As mortgage tranches deteriorate and we observe the unwinding derivatives dance, it's perhaps easy to note that, for now, it is the financial sector that is in dire straits and we hope that commerce will remain relatively unscathed.
But all's not well with infrastructure.
No matter our political persuasion, we all agree that an appropriate use of tax dollars is in our transportation infrastructure. This month, Clifford Lynch, in DC Velocity points out - with a very good summary capture of the last 70 years or so - just how antiquated and poor our transportation infrastructure is and how poorly those that represent the citizenry have functioned:
...on June 29, 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act was signed into law by President Eisenhower, who had earlier told Congress, "Our unity as a nation is sustained by free communication of thought and by easy transportation of people and goods." More than 50 years later, we have yet to achieve the goal of "easy transportation." Instead, we seem to be operating in a state of total confusion... a deteriorating, 50-year-old highway system; inadequate rail structure; disintegrating locks on the Mississippi River; dangerous bridges; an ailing airline industry; and all the associated problems. And to top it all off, we have the rapidly dwindling Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to run a deficit of $3 billion by the end of 2009. This being an election year, I was hopeful that we might see a flurry of activity. And we have, but it appears to be the same old political rhetoric. We are trying to treat symptoms instead of the disease.
Lynch points out that we do not have a comprehensive transportation policy - which, again is one policy we can all agree that is needed - but also points out that the 2005 highway bill contained - get this - 6,376 "special interest projects" - or "earmarks" in the colloquial reference of the season. This is wholly unacceptable.
Lynch concludes, a little cynically, that any of us that are involved in supply chain to contact our representatives and suggest that policy and planning be put in place prior to the next transportation legislation.
I say let's remind our representatives about the consent of the governed as well. Surely, of any public funded activity, everyone (with the exception of perhaps those who sit in Washington) can agree that the commission that is responsible for issuing a national transportation policy actually perform that function and that the public transportation system be appropriately funded.
