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Infrastructure bill thread

Pretty easy to pay for electric trains when you don't have to worry about a military

A massive country with only two neighbors with huge coastlines would get more utility from electric trains than military.
 
Some of y'all need to travel out of the country more.

I agree that the hyperbole of the situation does not aid in addressing the very real issue of inequality in this country

and it also shows a nationalist mindset that I do not like
 
LOL, yes we need to upgrade our infrastructure, particularly the electric grid and most of the supply chain apparatus. But let's not act like it is some crumbling wreck relative to the rest of the world. A lot of our infrastructure needs involve expansion of rail and port capacity because we are a massive consumer of import goods. It is an absolute joke to think the transportation and infrastructure here is lacking compared to "most countries." You are conflating services with actual infrastructure. Do we have massive issues with the delivery of healthcare in the US? Yes, while at the same time being the world leader in medical technology.

Aside from Germany, Japan and Australia I wouldn't swap our current infrastructure with anyone. And it's worth pointing out that both Germany and Japan, and a good part of Europe to an extent, were essentially rebuilt from ashes after WW2.

I fully support massive infrastructure spending because it will provide long term jobs, but also improve upon what exists, which is still the envy of all but a handful of countries in the world.

You'll get zero argument from me about the lack of quality in our social spending.

I haven't had a chance to read up on the details of the bill so far, but I hope it includes the following:
Expansion of our nuclear energy generation capacity
Rebuild the electric grid
Expansion of the shipping ports in California to handle larger capacity.

Hm, I'd just point out how much we spend on various things per capita compared with peer or even developing countries. Infrastructure we're dozens of countries down the list, something like 0.5% of GDP. But of course we spend more on imprisonment and military and police than any other nation by a mile. I think that's a better point than anecdotally comparing our roads and bridges. Ours is a problem of disparity too, where rural infrastructure resembles that of a middle of the road nation, not the most prosperous in human history.
 
Need more decent municipal golf courses too.
 
speaking of golf courses, hopefully they'll start taxing golf clubs to help pay for the bill
 
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LOL, yes we need to upgrade our infrastructure, particularly the electric grid and most of the supply chain apparatus. But let's not act like it is some crumbling wreck relative to the rest of the world. A lot of our infrastructure needs involve expansion of rail and port capacity because we are a massive consumer of import goods. It is an absolute joke to think the transportation and infrastructure here is lacking compared to "most countries." You are conflating services with actual infrastructure. Do we have massive issues with the delivery of healthcare in the US? Yes, while at the same time being the world leader in medical technology.

Aside from Germany, Japan and Australia I wouldn't swap our current infrastructure with anyone. And it's worth pointing out that both Germany and Japan, and a good part of Europe to an extent, were essentially rebuilt from ashes after WW2.

I fully support massive infrastructure spending because it will provide long term jobs, but also improve upon what exists, which is still the envy of all but a handful of countries in the world.

You'll get zero argument from me about the lack of quality in our social spending.

I haven't had a chance to read up on the details of the bill so far, but I hope it includes the following:
Expansion of our nuclear energy generation capacity
Rebuild the electric grid
Expansion of the shipping ports in California to handle larger capacity.

Good post. I would add that I'm very happy to be in the US while the world is racing to develop and distribute COVID vaccines. I totally support more infrastructure spending for the common good, but what we have here does not suck compared to almost everywhere else.
 
In my experience, a lot of foreign cities have these awesome urban cores that we are envious of, but the rest of those cities absolutely suck and I would never trade our somewhat crumbing suburbs to live there.
 
The infrastructure bill should definitely include the funds necessary for an on-campus basketball arena at Wake. The reasons are many and obvious, so I will mention just one: it will increase equity in the ACC.
 
Hm, I'd just point out how much we spend on various things per capita compared with peer or even developing countries. Infrastructure we're dozens of countries down the list, something like 0.5% of GDP. But of course we spend more on imprisonment and military and police than any other nation by a mile. I think that's a better point than anecdotally comparing our roads and bridges. Ours is a problem of disparity too, where rural infrastructure resembles that of a middle of the road nation, not the most prosperous in human history.

Show me a list of countries with better infrastructure.

And a list based on current spending as a % of GDP has an obvious flaw that it doesn't account for past investments in infrastructure. For example China presently is spending out their ass on Belt and Road build out, but nobody us going to seriously claim they have a better infrastructure than ours. They are frantically trying to catch *UP* to us.

We are the envy of by far most of the world when it comes to infrastructure and technological advancement. I think you are conflating actual infrastructure with the poor way we share cost and usage of it among our citizens relative to other countries, which is a very valid argument to make.
 
Show me a list of countries with better infrastructure.

And a list based on current spending as a % of GDP has an obvious flaw that it doesn't account for past investments in infrastructure. For example China presently is spending out their ass on Belt and Road build out, but nobody us going to seriously claim they have a better infrastructure than ours. They are frantically trying to catch *UP* to us.

We are the envy of by far most of the world when it comes to infrastructure and technological advancement. I think you are conflating actual infrastructure with the poor way we share cost and usage of it among our citizens relative to other countries, which is a very valid argument to make.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-best-infrastructure.html

Mu8a1tb.jpg
 
 
Even Dear Leader has spoken periodically about our aging infrastructure and the need to fix it, although he did virtually nothing about it during his presidency. In 2015 he slammed airports in NYC, NJ, and LA and compared them to foreign airports he'd visited - "You go over to Qatar, you over to Saudia Arabia, you go over to some of these countries — China — and you see airports like you've never, ever seen before...Then you come back and you land at LaGuardia ... or Newark or LAX and you walk into a filthy terminal that are falling apart and you have broken terrazzo floors and that's all you have."

On the need for high-speed rail in America: “They have trains that go 300 miles per hour...We have trains that go chug … chug … chug.”

“Our airports, bridges, water tunnels, power grids, rail systems—our nation’s entire infrastructure is crumbling, and we aren’t doing anything about it". [Trump] went on to promise that fixing it would spur economic growth.

“These projects put people to work—not just the people doing the work but also the manufacturers, the suppliers, the designers, and, yes, even the lawyers. The Senate Budget Committee estimates that rebuilding America will create 13 million jobs,” he said. Which, incidentally, was Obama’s point in 2011, when Congressional Republicans blocked his $60 billion infrastructure jobs bill.

When even Trump notices that things need fixing, maybe they do.
 
I had to spend 12 hours in the Singapore airport on a layover and while its nice the sports bar infrastructure of the airport sucked. If your country's chief airport doesn't have a Chili's I can get drunk at then you're lagging behind. They had a couple knock off British pubs but they were lame AF.
 
I think like the idea of considering essential services as infrastructure.

I like the idea of expanding long-term care via Medicaid.

But we really need to create a universal insurance mechanism for long-term care.


Biden's ambitious expansion of long-term care sparks debate


I’d put “ambitious” in quotes. Still, it’s at least a move in the right direction.
 
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Defining infrastructure as solely road and bridges is extremely cynical government BS. The best way I’ve seen it put is “when someone says the San Antonio Spurs or New England Patriots have a strong infrastructure they’re not talking about the road to the stadium. They’re talking about characteristics of the organization that lead to success.”
 
Defining infrastructure as solely road and bridges is extremely cynical government BS. The best way I’ve seen it put is “when someone says the San Antonio Spurs or New England Patriots have a strong infrastructure they’re not talking about the road to the stadium. They’re talking about characteristics of the organization that lead to success.”
A pod save America take, I bet? Anything using the Patriots as an example definitely coming from that crew.
 
A pod save America take, I bet? Anything using the Patriots as an example definitely coming from that crew.

Yeah. It didn’t come from the Pats fan so it was a reluctant take.
 
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