Credit is based on trust which allows one party to provide resources
to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first
party immediately, but arranges either to repay or return those
resources at a later date. However, some resources cannot be returned in
lieu of repayment and when a government spends borrowed money its
citizens should see some benefit because they are responsible for
repaying the debt the government incurs. Most Americans do not object to
their tax dollars being used to pay debts when they receive something
in return such as decent roads, schools, and infrastructure all citizens
enjoy, but a great deal of America’s debt is for wars in which no-one
benefits except the military industrial complex. The repugicans refuse to
fund, borrow, or spend one penny on projects or programs that benefit
99% of the population, but they have no problem creating debt that
benefits the rich and their corporations and forcing the American people
to pick up the tab.
On Friday, President Obama brought out a two-year old
set of proposals
and tax incentives worth $7 billion for a $21 billion infrastructure
improvement program, but Speaker of the House John Boehner balked and
said “
It’s easy to go out there and be Santa Claus and talk about all
the things you want to give away, but at some point somebody has to pay
the bill.” Boehner is right, taxpayers will have to pay the bill,
but in return they will get a fraction of America’s crumbling roads,
rails,
67,000 bridges
and ports repaired to bring the country closer to some developing
nations’ infrastructure standards. As it is, America’s infrastructure
now
ranks 25th overall
for infrastructure quality below Spain and Chile that are considered
among the worst in the world, but according to repugicans, America is
exceptional and too broke to invest in infrastructure that will cost the
nation
over $3.1 trillion
in economic growth within 5 years without immediate spending to bring
the country up to standards rivaling the poorest European nations.
It is not just major world organizations citing that the richest
country in the history of the world suffers a rapidly crumbling and
decrepit infrastructure that needs immediate improvements. The American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently released a
new report
on America’s current infrastructure status that gave this exceptional
nation a D grade, and that is after the President’s American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (stimulus) funded repairs for a fraction of
America’s substandard roads and highways. The repugicans opposed the
stimulus as sheer waste even though it created over 4 million jobs and
saved the economy from repugicans’ 8 year deregulation and spending
spree. According to the ASCE,
unless America invests an additional
$3.6 trillion
in infrastructure between now and 2020, the U.S. will lose $1.1
trillion in trade, $3,100 per year drop in personal disposable income,
$2.4 trillion in lost consumer spending, and a little over 3.1 million
jobs. It is bad news for Americans and the economy, but it is good news
for repugicans as they ramp up their four-year assault on the
government, jobs, and the economy.
The ASCE reported that in
all aspects
of infrastructure; energy, aviation, dams, water, levees, roads,
schools, and hazardous waste disposal, America is failing despite repugican claims the richest country on Earth is exceptional, but broke
because of grave debt they never considered worthy of attention until
an African American became President. In January of 2009, the deficit repugicans created in 8 years became unsustainable and the sole reason
for killing jobs, eliminating domestic programs, and giving the rich and
corporations greater tax cuts that persists to this day. Unfortunately
for Americans, the repugicans succeeded infecting all of Washington,
including President Obama, with a debt and deficit reduction frenzy that
threatens Social Security, Medicare, and nearly every domestic program
that helps all Americans.
During the shrub junta, repugicans regularly parroted their man-turned-god Ronald Reagan’s famous words that “
deficits don’t matter”
as they racked up debt for tax cuts for the rich, a prescription plan
for the pharmaceutical industry, and two very expensive wars. In fact,
Americans will be shouldering crushing debt for decades to repay an
estimated $6 trillion for the two wars that provided nothing whatsoever
to the American people except thousands of dead Americans and
tens-of-thousands of wounded Veterans. A recent
report revealed the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will be the most expensive in America’s history and according to the study’s author, “
The legacy of decisions taken during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will dominate future federal budgets for decades to come,”
and instead of charging the oil industry, weapons manufacturers,
pharmaceutical companies, and wealthiest Americans for the resources and
money they received on credit, repugicans are forcing 99% of the
population to pay with tax dollars and services for decades to come.
A great share of the debt for the two wars is
$60.45 billion in Iraq and more than $100 billion in Afghanistan
for infrastructure repairs after they were decimated as a result of the shrub’s invasion and subsequent wholesale destruction, and the spending
went directly to repugican’s favorite corporations such as KBR and
Halliburton. However, the single largest accrued liability of the wars
in
Iraq and Afghanistan
is the cost of providing medical care and disability benefits to war
Veterans that historically comes due many decades later. For example,
the report noted the peak year for compensating World War I veterans was
1969, and World War II veterans saw the largest payments from the
government in the late 1980s. Vietnam and the first Gulf War Veterans’
payments are still rising and are not expected to peak for a couple of
decades.
The repugicans have accrued quite a distinguished record for destroying
economies and infrastructures, but unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, they
oppose spending any money to repair America’s crumbling infrastructure.
At $21 billion, the President’s infrastructure improvement proposal is
meager and insufficient, but Republicans will oppose it the same way
they
opposed spending $1 billion
that was funded to help returning Veterans find jobs after serving in the shrub’s two wars Americans will be paying for over the next several
decades.
Americans do not object to repaying debts they incurred, but they
should see some benefit and they certainly do not expect to pay the debt
for other countries’ infrastructure improvements when their roads,
bridges, dams, schools, and ports are falling apart before their eyes.
For eight years, repugican piled up enormous debt to pay the rich,
pharmaceutical industry, and war machine the American people will have
to repay, and for four years they have refused to spend one penny on
America, its people, or the crumbling infrastructure because their war,
tax cuts, and pharmaceutical industry’s debt and deficit are
unsustainable. They must be rejoicing though, because by opposing even
minimal infrastructure repairs, they will cost Americans over 3.1
million jobs, $1.1 trillion in trade, $3,100 per year drop in personal
disposable income, and $2.4 trillion in lost consumer spending, and
combined with $6 trillion for their unfunded wars, will keep America in
debt for several decades and Americans will have nothing to show for it.
If
crucifixion as a means of capital punishment hadn't died out in the
ancient world, it would labeled cruel and unusual punishment, and would
never fly in the civilized world. The common wisdom is that the practice
ended with the reign of Constantine, the first christian emperor of
Rome (306 to 337 CE). However, some accounts of crucifixion appear after
he converted in 312. 
Three
County Cork road workers were returning from a job in Carrigaline,
Ireland, when they saw a pothole. They stopped and repaired the pothole.
A Health and Safety worker saw them, and the three men were
consequently suspended from their jobs because they had not filed the
proper paperwork for this particular pothole before repairing it.
Arcangelo
Bianco Jr. of Blairsville, Pennsylvania, was arrested on charges of
reckless endangerment, hunting without a license, and other charges
after he shot at a deer in a Walmart parking lot. A representative of
the Pennsylvania Game Commission explained the incident.
What
causes fairy circles, those circular barren patches of land found in the
grasslands of Southern Africa? German scientist Norbert Juergens found
the answer: termites.
Trichobatrachus robustus is
the Wolverine of the amphibian world. You'll know when you've crossed
the line because he'll gladly break his own bones to produce weapons to
break yours. New Scientist reports on the findings of zoologist David Blackburn and his colleagues:
