''The Infrastructure Cliff: Why the U.S. Desperately Needs a $2.5 Trillion Upgrade''

if we end the neo-con wars, maybe we could nation-build here..................From The Atlantic

''Doomsayers' warnings that China will overtake the United States in economic strength because of its snazzier airports and trains are surely overblown. But we shouldn't minimize the task that our elderly infrastructure presents. Highways and bridges will need $2.5 trillion in upgrades if they are to survive for another 50 years -- a must-do to keep commerce thriving. And that figure doesn't even take into account the airports, railroads, subways, sewage-treatment plants, waterworks, levees, electric grids, pipelines, and all of those other expensive systems that people ignore until they break down.''

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''Why US Infrastructure Spending Won’t Help the Economy''

From Daily Reckoning
By Bill Bonner

... ''The infrastructure in New York, New Jersey and New England was already in trouble long before the storm made landfall near Atlantic City. The power lines in Brooklyn and Queens, on Long Island and in New Jersey, in one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, are not underground, but are still installed along a fragile and confusing above-ground network supported by utility poles, the way they are in developing countries.''

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''Ignoring Real National Security Needs''

From Consortium News

''Before the Right began demonizing government, there was a bipartisan consensus on the wisdom of federal action to build important national projects, like the Interstate Highway System. Today, the need for a strengthened infrastructure has become a national security concern, writes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.''

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''World needs $700 billion in power grid upgrades''

From Reuters


''The world's 16 largest power grids need to invest $700 billion over the next 10 years to cope with a rising share of renewable energy in mature economies and with soaring demand in emerging nations, French power grid RTE said.

The 16 grids, which transport 70 percent of the world's electricity demand, expect global demand to jump 50 percent by 2022, when renewable energy will equal the capacity of 250 medium-sized nuclear reactors.''

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''Michigan Bridge Hangs in the Balance''

From Governing.com

''Earlier this year, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian officials unveiled a long-awaited infrastructure plan that seemed almost too good to be true for Michigan taxpayers: the cost of a new toll bridge between the two entities would be entirely fronted by Canada.

Michigan officials say the proposed $950 million bridge won't cost state taxpayers a dime. Not the structure itself. Not the highway interchanges. Not federal inspection facilities. Not the design, the maintenance, or the operations.

Is Canada being particularly generous? Not exactly. The deal is the result of a conflict between Snyder and his state legislature, which has previously been unwilling to fund the project. Canada is betting that the bridge will be such a good investment that it’s willing to front the money.''

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''21 Facts About America's Decaying Infrastructure That Will Blow Your Mind''

a must read.................From Michael Snyder via  BlackListed News

''You can tell a lot about a nation by the condition of the infrastructure.  So what does our infrastructure say about us?  It says that we are in a very advanced state of decay.  At this point, much of America is being held together with spit, duct tape and prayers. ''

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''Collapse of New Bridge Underscores Worries About China Infrastructure''

From NYTimes

''One of the longest bridges in northern Chinacollapsed on Friday, just nine months after it opened, setting off a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction in the country’s rapid expansion of its infrastructure.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, the Yangmingtan Bridge was the sixth major bridge in China to collapse since July 2011. Chinese officials have tended to blame overloaded trucks for the collapses, and did so again on Friday.

Many in China have attributed the recent spate of bridge collapses to corruption, and online reaction to the latest collapse was scathing.''

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''US infrastructure doomed?''

From RT.com

''Power grid needs trillions in updates to maintain reliability, utilities say''

the sociopaths in WASHDC are to busy "nation-building' around the world instead of nation building right here at home.....
 
From Tulsa World

"The electric utility industry needs to spend about $2 trillion over the next two decades just to refurbish the existing grid," new American Electric Power CEO Nick Akins said last month at his company's annual shareholders meeting in Tulsa.''

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''U.S. Roads and Bridges Being Built By Chinese Companies As American Economy Teeters on Collapse''

From The Intel Hub

"A recent report by ABC has confirmed what many have claimed for years; infrastructure jobs are going directly to foreign countries, particularly China.

Regardless of the fact that US law usually requires American companies to be picked first for infrastructure jobs, multiple Chinease companies are currently working on U.S. bridges and roads throughout the country."

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Off-ramp: ''How demolishing freeways is reviving American cities''

From Grist

"One of John Norquist’s best-known achievements as mayor of Milwaukee — an office he held from 1988 to 2004 — was demolishing the Park East Freeway, a 1960s-era expressway that restricted access to the city’s downtown. Today, he is CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, an organization that promotes urban highway removal and walkable, mixed-use urban development."

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Buried No Longer: ''Confronting America’s Water Infrastructure Challenge''

From Infrastructure USA

"As documented in this report, restoring existing water systems as they reach the end of their useful lives and expanding them to serve a growing population will cost at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years, if we are to maintain current levels of water service. Delaying the investment can result in degrading water service, increasing water service disruptions, and increasing expenditures for emergency repairs. Ultimately we will have to face the need to “catch up” with past deferred investments, and the more we delay the harder the job will be when the day of reckoning comes."

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''China rebuilding America's infrastructure?''

from rt.com....

''China wants to invest in US roads, rails''

yeah, thats gonna go over really well.............from ap.....

"China wants to convert some of its mountain of U.S. government debt into investment in renovating American roads and subways, the commerce minister said Friday.

Speaking to a business group, Chen Deming said China wants closer cooperation with the United States in infrastructure, clean energy and technology.

Such investments would tie China more closely to Western economies and might help defuse fears Beijing will use its $3.2 trillion in foreign reserves — some $1.15 trillion of that in Treasury and other U.S. government debt — as a political weapon"......READ MORE

'How to Fund U.S. Infrastructure? Reduce Defense Spending'

from the infrastructurist........

"A few weeks ago, former Pennsylvania Governor and co-founder of Building America’s Future Ed Rendell was speaking on a panel about the future of U.S. infrastructure. After he finished extolling the need for greater investment in large-scale upgrades and new projects, a young Naval cadet stood up and asked, “That’s a great plan, but where will we get the money for it?”

“That’s a great question,” Rendell responded. “And the answer is two words, beginning with ‘A’ and ‘I.’”

“Um, ‘American innovation?’” the cadet offered.

“No, but close. It’s ‘Afghanistan’ and ‘Iraq”............READ MORE

'California bullet train: The high price of speed'

from latimes.......

"Since it opened in 1893Bakersfield High School has been the pride of this city and its academic cornerstone, the place where the late Chief Justice Earl Warren graduated and students call themselves the Drillers in homage to the region's oil patch.

It has withstood earthquakes and depressions, but perhaps it will not survive the California bullet train"................READ MORE

Canada: "One-third of Montreal’s infrastructure needs repair, 12 structures critical"

from globe and mail........

"Nearly one-third of Montreal's deteriorating road structures need repair work and a dozen of them are considered in critical condition.

That's according to a study that examined 555 pieces of infrastructure under local jurisdiction.

The report released by the city today found 12 were in the most critical shape, 44 were deficient, 38 were mediocre, and another 81 were just generally deteriorating".........READ MORE

'China Construction America, has won contracts on major AMERICAN public works projects, including the Tappan Zee and Alexander Hamilton Bridges, the No. 7 subway line extension and the $91 million Metro-North Railroad station at Yankee Stadium'

you know it is bad when a communist country is building your infrastructure..........from ourbusinessnews........

"China Construction is a subsidiary of a state-controlled construction company in China. The wave of Japanese investment in the city a generation ago — epitomized by the purchase of a controlling stake in Rockefeller Center by the Mitsubishi Estate Company of Tokyo in 1989 — stirred anxiety and even xenophobia. Some New Yorkers saw it as evidence that the city and the country were losing their dominant positions"...........READ MORE

'America’s Crumbling Infrastructure to Cost Economy 877,000 High-Skill Jobs'

the 3 Trillion dollar problem.............from hnn...............

"Citing a first-ever report released today by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) that found America’s crumbling surface transportation infrastructure will cost the economy more than 877,000 jobs, U.S. Representative Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, renewed calls for Congress to craft a robust surface transportation that provides the investments necessary to tackle the well documented backlog of highway, bridge, and transit infrastructure needs.

“While Republicans may hope that if they simply say we are going to “do more with less” enough times it will magically make it so, today’s report provides the cold hard truth that America’s economic recovery and long-term competitiveness will suffer if we continue to under invest  in our future,” said Rahall.  “The report paints a disturbing picture of how America’s small businesses and middle class family incomes will be affected by our Nation’s deteriorating surface transportation systems. Slashing investments by one third, as Republicans have proposed to do, will make the economic impact on America’s middle class even worse than the grim predictions by the economists in this report.”

The report finds that a failure to increase investment in surface transportation over the next ten years will have significant economic implications for the U.S. economy, resulting in U.S. businesses paying an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes falling by more than $7,000, and U.S. exports falling by $28 billion"............READ MORE

'America will never recover when China builds our infrastructure'

we are so f'ing screwed..........from reuters......

"America will never recover if we outsource everything, including our public infrastructure. Bloomberg made the excellent video above about California outsourcing the construction of a portion of the San Francisco Bay Bridge to Shanghai Zhenhua, a Chinese firm. Shanghai Zhenhua is assembling the section and will then ship it to California for installation. The state is supposedly saving $400 million with this move. The workers at the Chinese facility are making $12 dollars a day.

In times of fiscal stress it’s easy to understand why public entities are trying hard to cut costs. But this “cost cutting” is really just off-shoring American jobs. Something has to give — we can’t recover without creating American jobs. It’s our choice, and I choose spending more and creating jobs at home"........READ MORE