pentagon, That's a dark hole of unaccountability if one ever existed. No bid contracts, zero detail accounting... States, which are the entities that do most of the contracting for federally funded projects could never get away with that.
just a little tidbit for you.
There are very FEW no bid contracts and those that are have to follow very strict regulations like, "Can ANYBODY else do this work?"
Has anybody else bid on this contract? etc.
What I found hilarious is all the hullabaloo from the left over Halliburton getting a no bid contract, (no body else bid on it), when it was Bill Clinton who gave them their FIRST no bid contract, and NOT A WORD of complaint from the left when it was awarded.
What is YOUR personal experience with gov't contracts?
Typical finger pointing and blaming. This is why nothing gets done, and infrastructure continues to rot. Once a piece of infrastructure reaches the absolute end of their useful life, it is replaced. Not before. The theory is that this saves money, but I'm sure there are exceptions.
I think we should be tearing much of our infrastructure apart and replacing it with something more modern. Think of how old our cities are. You can't keep doing things the same way forever, and expect to get ahead.
It may not be immediately cost effective, but modernizing infrastructure would help give America a leading edge. We have many good examples of well managed infrastructure around the world to study from. So let's learn and move forward already. I doubt the old toads in congress think much about the future though.
"Think of how old our cities are"
I always come back with, define infrastructure and who is responsible for it.
Are you talking about federal, state, county AND/or city?
IMO, if your local state, county or city did NOT take care of its infrastructure, why should I, and the rest of the countries taxpayers, have to pay for it?
What happened to the taxes collect that WAS supposed to maintain your infrastructure?
Many of us are sick and tired of local municipalities NOT maintaining its infrastructure and come to Uncle Sam to bail them out.
I am not as knowledgeable with DoD as, like you said, they have their own rules. I was thinking of moving toward working with the DoD mostly because they get paid WAY more than regular contract executives, managers, or administrators. I would get paid more to do a lower level DoD contract administration than to be a manager or executive at a regular government agency.
You are contradicting yourself.
First you say, "I am not as knowledgeable with DoD"
Then you say, " they get paid WAY more than regular contract executives, managers, or administrators..."
The failure of the infrastructure improvements lies purely on the shoulders of congress, they failed to approve the bill without every signer have their pork barrel attached to it.
There was very small but well used bridge in my area they decided to replace. They finally got to doing it and expected a few months to complete the project. They demolished the existing bridge and startd construction, they passed that handicap law in the meantime. Setting aside the fact this bridge is very difficult to get to on foot to begin with they ended up having to go back to the drawing board. 3 or 4 years later the bridge got built...
If you ask for federal money, you have to go by fedaerl rules.
All your local politicians had to do was PAY FOR IT YOURSELF.
Actually many water systems also need repair, they replaced one of the systems in Chicago and it was made from wood.
The infrastructure problems are not going away but suddenly we can't afford to repair the bridges and roads that were built 70 years ago because........
It is a LOCAL CHICAGO problem.
If Chicago hadn't been so corrupt for the past 50 years or so, MAYBE it wouldn't be in this predicament!
There was never a $1200 hammer, it was an accounting error that had no affect on it's $15 cost .
It makes for good headlines but there is usually very legitimate reasons for what seem to be extraordinary costs. The toilet seat for example. That was for the B1 and required expensive material to specific dimensions and it was a very small order which always cost more. If you had gone out ordered the same thing it would have cost the same thing.
Speaking of the B1 this is another thing that is often held up as costing far more than the projected costs. A very large part of the costs of these weapon systems is R&D. You need to build tools to make it, etc. Those costs are spread over every plane, the more you make the less it costs per plane. When expected production is cut the cost per plane balloons.
That plane was a monumental waste of money, a total pig.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
