Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams

[rodeodance]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003226851_fragile26.html

Saturday, August 26, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM


Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams

By Chuck McCutcheon

Newhouse News Service

WASHINGTON — A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.

None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country's basic operating systems are deteriorating.

"When I see events like these, I become concerned that we've lost focus on the core operational functionality of the nation's infrastructure and are becoming a fragile nation, which is just as bad — if not worse — as being an insecure nation," said Christian Beckner, a Washington analyst who runs the respected Web site Homeland Security Watch (www.christianbeckner.com).

The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem.

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. Oh wonderful....

confirmation of what we have been suspecting.

[Joe Bacon]

25. And what is the Republican answer to this?

MORE TAX CUTS! :banghead:

[rodeodance]

2. "Infrastructure is always a difficult issue," Bush acknowledged.

........The Commission on Public Infrastructure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said in a recent report that facilities are deteriorating "at an alarming rate."


It noted that half the 257 locks operated by the Army Corps of Engineers on inland waterways are functionally obsolete, more than one-quarter of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete, and $11 billion is needed annually to replace aging drinking-water facilities.

President Bush, asked about the problem during a public question-and-answer session in an April visit to Irvine, Calif., cited last year's enactment of a comprehensive law reauthorizing highway, transit and road-safety programs.

"Infrastructure is always a difficult issue," Bush acknowledged. "It's a federal responsibility and a state and local responsibility. And I, frankly, feel like we've upheld our responsibility at the federal level with the highway bill."

[rodeodance]

5. "earmarks' are part of the problem.

But experts say the law is riddled with some 5,000 "earmarks" for projects sought by members of Congress that do nothing to systematically address the problem.

[rodeodance]

6. $11 billion is needed annually to replace aging drinking-water facilities.

[rodeodance]

55. instead of throwing it into wars--lets have some nation building at home!!

[Patchuli]

12. I don't like the way

* "upholds responsibility." For instance, one year ago, * totally ignored 3 American states during the worst natural disaster in our history. He doesn't know a thing about responsibility...I hope we take the Houses and get to teach him...

[rodeodance]

43. that will not solve the problem if we continue to have earmakes (patchwork

[Gregorian]

21. The bridge situation is growing fast.

In the mid 80's corrosion of steel bridge components was already a big problem. This I learned firsthand from a professor of materials who was inspecting for rust across the nation's bridges.

China just spent on their infrastructure, what we spent in Iraq.

Bravo, Bush! And Democrats who haven't held his feet to the fire.

[bandy]

51. I happened to meet an engineer

from Georgia, here to supervise bridge inspections. This was about 4 yrs ago and I had just read about China eating up our cement supply. The cement we are left with is substandard therefore, our buildings, bridges, etc. are substandard. He said "Yes, Mame, you read it right". That's not what I wanted to hear!

Edited to say I am in Florida where there are thousands of bridges and buildings going up everywhere you look.

[C_U_L8R]

3. When republicans run things

everything falls to pieces
(and all the money disappears)

What's it gonna take to wake the nation
out of it's daze?? Hasn't everyone had enough already??

[tinfoilinfor2005]

7. First three lines...great bumper sticker. n/t

[Miss Chybil]

17. We'll know in November... nt

[bvar22]

38. Great Bumper Sticker!

[C_U_L8R]

44. oh wow !

thanks bvar !!!! you rock !!!

(and thank you Tinfgoil and Chybil too )

[Journeyman]

4. Wow. I guess all that tax money was used for something useful. . .

who'd a known?

[rodeodance]

8. "We need to think creatively." according to Hagel

But a few politicians are starting to notice. In March, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., joined Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Tom Carper, D-Del., in sponsoring a bill to set up a national commission to assess infrastructure needs.

That same month, the CSIS infrastructure commission issued a set of principles calling for increased spending, investments in new technologies and partnerships with business. Among those signing the report were Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

"Infrastructure deficiencies will further erode our global competitiveness, but with the federal budget so committed to mandatory spending, it's unclear how we are going to deal with this challenge as we fall further and further behind in addressing these problems," Hagel said in a speech last year. "We need to think creatively."

[KittyWampus]

14. "think creatively" = privatize everything.

[n2doc]

42. Republican future=toll roads, bottled water and irradiated food

Pay double for everything while the ultra rich jet around to their private enclaves.

[Miss Chybil]

18. Hey, they can sell it all to the UAE and let them fix it! nt

[TomInTib]

9. A truly telling article...

'Those incidents followed reports that the National Security Agency (NSA), the intelligence world's electronic eavesdropping arm, is consuming so much electricity at its headquarters outside Washington that it is in danger of exceeding its power supply.

"If a terrorist group were able to knock the NSA offline, or disrupt one of the nation's busiest airports, or shut down the most important oil pipeline in the nation, the impact would be perceived as devastating," Beckner said. "And yet we've essentially let these things happen — or almost happen — to ourselves."'

[nashville_brook]

30. how much FARKING evesdropping are they DOING to consume

that much energy.

they prolly know i'm getting ready to smoke a ciggie before i do!

[TomInTib]

34. Remember that Total (Terror) Information Awareness deal?

The one headed by John Poindexter.

That baby would suck some energy, big-time.

Remember that Pentagon- developed program to determine the intent shown by one's gait?

That crap did not just go away.

[Old and In the Way]

10. "estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix

the problem"

Odd, that's just about the money we've squandered destroying Iraq. Feel safer now?

[OzarkDem]

47. We're spending that amount every year in Iraq n/t

[opihimoimoi]

11. The GOP?? all we get from them are EXCUSES and blaming others

Bushies Brain is turned off.

[larrysh]

13. So what.!!!!!

We need to drive less, and if crumbling freeways and potholes the size of Rhode Island discourage people from driving, then all the better. The same with air travel. When my wife and I visited Lake Chapala, Mexico, last month, I wanted to drive down from Houston.....OH ! NO!!! My wife insisted we fly ....If Houston Intercontinental had planes backed up and delays of over two hours....maybe she wouldn't have been so damned picky!!!!! The quickest and best way to get people to take the oil crises seriously is to let the infracture collapse!!!!!

[LeftyMom]

24. Collapsing infrastructure is dangerous and causes further waste

Crumbling roads wear out cars and tires faster, and drive more people to get enormous vehicles to ride above the potholes, which makes the problem worse. Crowded roads mean longer commute times and more smog. Unsafe bridges and highways are doubly dangerous here in CA because most of the bridges are in earthquake country. People were crushed to death by the collapse of a double decker freeway during the Loma Prieta earthquake. Homes and farmland are lost when levees break and flood waters rush in. Planes waiting for takeoff burn fuel to keep the lights and AC on.

No matter how fucked up the roads are, people will drive them unless there's a safe, pleasant and convenient alternative. People will fly because it's faster and often cheaper than driving or taking the train. Unless and until we offer people better alternatives, we need to have those systems operating as safely and efficiently as possible.

[gorbal]

45. We need to build an infrastructure within an infrastructure

Like they do in other countries when they no longer have a government. Especially if the Democrats are cheated out of this next election.

Can people help me add to this list I haven't updated in a while-

http://www.alterinfra.blogspot.com/

Looking back on it it seems a bit naive and I know a lot more now. But I still think we need to keep looking at ways people are doing it for themselves as a sort of sociological model.

[ShockediSay]

15. one of Bill Clinton's campaign themes was rebuilding our infrastructure n

[AndyA]

16. Well, we all know one thing for sure...

this is all Clinton's fault!

If you said something to George Bush about infrastructure, he'd tell you he always goes indoors when it rains. :eyes:

[PurityOfEssence]

19. Coasting on the past, looting the present and mortgaging the future

In a greed frenzy to amass as much wealth as possible, the extremist monarchists of the fiscal "conservatives" don't keep the upkeep going, don't pay the present bills and saddle the future citizens with huge debt.

Our electrical grid is a patchwork and doddering on the edge of shutdowns like the one that happened in Ohio and shut down New York City. The roads and the rail networks are starved for money because of greedy oligarchs who refuse to pay into the system that sustains them so well.

We skip out on present bills, don't mend our broken fences and live well beyond our means. It's disgusting and it isn't going to stop.

This country took a hard and ugly turn in the 1980 election, and we've never recovered from it; greed is not a failing to be tolerated, it's a virtue.

[MadMaddie]

31. I have always said that the 80's and Reagonomics was the

beginning of a lot of the crap we are seeing today....

[lumpy]

40. Yes, Reaganonomics was the

beginning of the end of integrity in rampant capitalism, the escalation of economic/banking deregulation, corporate tax breaks, clampdown of tax reform, excessive tax shelters for the wealthy, emasculation of labor concerns etc etc etc....

[SoCalDem]

20. Benjamin Franklin's making more and more sense..

His sayings fit better now, than when he said them


"For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail." -
-- Benjamin Franklin




quotes from Benjamin Franklin

* "As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence."
* "For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise."
* "He does not possess wealth; it possesses him."
* "He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees."
* "I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old."

* "The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation."
* "Victory belongs to the most persevering."
* "For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business."
* "Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."
* "There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."

[rodeodance]

46. hey thanks, great quote.

His sayings fit better now, than when he said them


"For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail." -
-- Benjamin Franklin

[Erika]

22. W's plan for turning the US into a banana republic

Money for arms but no monies for our own citizens and infrastructure.

[nealmhughes]

23. To quote David Byrne: "Things fall apart, it's scientific."

The country is falling apart with none of the charm of a 200 year old home in Devon with Victorian plumbing and gas light fixtures...

[kurth]

32. Fighting entropy costs money

And yet the moron is creating more entropy in his shithole Iraq.

[gulfcoastliberal]

26. Experts agree that power transmission lines (almost all date from FDR)

Are overloaded, and grid operators are being pressured to keep overloading the lines- even if it causes blackouts- due to the deregulation of electricity. No new lines are being built. Only a matter of time before our power situation is similar to Baghdad. We are in deep shit. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Roads, highways, water systems (including dams & levees), bridges, etc are all not being maintained and upgraded. Yet we take it like a flock of sheep being herded along. I honestly question whether the dems will address & fix these issues if/when they regain power. They are so beholden to the multinationals - same as the rethugs. Interesting times indeed.

[bhikkhu]

27. To be deprived of the promises of the unsustainable,

undeserved, impractical, etc, is no injustice....where resources are oversubscribed growth is constrained and you find that infrastructure, and therefore standard of living and eventually population level, cannot be maintained. Cornucopean economists, meet reality.

[951-Riverside]

28. American is going down like the USSR

When infrastructure starts to crumble that isn't a good sign but seems like no one cares as usual until its too late.

[nashville_brook]

29. proud to be the 5th

this is 20+ years of infrastructure rot coming home to roost.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

33. The answer is simple.

Lower the tax rates for the rich, then attack an innocent nation.

It's the same technique they use for everything else... :shrug:

[krispos42]

35. Issac Asimov did this in "Foundation"

And Kevin Phillips did this in "American Theocracy", discussing the Roman, Spanish, Dutch, and British empires and their subsequent falls.

Maybe it IS time to move to Idaho and start stockpiling ammo, tools, and MREs.

We need a Democratic Militia running around the mountains lol

[Blue_Tires]

36. i've been saying that awhile now

especially looking at how overstressed the schools, water, and road systems are

[Porcupine]

37. Who needs roads, bridges, electricity, clean water and hospitals?

We've got our pride and "democracy" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Your helicopter will fly fuel in to your generator and you've got the two year food store right?

Well Bush has all that shit in Crawford. What is little known is that the Crawford "house" is actually sitting on a bunker complex with solar power, a generator, a huge fuel tank and basements full of food and "other stuff." Good thing the pResident has faith in AmeriKa.

[Eurobabe]

39. Thankfully we're bringing democracy to Iraq to the tune of $195M per day

[lumpy]

41. Caligula ran the Roman treasury dry

on worldly pleasures. At least the Roman citizenry had a few laughs at the bordellos and gladiator arenas. We get to enjoy the day to day pleasures of counting the deaths of our 'gladiators', our enemies and the innocent deaths of 'collateral' damage. (SARCASM, of course)

[ixion]

48. taking care of the infrastructure SHOULD BE job one

for any government, fed/state/local

It's what they're there for.

[54anickel]

49. Looks like we can put another point on the board for OBL then. Bushco

has been such a tool for those who have wanted to destroy America.

[depakid]

50. That's what you get with deregulation

And progressive groups warned BOTH the Republicand and the Democrats about this very consequence- but the corporatists wouldn't listen.

They still won't listen- so I expect things to keep degrading. Blackouts, anyone?

[annabanana]

52. Maintenance isn't "sexy"..

You can't cut a ribbon, or stage a photo-op for Maintenance. You don't get your name with a plaque on it, or get Maintenance named after you.

That's why we need grownups back in the House & Senate.

[mom cat]

53. But we need more wars to get Gasoline! Who cares if the bridges

tumble down on the way to the pump!
:sarcasm:

[Cobalt-60]

54. A grim opportunity

These conditions are unacceptable.
The GOPs are not only attempting a social rollback to 1900, they mean to achieve a proportional degradation of infrastructure.
Once they're driven from power , the nation will require reconstruction.
We know that large public works projects work. We can put a lot of displaced Americans to work quickly on these jobs.
Its vital that the job be undertaken completely by the state. If it is farmed out to corporations the workers won't get squat.
I'd recommend we split our efforts between infrastructure repair and new projects.
We need something spectacular and productive, like another Hoover Dam.
(Except this time we don't name it after an infamous Republican.)

[katty]

56. Coming apart?! falling apart

[MISSDem]

57. This fits in with the piece that I heard on NPR about

how many states are contracting out the highways, etc. to foreign entities because they can't afford to keep them up. For example they said that New Jersey was contracting the New Jersey turnpike to some Spanish company. They mentioned others. The foreign businesses were getting like 99 year contracts on these things.