Economics
Dysfunction

A bridge too far?

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

A bridge too far?

Take the time to read this article, 10 Taxpayer Handouts to the Super Rich That Will Make Your Blood Boil, including the reference links, if you WANT to become more informed and educated on what 'corporate welfare' is and what it truly costs you and me and every other tax-paying citizen of the USA. Then ask yourself:

'Why do we give 'tons of money' to corporations that make 'tons of money' when children are going to sleep hungry in the USA?'

I really care not whether someone supports Democratic or Republican or Independent candidates for public office. I just want to support any organization or individuals who agree that this--providing public funding to company's that make money--is wrong and as a society and country we need to abolish corporate welfare and redirect those funds to where the can, and should do, the most public good.

Take fixing our decaying roads and bridges and other public infrastructure that we--the American taxpayers!--own, for example.

You want to maintain and grow the economy? Well, how about ensuring that people can get back and forth to work, and companies can bring raw materials to their facilities and ship out finished goods to retail outlets for sale or transport overseas. Take a look at this excerpt from a report, How Infrastructure Investments Support the U.S. Economy:Employment, Productivity and Growth, published by the Political Economy Research Institute with funding from the Alliance for American Manufacturing:

The United States system of civilian public infrastructure has deteriorated badly over the past generation. The breaching of New Orleans’ water levees in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis in 2007 offered tragic testimony to this long-acknowledged but still neglected reality.

After this generation of neglect, the project of rebuilding our infrastructure now needs to be embraced as a first-tier economic policy priority, and not simply to prevent repetitions of the disasters in New Orleans and Minneapolis. The more general point is that infrastructure investments are essential for the functioning of the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, total public assets, excluding defense, were valued at $8.2 trillion in 2007. This represents approximately 50 percent of the stock of all non-residential private assets—a formidable asset base which underpins the national economy.

Core economic infrastructure—in the areas of energy, transportation, and water and sewerage—is particularly important in maintaining economic performance. However, the rate of public investment in these core areas began falling in the 1970s and has not returned to its previous levels since then. As an average since 1980, the growth of infrastructure investment has lagged behind overall economic growth. The result has been a worsening infrastructure deficit and mounting investment needs.

And this is just one example of where those corporate welfare dollars SHOULD be going. How about eliminating poverty in the USA and eliminating the medically uninsured in this country? We used to do IMPORTANT stuff like this before in this country with the implementation of the Social Security System in the 1930's, and later Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960's. We built bridges and dams and the Interstate Highway System during the decades following the end of World War II.

As you go through the next or so, before this year's Election Day, and the upcoming year until our National elections next November, at least ask yourself this one question as you endure the endless political blather:

Who's got the ability--the real ability--to 'talk the talk, and then walk the talk' on the big issues facing our country? And then ask yourself, 'What can I do to help that person do it?'

'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.'--President John F. Kennedy