4779 Infrastructure

 There’s a pothole down on Main Street.  The bridge over the river is held together by willpower. And the trains run slowly because the tracks are slippery, and people get hurt or die when wheels slip off rails.

 

So people are asking “what’s in the infrastructure bill for ME?”  And the answer is… who knows?  It’s nearest cousin some years back gave us a new phrase, “shovel ready.” That’s about all.

 

The entire country has been on breakdown maintenance since at least the 1950s when the Eisenhower road building binge began.  Those roads were generally well designed and built, but they’ve become too small to handle traffic that’s expanded exponentially since they were built. 

 

Passing the bill was the easy part even though it didn’t seem easy at the time.  Now, comes the hard part. States will be forming a Soviet era breadline, upturned hats in hand like collection plates.  Fights among them will erupt. So will fights within them.

This seems to be a good spot to remind you that the states that clamor for and receive much more than they contribute will be at the front of the line.  Maybe there should be a separate line for them. Maybe it should end in vacant room.

 

Surely the federal mavens will be talked into building bridges to nowhere and prevented from widening roads that pass the house of the cousin of the mother of the state senator from Arkansas or Kentucky.  The big question is why does congress cater to those welfare states?  And the answer is because they outnumber the people who pay their ways.

 

There are two kinds of maintenance, breakdown and preventive. No one disputes the need for preventive, ongoing fixups.  Breakdown means nothing gets fixed until it approaches uselessness.  That’s the one that put us in the present pothole pickle.

 

There are excuses galore for waiting until something breaks down.

 --Preventive maintenance is disruptive.

--It’s expensive.

--We’d have to raise taxes to pay for it. Or even worse, take our relatives off the payroll.

--If we raise taxes, the cousin of the mother of the state senator and his or her friends will vote against us, and we’ll be homeless and destitute.

--It’s too much trouble.

The infrastructure measure is good for almost everyone. Making it work is a whole ‘nuther ballgame.

 I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Any Questions?  wesrichards@gmail.com

© WR 2021