Sunday, October 07, 2007

The Solution is Not More Spending

While for most people the bridge collapse in Minneapolis was one of the few national news items that highlighted our fair town, you probably do not get all the local news about how the Democrats (predictably) have used this as a rallying call for more spending (and for the call of the resignation of the head of our Department of Transportation who by coincidence happens to be Republican, the politics is sickening).


Regardless, I like this chart for it shows up the problem with transportation isn't the spending.

I still predict that after a long and thorough investigation they will conclude the bridge collapsed due to chance and that there will be no one to blame.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:37 PM

    I thought that the bridge had already been checked and considered a potential safety risk a couple of years ago. How can it collapse by chance when everybody knows that it ought to be repaired?

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  2. It seems like spending could increase while still underspending on maintenance. We continue to build new roads and additional lanes to support ever expanding exurbs. That isn't cheap. And politically, it's certainly easier to do a ribbon cutting for a new road than routine maintenance.

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  3. I hate to be a stickler like this, but that chart shows spending in the US as a whole. Wouldn't it be more relevant to look at the figures for infrastructure funding in Minneapolis itself?

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