Which Country Will The USA Attack Next?

[Kulindahr]

The problem is, there are a lot of people in industry who understand all too clearly that massive destruction is apparently necessary to move the economy.

American households can only absorb so many appliances and cars to throw out 5 years later. World War II taught the west that for a real goose to the American bottom line, you need to blow shit up.

But that lesson was wrong. The real lesson is that serious focused spending on something people aren't going to buy gets the economy moving.

A serious program of infrastructure repair would fit the bill.

news report says American infrastructure are crumbling down.

Why don't they concentrate on that instead?

Because Congress hardly ever uses it.

one country should have a uniform law.
State rights are just red tapes and waste of money.

Tell France and Germany to have all the same laws.

American infrastructure is a joke. Currently it needs $2.2 TRILLION just to raise the infrastructure rating from its current " D " up to a " B ". America used to lead the world in transportation and infrastructure, now it's barely one step above Mexico and plummeting fast. But hey that would benefit everyday, taxpaying, Americans. That's just crazy talk. Here is America's rating for various infrastructure components:


Aviation D
Bridges C
Dams D
Drinking Water D-
Energy D+
Hazardous Waste D
Inland Waterways D-
Levees D-
Public Parks & Recreation C-
Rail C-
Roads D-
School D
Solid Waste C+
Transit D
Wastewater D-


http://apps.asce.org/reportcard/2009/grades.cfm

Whoa -- I didn't think it was that bad!

I recently read that 89k dollars of Stimulus money went to reconstructing a 5 year old sidewalk in Oklahoma that ends... in a ditch. Don't forget the $1.9 million for international ant research. Can't make this stuff up.

And a stack of millions is rebuilding a long stretch of US 101 where the road foundation hadn't been updated since the 50s and the surface wasn't even as good as a number of local logging roads.

Oh -- about those ants: you are aware, I hope, that there are ant species on different continents which would pose serious threats to the ecosystems on other continents. Researching those ants, and means to control them, is seriously important. It would be nice if there was some money for researching Japanese knotweed, too.

 

[MoltenRock III]

No, I'm saying maybe its not all the doom and gloom you're preaching. You seem to know a lot more about it than I do OBVIOUSLY. But, I'm sorry those grade reports are those up to date? Those look similar to the same ones the president was given like 2 years ago when he was put in office, is that pre-stimulus or now? Was I out of line asking where you're from? Your opening post just made it seem like you were looking in from the outside, maybe the phrasing or something.

Those are from 2009. The new 2010 report will be out in a month or two. You don't make up a $2.2 TRILLION shortfall in a year or two. Only $150 billion or so went to infrastructure in the stimulus bill. As the report states, we need to spend $450 billion per year over the next 5 years to bring infrastructure up to a "B" grade.

I travel A LOT on business. I am an Asian-American, raised in Michigan and now live in Singapore 9+ months per year. Comparing America's infrastructure to just about any other 1st world country is nearly a joke, that's how far behind the times America has fallen in investing in herself.

China is building 10,000 miles of high speed rail over the next 4 years! Yes, it is China, but they are building the largest high speed rail system in the world in 4 years, at a cost of $300 billion. Obama made a huge investment by the USA's historical standards into high speed rail in the stimulus bill totaling $8 billion.

Singapore's ports are amongst the worlds most efficient, automated, and modern ports in the world. It handles nearly 1/5 of all containers and trans-shipments in the world.

Using Asian and European airports vs. American ones is also a stark example of just how neglected much of America's infrastructure is. When you leave Hong Kong, Zurich, Kansai, Athens or other airport and landing at JFK or LAX is like you've stepped back in time 25 years. No joke. It's surreal.

I'm not trying to beat up the US and say it sucks as it's my home country. My point is, we are falling further and further behind. The reason I live and work in Asia right now is because the economy here is booming! Singapore's growth rate in GDP is expected to be up 6.4% this year. China's is going to be up around 8.5%.

With poor infrastructure a country loses it's economic vitality. You need to be able to move goods, services, and people around quickly, easily, and without hassle to have the economy fire on all cylinders. Once upon a time America's infrastructure was the best in the world. No longer is that the case.

 

[Ambrocious]

I appears that Iran will be the next target. I just wish that all these wars would end.

 

[rareboy]

Let's just fuckin' abandon all the countries in the world where we have troops and bases stationed. Bring them and our "military machine" home, build a defensive system that would knock out all incoming weaponry.

If anyone like Hilter or Stalin came along again -- we just ignore them and the people they murder and kill.

Would that make all you fuckers happy?

Nice talk there Springer.

I emphasized it for you.

 

[kallipolis]

Those are from 2009. The new 2010 report will be out in a month or two. You don't make up a $2.2 TRILLION shortfall in a year or two. Only $150 billion or so went to infrastructure in the stimulus bill. As the report states, we need to spend $450 billion per year over the next 5 years to bring infrastructure up to a "B" grade.

I travel A LOT on business. I am an Asian-American, raised in Michigan and now live in Singapore 9+ months per year. Comparing America's infrastructure to just about any other 1st world country is nearly a joke, that's how far behind the times America has fallen in investing in herself.

China is building 10,000 miles of high speed rail over the next 4 years! Yes, it is China, but they are building the largest high speed rail system in the world in 4 years, at a cost of $300 billion. Obama made a huge investment by the USA's historical standards into high speed rail in the stimulus bill totaling $8 billion.

Singapore's ports are amongst the worlds most efficient, automated, and modern ports in the world. It handles nearly 1/5 of all containers and trans-shipments in the world.

Using Asian and European airports vs. American ones is also a stark example of just how neglected much of America's infrastructure is. When you leave Hong Kong, Zurich, Kansai, Athens or other airport and landing at JFK or LAX is like you've stepped back in time 25 years. No joke. It's surreal.

I'm not trying to beat up the US and say it sucks as it's my home country. My point is, we are falling further and further behind. The reason I live and work in Asia right now is because the economy here is booming! Singapore's growth rate in GDP is expected to be up 6.4% this year. China's is going to be up around 8.5%.

With poor infrastructure a country loses it's economic vitality. You need to be able to move goods, services, and people around quickly, easily, and without hassle to have the economy fire on all cylinders. Once upon a time America's infrastructure was the best in the world. No longer is that the case.

China's infrastructure needed catching up with the rest of the world. For it was so far behind the rest of the developed world. China is making progress, but still has a long way to go, before even beginning to compete with the United States. Very cheap labour costs assists the Chinese economy to develop and expand its manufacturing base. It should also be noted that the rest of the developed world is participating in China's growth by manufacturing its products in China. Even the expensive Apple products are manufactured in China.

It does help that China has a totalitarian government, thus ensuring that the interests of the state - as imagined, and proposed by the Communist party's political elite - takes precedence over the interests of the individual human person.

Singapore's economy also benefits from a political regime that has governed this island state since independence. The Lee Kuan Yew legacy has guaranteed prosperity for Singapore at a certain price. I also appreciate that the streets are very clean, and crime is very low. Is Lee Kuan Yew and his family still pulling strings from his retirement home? Singapore is not regarded as an electoral democracy. Such freedoms have still to take seed in Singapore.

I appreciate that liberal democratic values can interrupt ecomomic progress. Not a few of us are prepared to suffer a little with the apparent inefficiencies, that identify western democracies as less responsive to economic growth, than the two Asian nations that you have mentioned.