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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."
Because the federal government needs to get out of the infrastructure business. States need to take over and do whatever is necessary including raising taxes, if necessary. The federal government needs to quit the federal gasoline tax and quit lording over the States.
Major Infrastructure spending increases need to be saved for the next recession not when we are sitting at full employment. Although overall I'm for it over the ridiculous military spending we are obsessed with.
Railroads once were privately and corporately owned. It didn't work out very well in the end.
If we stopped using blue-state taxes to support red-state programs, there would be a lot of collateral damage.
States are junior partners on the US organization chart. The founders were for good reason tired of clowns like Rhode Island. Hence the push for strong central government in Philadelphia in 1787.
Like gardens, infrastructure needs regular care and tending to.
Railroads once were privately and corporately owned. It didn't work out very well in the end.
If we stopped using blue-state taxes to support red-state programs, there would be a lot of collateral damage.
States are junior partners on the US organization chart. The founders were for good reason tired of clowns like Rhode Island. Hence the push for strong central government in Philadelphia in 1787.
Like gardens, infrastructure needs regular care and tending to.
Railroads have always been privately owned. They remain so to this day.........
As much as I dislike tolls and fees the best infrastructure improvements I have seen in the past few decades are public / private projects. Clearly we need to move forward and throwing money at government alone does not seem to get the job done efficiently. Yes we need investment in both funding and methodology.
Railroads have always been privately owned. They remain so to this day.........
Yes, of course. What was I thinking? Giant holding companies dependent upon public subsidies and protections from antitrust violations are exactly what we had over all those years. And our major investment banks are unchanged as well.
Every time I leave and come back to the US, I cry and cry about the crumbling infrastructure we have and the politicians who basically don't give a **** about it.
I agree that US should spend more on refurbishment of infrastructure. They should also look at reducing the cost of building anything in the US. Forget about comparing with China or India, our whole cost of construction is massively overpriced when we compare to Europe or Australia.
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