The President’s staff couldn’t have been happier - as he arrived in Pittsburgh to tout the Infrastructure Bill, a local bridge collapses. Great Timing! People who understand what is in the bill signal that the bill will not address the nation’s bridge issues but instead fund climate change and Mass Transit. These two areas are the favorite of liberals who ignore the damage already done by this unfair appropriation of funds.
President Biden promised that “he was sending the money” to fix the nation’s 43,000 failing bridges. Sorry, he isn’t. The bill he signed doesn’t have nearly enough money. The bill includes $40 billion in new funding for bridges. Here is where math is required - a quick calculation by a grade school pupil calculates that each bridge will get $930,000 each - hardly enough to get the permits in the current regulation crazed age. The promise is a lie, and he knows it. Where is the money going instead? Mass Transit and Climate Change, of course.
The bill allocates $156 billion for mass transit and rail bleeding cash due to generous labor agreements and low ridership. Mass transit had already received $70 billion in pandemic relief. The infrastructure bill’s other big winner is green energy. The Department of Energy is getting $21 billion for “demonstration projects” for clean hydrogen, advanced nuclear, carbon capture, and other green largesse. There’s also $11 billion for states and utilities for grid “resilience” (i.e., backing up renewables) and $6 billion to rescue nuclear plants that renewable subsidies are driving out of business. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will also get $7.5 billion for an electric-vehicle charging network and schools $5 billion for “clean-energy” buses.
Democrats want to spend another $555 billion on climate in the Build Back Better bill. They also introduced a bill they say is needed to compete with China. It includes still more climate spending, including $3 billion for solar manufacturing and cash for labor unions.
Government is about setting priorities, and bridges and roads took a distant back seat to green pork in the infrastructure bill. In the business world, we would need to track the projects that sucked all of the cash out of this Infrastructure Bill - do you think a team anywhere in the nation is actually working on the construction of anything in this bill?
The bill (Passed in August of last year) included 1$B in money to fix simple culverts - do you think any of these culverts are being replaced right now? This is a pretty simple job - most farmers can do this in a weekend (if no regulators are in sight). Washington state estimates that they need 4$B alone to fix culverts in that state. The states have failed to do their job (Primarily due to misspent money on mass transit), and now the Federal government will follow suit.
Coming soon, more electric trains in the inner cities with little ridership. Bridges will be the same.
<EDIT 01312022> And, as an interesting twist to this story - this bridge was not scheduled to be replaced/repaired with the Government largesse. It was rated as a six on a 1-9 scale, nine being the best. and…The federal government doesn’t select which bridges get replaced; the states do. So, in summary, someday we will repair SOME bridges which we are unsure of their actual status - do you understand why I am very suspicious of the Government’s capability to do large projects?
<EDIT 02012022> It gets better - seems like the state has been taking road tax and funding the State Patrol in areas that can’t afford it, instead of fixing bridges/roads - this is the story in most states. But, the Governor then issues a statement that says this bridge is owned by the city and would not be fixed by state funds/infrastructure bill. Is your head spinning yet?
This is typical of those who think that mass transit and electric vehicles will solve every problem. The problem is that while mass transit may work for those with a high density population (like New York City) it does not work for areas like Colorado where the population is spread out. Denver has a pretend mass transit organization called RTD which is actually just a buss system with a few trains. This works for those who live in downtown Denver and commute to some of the suburbs or vice versa but does little for those happen to live near either end of the rail system. I was asked several times why I didn't ride the bus and always said that it wasn't convenient - a 20 minute trip by car could take about 2 hours by bus - if it was even running when I needed it.
The problem with electric vehicles is that the electricity has to come from somewhere and regardless of what the "green" energy folks believe, most of that electricity is produced by coal or oil burning generators.
This is the biggest boondoggle since Lyndon Johnson married all single mothers to the state with his 1965 'Great Society' program. The results of that well-intentioned debacle are plainly visible daily, but no politician dares to see or speak of our disastrous inner city carnage.
This bill, by comparison, is a greenie's dream: Take the middle class out of their cars. If passed, it will promptly be followed with discovery of the need for massive tax increases to pay for it when the world begins to stop buying all the paper we're hanging.
A Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse and a Presidents Timely Visit
This is typical of those who think that mass transit and electric vehicles will solve every problem. The problem is that while mass transit may work for those with a high density population (like New York City) it does not work for areas like Colorado where the population is spread out. Denver has a pretend mass transit organization called RTD which is actually just a buss system with a few trains. This works for those who live in downtown Denver and commute to some of the suburbs or vice versa but does little for those happen to live near either end of the rail system. I was asked several times why I didn't ride the bus and always said that it wasn't convenient - a 20 minute trip by car could take about 2 hours by bus - if it was even running when I needed it.
The problem with electric vehicles is that the electricity has to come from somewhere and regardless of what the "green" energy folks believe, most of that electricity is produced by coal or oil burning generators.
This is the biggest boondoggle since Lyndon Johnson married all single mothers to the state with his 1965 'Great Society' program. The results of that well-intentioned debacle are plainly visible daily, but no politician dares to see or speak of our disastrous inner city carnage.
This bill, by comparison, is a greenie's dream: Take the middle class out of their cars. If passed, it will promptly be followed with discovery of the need for massive tax increases to pay for it when the world begins to stop buying all the paper we're hanging.