Posted By:
David SmithBill Kosel,
I believe your barb about turning this thread into a political stump was aimed at me.
My response.
I have heard on CNN that 160,000 bridges across the country need attention of some sort and that over all, the country's infrastructure in general has been neglected and to fix it will cost $1.2 to 1.3 trillion dollars over the next 10 to 20 years. How is that going to be paid for?? Republicans keep wanting to cut taxes and EVERY ONE knows that if the Democrats approve measures to fix the infrastructure and it raised taxes to do so, then Republicans are going to scream and howl, "I told you so".
Within the last year, the Discovery Channel or the History Channel (I can't remember which) aired a program showing what would happen if the New Madrid Fault in Missouri were to rupture and cause an earthquake like the ones which occured in the early 1800's. That series of earthquakes were some of the largest ever to hit America during the White Man's time here. There were three large ones over a time span of a couple of months with all of them over 8.5. The largest was so powerful that it caused church bells to ring on the East Coast as far away as Boston.
The show said that if just one like that hit, St. Louis would suffer heavy damages, thousands would be killed and the infrastucture severely damaged. This would cause huge economic problems for the country since St. Louis is one of the main gateways to the ports along the Gulf Coast. Trucking, shipping and rail lines would be disrupted or destroyed, not to mention pipelines. Scientists and Engineers know this and have told Politicians about this but nothing has been done.
What has been done?? A war in Iraq has been started which has killed thousands of American soldiers and injured tens of thousands more, needlessly. The total cost of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for almost five years is closing in on $1 trillion dollars.
For a few years in the Clinton Administration, the budget was having surpluses. Now, the budget is again running deficits. Where does the money come from to fight these wars?? Not taxes but the selling of Government Bonds. Who is buying those bonds?? China. They have almost $1 trillion in US Bonds in their government holdings.
So, beyond the fact that keeping American soldiers in Iraq is causing unneccesary deaths and injuries, that the conflict keeps the Middle East in turmoil which then keeps the World oil markets on edge and casuses higher oil prices. The War is also reaping rewards for the Defense Industry (Dick Cheney and Haliburton come to mind). THis last week, the Defense Industry announced $50 billion dollars in future contracts with countries in the Middle East. Our saber rattling with Iran has caused other countries in the region to bolster thier defenses.
Now, add on top of all of that, the American budget deficits which China is profiting from and this creates REAL problems which a lot of people don't see or want to talk about.
In short, our Government is willing to spend $1 trillion dollars on a useless war (spread out over six years) instead of $1.3 trillion (over 20 years) to keep OUR country strong and safe.
Bush/Cheney/Rove and Rumsfeld are collectively SCARING Americans about a threat which only has a SMALL percentage chance of ever happening. They are doing this while totally overlooking a threat in each and everyone of our backyards which has the potential, when combined together, to be more costly in terms of both dollars and lives than any terrorist attack.
If these politicians are SO worried about keeping Americans safe at home and the economy strong, instead of focusing on their own vendettas and personal political agendas, then they will pull the troops out of Iraq and start focusing that money at problems here at home.
I mean, what is the use of keeping Americans safe from (possible) terrorist attacks if it is more dangerous to just drive down the highway???
David