... right now, by any rational calculation, would be an especially good time to improve the nation’s infrastructure. We have the need: our roads, our rail lines, our water and sewer systems are antiquated and increasingly inadequate. We have the resources: a million-and-a-half construction workers are sitting idle, and putting them to work would help the economy as a whole recover from its slump. And the price is right: with interest rates on federal debt at near-record lows, there has never been a better time to borrow for long-term investment.
But American politics these days is anything but rational. Republicans bitterly opposed even the modest infrastructure spending contained in the Obama stimulus plan.
Our neighbors Xian and Yuhong came to the U.S. in the early 1990's to study at Southern Illinois University. Yuhong speaks of how impressive US highways were then, and how unimpressive they have become. The two of them returned to China to visit during the 2008 Olympics. The contrast between the Chinese "vision thing" and the American was stark.
... We are no longer the nation that used to amaze the world with its visionary projects. We have become, instead, a nation whose politicians seem to compete over who can show the least vision, the least concern about the future and the greatest willingness to pander to short-term, narrow-minded selfishness.
As a nation, we continue to amaze the world with our destructive military projects. The price being paid by the politicians showing "the least vision, the least concern about the future, and the greatest willingness to pander to short-term narrow-minded selfishness" seems to be election, or re-election, as was amply parodied in the Simpson's episode, Trash of the Titans.
By refusing to pay for essential investment, politicians are both perpetuating unemployment and sacrificing long-run growth. And why not? After all, this seems to be a winning electoral strategy. All vision of a better future seems to have been lost, replaced with a refusal to look beyond the narrowest, most shortsighted notion of self-interest.
Say "good night" Kruggers.
I wish I could say something optimistic at this point. But at least for now, I don’t see any light at the end of this tunnel.
Good night.
