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By Eric Hobsbawm
$13.57
By Eugene Robinson
$17
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wlodi (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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By Jon Wiener, TomDispatch —
It couldn’t be a sadder thing to admit, given what happened during the Cold War, but—given what’s happened in recent years—who can doubt that the America of the 1950s and 1960s was, in some ways, simply a better place than the one we live in now?
Posted on Jan 16, 2013
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Nicholas_T (CC BY 2.0)
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When a plan to construct the first modern privatized highway in the United States did little to ease congestion, blocked residents from making further improvements and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, Californians had the opportunity to learn a lesson about the folly of privatizing transportation projects.
Posted on Jan 5, 2013
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swanksalot (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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The American Society of Civil Engineers has awarded America’s roadways a grade of D-, rated one in four bridges as “structurally deficient or functionally obsolete” and warned that thousands of American dams are on the verge of failure.
Posted on Aug 18, 2012
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ibnu abi (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch —
Why has the United States spent so much money and time so disastrously trying to rebuild occupied nations abroad, while allowing its own infrastructure to crumble untended? Why do we even think of that as “policy”?
Posted on Aug 18, 2012
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AP/Jae C. Hong
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By Bill Boyarsky — The effort to reduce unemployment is a grueling plant-by-plant, job-by-job process conducted by those seeking work, business people and local officials operating far from the media spotlight and simplistic rhetoric of the political campaign.
Posted on Jul 11, 2012
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Ivo Mijnssen
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By Ivo Mijnssen — Like the United States, Russia struggles with crumbling infrastructure, but Moscow has devised a novel solution: lower standards.
Posted on Jun 12, 2012
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Andrew . Walsh (CC-BY)
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Much rides on America’s highways, vital arteries in the movement of people and goods. The problem is, the roads are crumbling at a time when money to fix them is hard to come by. (more)
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AP / Central Vermont Public Service
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While New York City escaped the worst of Tropical Storm Irene, much of Vermont did not. The state saw bridges washed away, roads battered and power lines downed in the midst of what officials say is the worst flooding in more than 80 years. (more)
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By Joe Conason — The best recent estimates by civil engineers and government experts indicate that we would have to spend well over $2 trillion during the next five years on roads, bridges, airports, railways, transit, sewers, waterways, ports, dams, parks and schools simply to maintain them in decent condition.
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White House / Chuck Kennedy
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With unemployment still rising and the American infrastructure getting no less crumbly, President Obama is set to announce a six-year plan to build roads and create jobs, starting with a $50 billion investment. That’s assuming Congress gets on board the recovery train.
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Today on the list: The places that make the Gulf spill look like a national park, Elizabeth Warren (yay) vs. Timothy Geithner (boo), Syria bans the veil, and the strange things men pay prostitutes to do (as if you don’t already know).
Posted on Jul 19, 2010
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AP / Gregory Bull
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With a good degree of exasperation, Haiti’s president has been forced to remind the international community that only Brazil has paid in full on its promised aid following the earthquake that devastated the country in January.
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By Joe Conason — The collapse of American infrastructure is a shamefully old story by now, featuring scary statistics that must be updated regularly as the situation worsens.
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Al-Jazeera English
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A drought in southwestern China, where it has not rained in more than five months, is putting a damper on the lives of 50 million people, while costing the national economy $3 billion and leaving more than 20 million people without enough potable water.
Posted on Mar 21, 2010
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Wikimedia Commons
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The World Cup is coming and South Africa has overhauled its athletic infrastructure in preparation. But while only four games will be played in the city of Nelspruit, the government has spent $137 million on a new stadium there while many of its denizens live without electricity.
Posted on Mar 12, 2010
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whitehouse.gov
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President Barack Obama on Monday announced his proposed 2011 budget, which includes boosted spending for creating jobs and waging wars, a potential tax on big banks, funding for infrastructure on the state and city levels ... and a whopping $1.6 trillion deficit for the fiscal year.
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In his weekly address, President Barack Obama hailed the stimulus bill he recently signed, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as “the most sweeping economic recovery plan in history.” Here’s what he had to say to back up this big claim.
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Flickr / jphilipg
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ProPublica did some digging into the infrastructure spending bundled into the stimulus package—the $100 billion that promises have the biggest impact in terms of job creation—and found that Wyoming is getting more than $20,100 per unemployed worker while Michigan, a state on the verge of a labor apocalypse, is expected to have to make do with just $2,434.37.
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President Barack Obama has made it a point to reach across the aisle in trying to gain Republicans’ support for his stimulus plan, but judging by the results of Tuesday’s Senate vote, partisanship is still afoot in the halls of Congress.
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By Marie Cocco — After eight years of trickle-down tax cuts that pushed the prosperous up and left most everyday Americans sliding further down, the stimulus bill now moving swiftly through Congress is more than a reversal of political course. Let’s hope it’s not too late.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — President Obama’s visit with House and Senate Republicans this week was useful for setting a new tone and a refreshing break from the Bush administration’s habit of consulting almost no one. But it was a sideshow to the main battle over how to improve the economy, which is among Democrats.
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Barack Obama is coming out of the gate with quite the to-do list, not the least part being his new economic recovery plan, which carries quite the price tag at about $1 trillion. What is he thinking? Here, Obama gives some details in his weekly online address.
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What’s it going to take to jump-start the economy? How does almost a trillion dollars sound? That’s the amount that President Barack Obama is considering for his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, which he introduced to the public in his weekly address on Saturday.
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Flickr / jphilipg
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There will be negotiation, revision and capitulation, but the basic guts of the Democrats’ $825 billion stimulus package are out in the open. There’s billions for infrastructure, billions for schools and billions for you and me. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded by saying “Oh. My. God,” which we’ll take to mean, “Praise Jesus! The Democrats have done it again.”
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Flickr / tomsaint11
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Barack Obama wants to spend as much as a trillion dollars on the nation’s infrastructure, from roads to bridges. A video on his transition Web site even touts the economic advantages of fixing potholes. Why so car-centric? A new article in the Washington Monthly claims that spending some of that money on rail lines instead of roads could pay dividends.
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In his weekly address posted on Change.gov Friday, Barack Obama explains why he’s starting his job before assuming office: It’s the economy, stupid.
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Ma'an Images
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The United Nations marked Israel’s seventh day of aerial attacks by warning of a “critical emergency” in the Gaza Strip, as Palestinians endure food and medical supply shortages and distribution problems even as estimates of dead and wounded Palestinians continue to rise.
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Flickr / Allison Harger
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Barack Obama unveiled his $60-billion economic rescue plan on Monday and urged Washington not to wait for a new president to take up his proposals. The Obama plan includes tax breaks for companies that hire new workers, a short moratorium on foreclosures and, with an eye on job creation, federal financing for public works and infrastructure projects.
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Flickr / pmarkham
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According to an AP review of more than 1,000 structures, just 12 percent of the nation’s most troubled and traveled bridges have been repaired since the deadly collapse of a Minneapolis bridge a year ago. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but most officials seem to agree that the money just isn’t there.
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We’ve gotten used to the idea of independent groups funneling soft money into political campaign ads, but in this election some progressives are trying to do something entirely new. According to a report by NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting, a band of crafty activists is trying to create a grand network for progressive issues and groups.
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As divers continue their search for bodies in the Mississippi River after Wednesday’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis, federal transportation officials are calling for a review of some 700 similar structures.
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By Eugene Robinson — In a world filled with problems—Iraq, terrorism and so on—we tend to ignore the boring ones. Which is why, sadly, bridges will collapse and levees will break.
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The U.S. has apparently just told Iraq that it should no longer expect American dollars to aid in the country’s reconstruction—rather, Iraq must rely on its own revenues.
Did anyone know this was coming?
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