To those who say we’re spending too much on defense and ought to redirect it to rebuilding infrastructure, I would argue that if we didn’t spend on defense we would likely be forced to spend on replacing infrastructure destroyed by terrorist attacks.

And to everyone who complains that the federal government needs to solve this, it’s a state/local issue. Why oh why do people think that federal funds appropriated for local and state infrastructure projects (aka: pork) is free money? We all pay for it, one way or another. I would rather it be done on the local level so that things are handled more efficiently, there are no federal strings attached, and people are made aware of how much these things really cost. And that they may come to realize we don’t need the federal government to micromanage every little detail of our lives.

Your rant is well taken and I honestly think you have some interesting ideas to expand on. I agree with increasing corporate taxes but my only concern is that the money lost would be passed on to the consumer like you said.

My shipping rant:
I work for a steel wholesale company so your remarks about adding a shipping charge struck me in an interesting way. You are definitely correct that the large trucks hauling heavy materials cause the most damage on the roads. Our company loads trucks to 49,000 pounds because that is the maximum weight allowed at weigh stations.

In my experience the costs associated with freight are highly inflated. For example to take a 49,000 lb load of rebar from Baltimore, MD to Wilmington, DE is about $400.00 dollars. It’s about 75 miles in distance and takes roughly an hour and a half each way. On average a Kenworth truck gets 7 miles per gallon but as low as 4. So lets say at 7 mpg for 70 miles that would be a little over 10 gallons of fuel. Diesel is running around $3.00 a gallon so that is $30.00 in fuel. Plus the driver, lets say he is making $30.00/hour, drives up and back and it takes him 3 hours. Thats $90.00 in labor, $30.00 in fuel, and the rest is profit. Of course there are tolls to pay on the way but not $280.00 worth.

Shipment prices could definitely be lowered and simultaneously taxed.

Your point is well taken with two comments.
1.) I was actually going to suggest shifting funds from the defense budget, but since we are funding this illegal and immoral war in Iraq largely on borrowed funds I didn’t see the point. (Though borrowing money to fix our infrastructure would be a better use of the the money.)

2.) Taxes are a value for the money thing. I don’t mind taxes if they go toward a better quality of life for our fellow Americans.

Here’s my rant: Plus much of the revenue could come from increased corporate taxes and higher taxes on the very wealthy both of which groups take disproportionate advantage of infrastructure compared to what they put into it (In my opinion). Could we not tax trucking companies for highway use? The wear and tear on the roads is much greater from trucking than automotive use.

Even if someone uses the tired old excuse that corporate taxes pass on the the consumer, a direct charge to the shipping companies (Who would automatically pass it on the the retailers who use them) would cause them to do something to improve their methods of shipping. Right now we pay at he pump, but have no control over how the biggest abusers of the infrastructure interact with it.

Thank you.

As is mentioned above, it will cost money to fix all of the problems of infrastructure.

The next time someone tells you he or she is against raising taxes point to that bridge and all of New Orleans. There are your tax cuts right there.”

I whole heartedly disagree with this statement. I don’t know about the rest of you but I pay a LOT of taxes. The money for these types of projects is already there in the budget without raising taxes. The priorities simply need to change. We are spending more money now than on defense than ever before. In 2006 we spent over 1 trillion tax payer dollars on defense. (Check out the Congressional Budget Office Website’s Historical Data in pdf form http://www.cbo.gov/budget/historical)

As Mr. John Csakany and I said previously–improving our domestic, infrastructure is more effective at home security than spending over 1 trillion dollars on war.

However after destroying all of Iraq’s government, civil unions, and infrastructure we are now responsible for rebuilding Iraq as well as the United States. The problem we have gotten ourselves in is not going to be easily solved.

As is mentioned above, it will cost money to fix all of the problems of infrastructure.

The next time someone tells you he or she is against raising taxes point to that bridge and all of New Orleans. There are your tax cuts right there.

It positively amazes me how much of this was done in the 25 years that followed the end of WWII (The generation before the Baby Boomers). There is a reason we call them the “Greatest Generation”.

Not only did they consistently run an annual budget surplus, they also, paid off the WWII debt while funding the Marshal Plan. Plus, they constructed our highway system and national electrical grid, along with many other public projects that exist today. On top of that, most of this was supported by a nation that was largely single-income families.

It seems like our society today accomplishes so much less with so much more.

The easiest and most effective terrorist target continues to be the electrical grid. Power lines travel hundreds of miles in remote areas on simple trusses that are extremely simple and easy to bring down.

Imagine a five hundred mile long extension cord powering your city being cut into a hundred pieces. There simply aren’t enough trained personnel, trucks or wire to prevent a month long blackout. It’s cheap, simple, effective and devastating.

Instead of wasting two thousand million dollars a week in Iraq, we could’ve been killing several birds with one stone by vastly upgrading our national power grid: decentralization by solar and wind local power generation (because clean energy independence is Homeland Security), putting folks to work (because a strong middle class is Homeland Security), technological innovation which leads to exportable products (because a budget surplus is Homeland Security) and upgrading and protecting the internet/phone/t.v. – for without communications we are both blind and deaf.

But perhaps the greatest terrorist threat of all is incompetent and corrupt politicians.