Obama's $300B infrastructure plan

reply to post by neo96


You're looking at the wrong person. I didn't bash Bush over the head with this site while he was in office. I was, however, deeply concerned with the monies being allocated for the War on Terror and how they didn't seem to be adequately armoring our military fighting in the same war.

I've actually always disliked that site because it offers no accountability of its author or gives any insight as to how its numbers are even calculated. I've always seen it as a b.s. site personally.

P.S. I am an accountant, you know. How numbers are being generated is really very important to me.

Infrastructure..

The U.S. ranked 25 in this category, falling behind countries like Saudi Arabia, Spain, and South Korea.

www.businessinsider.com...

Hell...Obama should have made a speech saying he refuses to invest in Infrastructure!! The GOP would have had an Infrastructure bill on the house floor the same afternoon.

I honestly don't know what to do with people so addled by partisanship that they shout "Yay!!! Crumbling bridges!"

reply to post by tothetenthpower

None of that means anything in the context of infrastructure spending. It's just hyperbole to prove your point that this is all bad because Obama's Admin are the ones doing it.

Yeah it does there are lots of examples, and are not hyperbole.

That are FACTS.

Californias multibillion dollar boondoggle with that highspeed rail 'infrastructure' project.

That 'new' multibillion solar farm that was just in the news.

Harry Reids 'airport' to no where.

The bridges to nowhere by others.

Pointing out the historical context that when government gets involved with 'infrastructure' has historically failed, and just put the taxpayers on the hook.

Tenth.

There are tons of examples.

No, it's not.

Yeah they are.

Yes, the majority of infrastructure at the local and state level can fall under that, but the state has neither the time nor the resources in most cases to develop proper infrastructure strategies and then subsequently deploy them

Because they are too busy feeding mouths, and paying for education,housing,and healthcare.

States use to be able to afford upkeep on their 'infrastructure' .

There's the other point to mention here, which is that the proposal isn't even on the table yet, and you've already dismissed it.

Because of historical evidence that was already said.

Why has this Thread not been thrown into the Rant forum where it belongs.

It's just one big whine by an OP who (for their own reasons) does not like the POTUS or anything that they do. There is nothing of substance here, even by U.S. Political Madness standards. Just one of the worst "Obama smells of Poo" Threads.

Indigo5

Infrastructure..

The U.S. ranked 25 in this category, falling behind countries like Saudi Arabia, Spain, and South Korea.

www.businessinsider.com...

Hell...Obama should have made a speech saying he refuses to invest in Infrastructure!! The GOP would have had an Infrastructure bill on the house floor the same afternoon.

I honestly don't know what to do with people so addled by partisanship that they shout "Yay!!! Crumbling bridges!"

Seriously... I know I tend not to agree with many of Obama's decisions and I know you and I have butted heads for more than one issue concerning him, but even I can see the merit in improving our infrastructure. Only good could come of it.

Indigo5

Infrastructure..

The U.S. ranked 25 in this category, falling behind countries like Saudi Arabia, Spain, and South Korea.

www.businessinsider.com...

Hell...Obama should have made a speech saying he refuses to invest in Infrastructure!! The GOP would have had an Infrastructure bill on the house floor the same afternoon.

I honestly don't know what to do with people so addled by partisanship that they shout "Yay!!! Crumbling bridges!"

So why spend money on infrastructure there indigo?

People don't have jobs to put gas in their cars.

The ones that do can't afford to put gas in their cars because the Obamas' block things like the Keystone pipeline,

And other regulation that drives up the cost to fuel autos.

What is the GD point of 'infrastructure' spending?

BritofTexas
Why has this Thread not been thrown into the Rant forum where it belongs.

It's just one big whine by an OP who (for their own reasons) does not like the POTUS or anything that they do. There is nothing of substance here, even by U.S. Political Madness standards. Just one of the worst "Obama smells of Poo" Threads.

The above comment lacks susbstance, but the comment below doesn't.

Apparently thought enough of it to trash the thread because the op doesn't worship the ground the Potus walks on.

m

Indigo5

Infrastructure..

The U.S. ranked 25 in this category, falling behind countries like Saudi Arabia, Spain, and South Korea.

www.businessinsider.com...

Hell...Obama should have made a speech saying he refuses to invest in Infrastructure!! The GOP would have had an Infrastructure bill on the house floor the same afternoon.

I honestly don't know what to do with people so addled by partisanship that they shout "Yay!!! Crumbling bridges!"

Now that is freaking funny!!!!!!!!!!!

It is funny because it is true!!!!!!!!!!!

Not all of us that are against allocating 300 billion more are right wing or republicans, I am neither, I am more of a moderate and libertarian type.

I just honestly do not think that they will do anything worth while with the money, why just say "ya go ahead waste 300 billion more, why not?".

They already had 800 billion at the start of Obama's first term for infrastructure spending, what was the result of that?

Can anyone name a single bridge that was built? How about a single road that was resurfaced? How about 1 single dam that was repaired?

I mean 800 billion is a lot of money.

The original interstate highway system cost roughly 30 billion, which would be around 200 billion today.
www.fhwa.dot.gov...

Strait from the horses mouth. Now they had 800 billion, what did they do with it?

Why would I believe that throwing another 300 billion( more than the original cost in the first place) would make any difference if 800 billion didnt even leave a dent?

reply to post by Krazysh0t


And it is rational thinking like that which makes me pay attention to your posts even when we disagree.

Indigo5
reply to post by Krazysh0t

 

And it is rational thinking like that which makes me pay attention to your posts even when we disagree.

Of course, you should never base your entire political ideology on one political party. It is fine to accept many of the ideologies of the party, but understand that it is perfectly OK to accept something from an opposing party as ok. I can't stand it when Republicans can only agree with Republican ideas and Democrats can only agree with Democrat ideas. That is just limiting your thinking and doing nothing to improve or fix our country.

neo96

What happened to the near 900 billion for "shovel ready" work in 2009?

Indeed what happened to it ?

Well our neighborhood got fancy Wheelchair accessible curbs on every street corner that I have NEVER seen a wheelchair on in almost 2 years..... That's progress. Never mind actually prioritizing road construction projects to benefit the most citizens.

And... the roads that have been redone by such expert construction companies, well it's been two years, you can't expect a road to last that long now, can you? They seem like they were built as sturdy as any Chinese Dollar Store Trinket.

Let's face it, our Government (Both Parties really) are incompetent boobs..... No offense to all the competent Boobs that are out there. You shouldn't feed them more money.

reply to post by neo96


They have been working on the interstate highway system since the 1950s.
The work was to be funded by the taxes on fuel used for traveling over the roads.
I would be willing to bet these funds have been diverted to other "uses" over the past several years and we now have to find a way to raise the money which should be already available for the maintance of this infrastructure.
It's just to bad we will never know what other "pork, I mean pothole" it has been used to fill.

pavil

neo96

What happened to the near 900 billion for "shovel ready" work in 2009?

Indeed what happened to it ?

Well our neighborhood got fancy Wheelchair accessible curbs on every street corner that I have NEVER seen a wheelchair on in almost 2 years..... That's progress. Never mind actually prioritizing road construction projects to benefit the most citizens.

And... the roads that have been redone by such expert construction companies, well it's been two years, you can't expect a road to last that long now, can you? They seem like they were built as sturdy as any Chinese Dollar Store Trinket.

Let's face it, our Government (Both Parties really) are incompetent boobs..... No offense to all the competent Boobs that are out there. You shouldn't feed them more money.

Well at least now I know of at least one road and some curb ramps being built with it, I guess it wasnt a complete loss.

As to your point about both being incompetent boobs, well yes, I believe they are as well, and I second your motion not to feed them more money so they can waste it.

If they passed legislation mandating a minimum 5 year prison sentence for anyone wasting the money, I would say hell give them whatever they need.

oblvion

They already had 800 billion at the start of Obama's first term for infrastructure spending, what was the result of that?

People keep throwing out that number. It was not 800 Billion on Infrastructure, it was spent on a variety of stimulus from unemployment extensions to tax cuts.

Only 46 Billion of that 800 Billion was spent on Infrastructure...and here is the rub..

At the exact same time that 46 Billion in infrastructure funds came available...state budgets were in absolute crisis and their spending on local infrastructure nose-dived and the 46 Billion couldn't even make up for the already measly spending that state governments were doing prior to the economic crisis.

How did this happen? States and local governments are the biggest part of the story here. They've historically provided the vast majority of spending for roads, highways and bridges, and they've been pulling back on spending since 2008 as a result of the economic downturn and requirements to balance their budgets. California’s transportation spending declined by 31 percent from 2007 to 2009, for instance. Texas's fell by 8 percent.

www.washingtonpost.com...

Add to that ...that many of those federal funds were offered on a matching basis ...and most states didn't have the budget to match during the crisis...a lot of that 46 Billion is just making it's way into action right now...and it is still a drop in the bucket for what we need to do to compete. I have friends that visited South Korea last year on business and they said it made the USA look like the 3rd word. The roads, rails, etc. were just amazing. We need to get back into the game and we can create jobs doing it. Just my 2 cents.

Here is a graph of total Infrastructure spending:

teamcommander
reply to post by neo96

 

They have been working on the interstate highway system since the 1950s.
The work was to be funded by the taxes on fuel used for traveling over the roads.
I would be willing to bet these funds have been diverted to other "uses" over the past several years and we now have to find a way to raise the money which should be already available for the maintance of this infrastructure.
It's just to bad we will never know what other "pork, I mean pothole" it has been used to fill.

Back in the day.

Wanna know what states did to build their projects ?

They issued bonds.

Now there 'go to' answer is a hand out to the feds.

Something seriously wrong there.

neo96

teamcommander
reply to post by neo96

 

They have been working on the interstate highway system since the 1950s.
The work was to be funded by the taxes on fuel used for traveling over the roads.
I would be willing to bet these funds have been diverted to other "uses" over the past several years and we now have to find a way to raise the money which should be already available for the maintance of this infrastructure.
It's just to bad we will never know what other "pork, I mean pothole" it has been used to fill.

Back in the day.

Wanna know what states did to build their projects ?

They issued bonds.

Now there 'go to' answer is a hand out to the feds.

Something seriously wrong there.

I agree, they should issue bonds again, and use the local bond revenue for the local stretches of highway and city county roads.

In the middle of say Montana or any of the really big but sparsely populated states, I would say FED money is the answer because it is really hard to sell enough bonds to the 2 people along 150 miles highway in North Dakota.

So some FED money will be needed, but I would gladly pony up money myself to improve my communities roads and bridges. I just think the local and state governments are better suited to do this without wasting it on dumb crap.

reply to post by oblvion


Or Obama instead of blowing money create a federal lottery to pay for it.

Like what the states did.

Federal Powerball, or Megamillions.

Both the state, and feds get a cut off the top.

Half of the jackpot.

reply to post by Indigo5


Well said. Though I just moved to Texas, I can tell you this is not like Indiana at all as far as road work goes.

I see many spots here that need fixing, and little fixing going on.

In Indiana, we Hoosiers often refer to Indiana as "the road construction state" as there is always a huge project going on. It is the cross roads of America after all, and many major interstates all converge on Indianapolis, so there is a lot of traffic moving through, so keeping the roads in good repair is a must.

I am not trying to say we dont need to fix these things, because that would be quite stupid of me, since it is obvious they need fixing, and the work boom would do the economy and the unemployed and underemployed a lot of good.

What I am saying, is that I dont think the current administration has the ability to do the job, let alone do it well, without wasting most of the money on everything but the actual roads bridges and dams.

Is it big O's fault? I could honestly say, I am not privy to the workings of his opaque administration. Nobody is but those on the inside.

If I had to venture a guess though, I would say Obama is probably not the culprit of most of his admins issues.

He is too busy to micromanage that much stuff, I would say it is his staff and advisers and others he delegates to that are letting the poo fly most of the time.

The guy obviously puts in the work, look at how fast he is aging. 18 hour days do that to a man after a few years solid, with the weight of 300 million plus on your shoulders, trying to do what is right for most, even though it is not possible to do what is right for all, as such a thing doesnt exist, yet having to be the guy that has to pick the winners and the losers, and live with the consequences of those decisions.

If they were going to pass the money off to state and local governments to do the job I would be all for it, but I just dont see that happening.

neo96
reply to post by oblvion

 

Or Obama instead of blowing money create a federal lottery to pay for it.

Like what the states did.

Federal Powerball, or Megamillions.

Both the state, and feds get a cut off the top.

Half of the jackpot.

That is actually a very good idea at first glance. But once the politicians get another revenue stream, they will just use the money for pet projects, and not the intended purpose. Which is why we have this problem in the first place.

They are already getting the funds to do this, they are just misappropriating it.

It isnt a funding problem, it is a government waste problem. The only answer is to fix the actual problem, not keep finding ways to put a band aid over it so you cant see how bad it is.

oblvion
reply to post by Indigo5

 

If they were going to pass the money off to state and local governments to do the job I would be all for it, but I just dont see that happening.

I agree with various things you said, but just a quick note here...there are no "federal" highway construction workers etc. These funds have to be passed off to the local state govs. Those guys with the orange vests on the highway work for the state department of transportation...not the federal government. State Govenors and legislatures decide where the money is spent.