Can Somebody Explain This?........Please!

*We have about 45,000 miles of Interstate Highway.  80% of all freight moves on that system.  Roughly 75% of the Interstate system is in dreadful condition.  Company after company reports that they are losing millions of dollars in delayed shipping, inventory and delivery costs.

*The U.S. Society of Engineers say we have 10,000 bridges that need major repair or replacement.

*We have tens of thousands of miles of pipeline moving petroleum products and gas.  Many are over fifty years old and need repair and replacing.

*We have tens of thousands of water pipelines, some of which are over 150 years old.

*We have hundreds and hundreds of miles of dikes that need repairing.

*We have a dozen ports that need updating to handle deep draft ships.

*We have over 25,000 cities and towns, and everyone of them is in desperate need of street repairs.


*We have 100's of airports in need of updating and expansion.

We can not escape these costs.  They are not Republican costs, and they are not Democrat costs.  They are American costs, period.

We obviously do not have the cash on hand to handle all of these tasks.  But the world is willing to lend us the money and do it at about a 1% interest rate.  It will never get lower.

We could put millions of Americans back to work immediately.  They would spend their paychecks in small businesses (and large), and every one of those dollars has what economists call a multiplier effect, e.g. each dollar will create about another $1.50.

We would end the costs of unemployment insurance, food stamps and a bunch of other social costs.

We would increase our tax income since all of those jobs would pay income taxes.

We would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our distribution system immensely.

It is a win, win, win situation all around.  But the Republicans refuse to recognize the problem or endorse the solution.  I have just read a preview of Obama's next speech and there is some vague reference to infrastructure somewhere toward the end.

Can anybody explain to me why we are not doing this now???

REMEMBER!! We will have to spend the money sooner or later, and every day we delay increases the final cost because the repairs will be more expensive and the interest costs will be higher and higher.