China rolls out high speed train as US sells off infrastructure

The repugicans have done an impressive job of blocking modernization of the US infrastructure system. They are the party of "no" after all. The rest of the world is not sitting still and they are investing. Five years after giving away the highway toll roads to foreign investors, repugican hero Mitch Daniels is somehow popular among his crowd for the short term cash hit. Drivers are now being blistered with outrageous toll increases and for the next seventy years, Indiana will get nothing. Brilliant.

Unfortunately there are too many stories like this from around the US.

Before Gov. Mitch Daniels leased the Indiana Toll Road to private investors in 2006, professional trucker Randy Nace would occasionally use the tollway even though it carried a $14 toll. Several toll increases later, with truckers set to pay $35.20 starting Friday, July 1, residents like Nace are reminded of why they fought so hard against the privatization deal.

“I still think it was the wrong thing to do,” Nace said from his truck on Monday. He says he’s managed to survive cost increases and the economic downturn in part by avoiding the Indiana Toll Road.

Five years ago this week, on June 29, 2006, Gov. Mitch Daniels leased the tollway to Cintra of Spain and Macquarie of Australia in exchange for $3.85 billion in cash. To date, it’s still the largest privatization deal involving a U.S. roadway and certainly one of the most controversial.

Isn't it time we shut down the wasted money funnel from Iraq and Afghanistan and start rebuilding US infrastructure?