The Lancaster Intelligencer- Journal reports “Many county bridges deemed structurally deficient.”
The vast proportion of reputable economists begged the government to increase deficit spending following the start of this great recession in 2008. Instead in 2012 we introduced austerity measures that have slowed recovery. (We did the same fool thing in 1937 and brought about the second phase of the Great Depression, but who now takes note other than historians?
In these pages we pointed out that we were spending money supporting people who are out of work when we could spend the same money putting them to work rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and thus jump start the economy. And instead of just debt liability, we would have had assets to offset the debt we were incurring.
Tax collections rise with full employment and, along with the usual small amount of inflation, the debt would have been rapidly paid off, as we have done in the past…even after World War II.
Either those who called for austerity measures were ignoramuses or they were right-wing ideologues more interested in obstructing President Obama than saving the nation.
Now, instead of a world leader to be envied, we have become a world weakling except for a military / industrial complex all dressed up and looking for places to go.
We can’t even repair our roads and bridges, let alone build anything.
Failure to embrace deficit spending was the immediate mistake. However, no matter what else we do, our wasting 10% of our annual Gross National Product on a failed health care approach, cruel and foolish wars, and dumb drug policies are sure to continue our plunge to second rate status.
We have to act smarter. And we have got to censure those who continuously put politics over the nation’s progress.
