It's way past time to build a 21st Century infrastructure.
Dave Johnson at the Campaign for America's Future writes
Here’s What ’60 Minutes’ Should Have Reported About Infrastructure:
“60 Minutes” ran a report Sunday, “Falling apart: America’s neglected infrastructure,” describing the seriousness and damage to the economy caused by our country’s crumbling infrastructure. […]
How bad is the problem? The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issues a regular “report card” on “the condition and performance of the nation’s infrastructure.” The 2013 grade is D+ and the cost to get us back to normal is now at $3.6 trillion. (The longer we wait the more the cost increases.) Because of this, The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report ranks the U.S. as 16th in the quality of its infrastructure.
How do we fix this? Well, it’s simple: Congress can just invest in maintaining and modernizing our infrastructure! That’s all it takes. (OK, you’re either laughing hysterically or crying. Sorry.) […]
A popular proposal in Washington right now was mentioned in the “60 Minutes” piece: “Fund infrastructure through corporate tax reform.” Unfortunately, this is Washington/Corporate-speak for letting companies off the hook for most of the up-to $700 billion they owe on corporate profits they are hoarding “offshore” if they let us use a little bit of it for infrastructure. The obvious answer to the infrastructure problem is to just make these companies pay the taxes owed on profits already made, and use the money—up to $700 billion—for infrastructure.
“60 Minutes” leans heavily toward raising the gas tax to raise money, which is an obvious and necessary component of a long-term funding solution. The gas tax hasn’t been increased for over 20 years. However, today’s Republican Party—also known as the National Association of Petroleum and Coal Companies (NAPCC)—is strongly opposed to anything that would potentially have an impact on the profits of their clients. Since increasing the gas tax could potentially reduce the sale of gasoline and encourage the development of alternatives, the oil and coal companies are solidly opposed, which means the NAPCC (Republican Party) is solidly opposed.
The best solution is to borrow the money while interest rates are near zero. Investing in infrastructure at a time of high unemployment and low economic growth accomplishes the following:
• Hires people.
• Purchases of supplies (Buy America) boosts American businesses and leads to a secondary wave of hiring.
• These employed people spend money, causing a wave of hiring at local stores, etc.
• You end up with modern infrastructure, which makes the economy more competitive.
Waiting until the economy is already growing and interest rates are higher means the costs are higher. […]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Save Coal River Mountain—Now:
Feeling a post election letdown? Looking for another dragon to slay? Buddy, have I got a mean, scaly, ugly one for you.
Coal River Mountain in West Virginia is a beautiful forested area surrounded by communities with long experience with coal mining as been practiced for decades. How long have these folks been settled around the mountain? Many are descendants of those who moved to the area on land grants given soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Now the mountain itself is threatened by coal mining as it's been practiced under the Bush administration—mountaintop removal.
Just yesterday, a permit to start blasting the top off the mountain was awarded to Massey Energy, headed by Don Blankenship. Who is Don Blankenship? He's the guy who spent millions putting his own man on the West Virginia Supreme Court so he could get out of a lawsuit. Then, when he was caught vacationing in Monaco with that judge, he bought himself another. And another. He spent millions on smear campaigns so he could get his own brand of justice. He's the guy who was named the scariest person in America when it comes to the environment. This is the guy behind the death of miners in the Aracoma mine after hundreds of safety violations.
This is a guy who makes $15 million a year, and spends as much as $9 million of it reshaping West Virginia into a deep red state that supports his strong arm tactics. You think West Virginia has an "Appalachian problem?" No. It has a Don Blankenship problem.
Now Blankenship has Coal River Mountain in his grip, and if he has his way, it will soon join more than a million acres of ancient mountains, towering forests, and free-flowing streams that are turned into the acidic rubble left behind after mountaintop removal mining. And perhaps worst of all, Coal River Mountain has already been studied as a site for a wind farm. This wind farm would produce more energy than the coal that Blankenship will get from blasting down the mountain. It will employ more people.
And it will do it cleanly, preserving both the mountain and the surrounding communities.
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show: Tough day, in the wake of events in Ferguson.
Armando discusses the grand jury process, a listener contribution on SCOTUS curtailment of the civil rights suit avenue, and other inexplicable details of the case. More details emerge in the GunFAIL case involving a 3-year-old accidentally shot by a 4-year-old playmate in the home of his gun enthusiast dad. The House finally files its lawsuit against the president. Except it's not against the president. And it might just undermine the Congress, instead.
Vox wonders what a Republican president might do with expanded executive power. And I wonder why they think we have to guess.
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