Our preoccupation with everything Iraq has been such a distraction that now our infrastructures are starting to crumble. Spending an estimated $4,000 a second in Iraq, our Government seems unwilling to provide the basic elements of safety to our citizens. Hopefully, this will be a wake up call to current administration that has bankrupted our government for this imperialistic war. I hope the politicians pay dearly in the next election over this. I also would say this is where I differ from most libertarians that think government has no purpose what so ever.

Much like Katrina, the Federal government seems unwilling to help anyone other than their own private corporate interests that have nothing to do with America. Crumbling infrastructures much like the levy in New Orleans, isn't new news. We have known about these issues, but the focus off of domestic problems has cost us dearly back at home.

http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1528



How embarrasing that our own politicians will do nothing to protect us from this scenario?

Every time I saw this story on CNN I had to ask aloud, "Where the hell is FEMA?"

There is not enough public support for fixing bridges. It isn't until a tragedy like this one occurs that people even become aware of such an issue. But even then, I don't think enough people died in this particular incident to really "wake people up" so to speak. There are always "more important" issues at hand. Also, the government doesn't have the money to rebuild our nation's infrastructure. As quoted from a CNN article, "bringing all the nation's bridges up to snuff would cost $188 billion over the next two decades."

So, I think the reason our country doesn't respond to these tragedies is because our government agencies, such as FEMA, are a joke. It also doesn't help that America has a debt so high that billions of dollars of income taxes hasn't even begun to pay off the interest of the some trillion dollars we owe.

Here is the spending breakdown this year.

699 billion (+4.0%) - Defense
$586.1 billion (+7.0%) - Social Security
$394.5 billion (+12.4%) - Medicare
$367.0 billion (+2.0%) - Unemployment and welfare
$276.4 billion (+2.9%) - Medicaid and other health related
$243.7 billion (+13.4%) - Interest on debt
$89.9 billion (+1.3%) - Education and training
$76.9 billion (+8.1%) - Transportation
$72.6 billion (+5.8%) - Veterans' benefits
$43.5 billion (+9.2%) - Administration of justice
$33.1 billion (+5.7%) - Natural resources and environment
$32.5 billion (+15.4%) - Foreign affairs
$27.0 billion (+3.7%) - Agriculture
$26.8 billion (+28.7%) - Community and regional development
$25.0 billion (+4.0%) - Science and technology
$20.1 billion (+11.4%) - General government
$1.1 billion (+47.6%) - Energy

188 billion is pocket change compared to the defense budget. Which area would you like to change? I would start at the top.

The U.S. will have money for bridges in the future if it stops wasting so much money. But we still don't have any money. I'm pretty sure that all that money from this years budget is borrowed from foreign investors.

But yea, the defense budget is out of control.