The devastating quake in Chile should be a wake-up call to the government of the United States, according to some seismologists.We are wondering if there is anyone home to receive that wakeup call, since we are fighting two wars in the middle east, beating the drums about Iran, and reactivating a naval fleet that has been mothballed for over 5 decades.
Data from seismologists indicates that we here in the U.S. are due for a large quake somewhere in the not too distant future.
Other data indicate that our infrastructure is therefore in danger:
Chile's transportation infrastructure took a big hit, as seen in the collapsed bridges and highways.(CBS News, emphasis added). On this blog we have recently been looking into the whereabouts of the largest infrastructure spending legislation in U.S. history.
It should be a wake-up call to the U.S., noted Dr. McNutt, given the fragile state of America's infrastructure even before a quake.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's 2008 report on the state of our highways found that nearly 14% of the nation's bridges are "functionally obsolete," with another 12% "structurally deficient."
The graph above shows the skyward spending spree on military matters, and the tanking into the basement crash of the domestic, non-military budget.
The vertical red line marks the time when the largest infrastructure legislation in U.S. history was passed, the vertical green line shows when money from that legislation could have first been reasonably put to use, and the yellow vertical line shows when the bridge collapse happened in Minnesota, killing Americans on their way to work.
American engineers do not give us a good report card after that money was set aside for infrastructure improvement.
The big question is where did the money go that was supposed to go to U.S. infrastructure?
Anyone suspect it is being used to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan?
This has been a concern of mine as well. Earthquakes often come in bunches, and we've had a bunch lately, several on the same Pacific Rim fault. Rather an ominous indicator.
ReplyDeletedisaffected,
ReplyDeleteWe have already seen what the government reaction will be ... in the Katrina movie.
Triage is their only form of wisdom.
There is no evidence that the money is being used to rebuild either Iraq nor Afghanistan. However, Dubal is awash in money from both the US and Saudi Arabia from Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteAmadinijad spoke to this very issue, last december, If I remember correctly, his speech on the Environment. he pointed out that "a certain country" has spent $1000 billion dollars on war in Iraq, and $250 billion on war in Afghanistan. He wondered if instead $50 billion could have been used to rebuilld Afghanistan and the rest used to reduce Climate Change.
The MSM falsly reported on Amadinejad's speech, providing snipits of bad translations, which prompted language experts to provide correct translations, and was followed by more claims by the US that "we" are afraid that Iran might gat "a" Nuke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHHW6o83f-4
We currently have some 10,000 Nuks, 737 military bases overseas, and have launched 2 brans new destroyers at a BILLION dollars each, with more to come. We have ordered 250+ Drones, and have now efectively increased the military budget vs non militry.
K. Podgers,
ReplyDeleteThere is plenty of evidence that money is misappropriated for the war effort.
Look at the graph itself for starters.
There is no evidence the tax money was used where it should have been used.
I think the graph is great. Nice find. The video of the new destroyer, and the recent $6 billion plus sald of arms to Taiwan ie evidence of how we employ Americans. The MSM delighetd in covering China's objection to this sale, but ignored the taxpayer in Taiwan, who is fed up with curing unemployment in the US at their expense.
ReplyDelete