Here is the 2005 Report Card on the 12 categories:

Aviation — D+

Bridges — C

Dams — D

Drinking water — D-

Energy — D

Hazardous waste — D

Navigable waterways — D-

Public parks — C-

Rail — C-

Roads — D

Schools — D

Solid waste — C+

Transit — D+

Wastewater — D-

SOURCE: American Society of Civil Engineers

There’s a game that I played years ago called Sim City. The basis for Sim City is managing local government. The objective of the game is to use your decision making skills to build a city and manage the city as potential disasters and other problems arise. Some schools, such as Auburn University use Sim City to teach students systems thinking, problem-solving skills and “craft” in the planning profession.

I remember in playing this game that if I concentrated on one aspect of planning and neglected others, there were consequences, sometimes severe consequences. This leads to our current situation here in America. For now, our nation’s leaders (Congress and the President) are spending their time waging undeclared wars where the cost to pay for said wars aren’t even included in the budget deficit figures.

So when will our leaders decide that our own nation needs some TLC and leave other nations to depend upon their own people to survive? The answer will probably be found when the next bridge collapses or the water situation hits crisis level. A “D-” for drinking water? Are you kidding me?

Our leaders are reactive, not proactive. The only thing that they are leaders of is the march towards the destruction of America as we know it! They would lose every game of Sim City they ever played. If only there were no consequences.

The next ASCE report card is due out in 2009. I can only imagine what further deterioration will have occurred. Can the grade of “F” be too far off? If your child receives these types of grades, are you proud of them? No! You do what you can to fix the problem by paying more attention to what is causing it!

What’s causing our problems in America? We need $1.6 trillion over the next 5 years to fix our infrastructure. Where will that money come from? Is it in the current budget? Will war with Iran make things better or worse? Does Congress even ask these types of questions?

So to pay for the repairing of infrastructure, congress can only do one of two things; raise taxes or print more money (the hidden tax called inflation).

Either way, you will pay more for everything.

You’ll find out what’s going on with your state’s infrastructure here.

Doug Eberhardt

Related posts:

1. Vote For Those That Voted “NO” To the Bailout Come November
2. Top 5 Articles of 2009
3. Social Security Will Be There For You, However…

Stock market is falling apart…

Dollar has fallen 40% since the war began…

World food crisis because of rising food prices…

More people IN THE U.S. getting food from local food banks…who are low on supplies…

Real inflation rate in double digits (you know..utilizing the same criteria for figuring inflation from the Carter years)…

Housing bubble has burst…

Consumer debt over 2.6 trillion…

National debt over 9.3 trillion…

Trade deficit averages 58 billion a month…

Budget deficit in the hundreds of millions doesn’t even include the cost for the wars…

Real Unemployment near 14% when you include the “discouraged workers…”

Industrial production has contracted year over year…

Oil and Gasoline prices at record levels…

There are no consequences to our actions around the world are there?

Things are going real well! We’re winning! We’re winning!

Meanwhile, seniors on a fixed income are crying…

Where we go from here I prefer not to dwell on…

But hey! …we’ve got Obama or McCain to save us!

Editor’s note: I did not include in the above analysis, the losses of liberty to include; the patriot act, various house and senate bills that will take away more of our freedoms, including your right to free speech in criticizing the U.S. government that passed the House by a huge margin (Senate Bill – S. 1959), legal wire tapping and domestic spying (FISA), right to detain indefinitely, TSA pat down search abuse and now body scanners, terrorist watch list now over 900,000, real ID in the works, International Cyber Crime Treaty and loss of private property through Eminent Domain to name a few.

YOUR ELECTED CONGRESS HARD AT WORK!

To do something about those elected Congressmen and women, read Alex Wallenwein’s fine column.

Doug Eberhardt

Related posts:

1. Social Security Will Be There For You, However…
2. America’s Infrastructure In 2009: Grade “F”