With the collapse of the Interstate 35W Bridge in Minneapolis there is renewed anxiety and focus on the condition of the nation's infrastructure, especially its highways and bridges. Concerns continue to be voiced about the condition of the electric grid, and recent sewer explosions and subway tunnel flooding in New York speak for themselves. The list could go on for pages. Or for that matter, just ask the good people of New Orleans. Maintaining plant and equipment is an executive responsibility, and the nation's infrastructure is our plant and equipment. If an executive's competence is to be judged in this context, then here too is failure on a massive scale.
But wait, it becomes more ominous yet. Gas taxes are the single largest funding source for the nation's highways. Americans pay an average of 47 cents a gallon for fuel taxes. In Canada it comes to $1 a gallon, $1.90 in Japan and $ 4.50 in Britain, all according to the International Energy Administration.
In the wake of the deadly 35W collapse the House Transportation Committee called for a fuel tax hike. More specifically, Congressman James Oberstar (D.Minn) indicated he would introduce legislation to fund bridge repairs and increase their inspections. According to Oberstar, a 5-cent increase in the gas tax would pay for a three year program that would generate some $8.5 billion a year. I repeat, we are talking about a five cent increase on the gas tax, in order to tackle an urgently needed and clearly dangerous infrastructure problem. A problem that should have long since been the focus of remedial government action.
President Bush's immediate and intemperate reaction to Oberstar's proposal was to dismiss it out of hand, admonishingly lecturing Oberstar and his Congressional colleagues, "Before we raise taxes, which could effect economic growth, I would urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities."
It begs the question, what are the president's priorities? Well consider this. In 2001 when the president took office the average price of conventional retail gasoline was $1.45 a gallon according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By mid July 2007, the price was $3.05 per gallon, a difference of $1.60 a gallon or over 100% , or more to the point , by a factor of 32 times the five cent increment in gas tax proposed by Representative Oberstar to deal with a critically important issue. Here is a problem, tax foe or friend, that needs fixing. And yet President Bush is determined to continue on this course of obstruction if government taxes are the remedy. In contrast, over the past six years, he has done virtually nothing to arrest the egregious excesses of an oil industry empowered to tax each and everyone of us with runaway cartel manipulated prices.
The jump in gasoline prices is the direct result of the tripling of oil prices since Bush's inauguration in January 2001. Only two days ago William Ramsay, Deputy Director of the International Energy Agency urged Opec to increase production. He said oil prices in the region of $70 a barrel were too high and a threat to the world economy. So too did Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown exclaim his impatience with Opec manipulation while still Chancellor of the Exchequer, accusing Opec of doubling the price of oil within a twelve month period by withholding production from the marketplace. He went so far as to call the Saudi Ambassador to voice his displeasure. By contrast within the last six years our White House has done nothing meaningful to signal our displeasure if not disgust with our Saudi friends who are in effect the putative leaders of OPEC.
This in spite of the fact that we are the de facto guarantor of Saudi independence as clearly evidenced by the massive US fleet sailing the Arabian Gulf to protect Saudi shipping lanes, and if need be, Saudi Arabia itself. The US Arabian fleet is now at its greatest level of strength ever, and at a cost of about $100 million a day. That comes to some $35 billion a year to American taxpayers.
In this madhouse relationship, the President's initiatives are not limited to the shores of Arabia but extend to our shores as well. Congress has passed resolutions to nullify the sovereign immunity that Opec state companies enjoy in our courts, that will make them subject to laws of the land much as any other commercial enterprise. Yet President Bush, in support of the Saudis and in turn Opec, has made it be known that he would veto such a measure.
All this, and the administration's myriad tax breaks for big oil, its near giveaway of oil leases, its appointments to both the Interior and Energy Departments of oil flacks and oil hires, its support and protection of 'K' Street lobbyists, have all created a dramatic disequilibrium. Representative Oberstar is lectured by the President for asking for a five cent gas tax that would fund a program to rebuild our bridges. Yet where is the presidential hectoring when Exxon-Mobil cashes in $40 billions in annual profits lifted from a phony oil market which in and of itself has become a massive tax on the public weal.
The handling of this issue alone borders on the catastrophic. I don't know what they taught Mr. Bush at Harvard Business. But such levels of intransigence, tunnel vision and partisanship would have found a swift exit from the corner office in the real world.
And yes, Bush does send our soldiers to die for corporations and oil. If it makes you cringe, it should. If you can't agree, then you're blind. Stone cold, f*cking blind... Because actions speak louder then words, and to look at what is really happening, look at who benefits most from all this bloody mess.
Some people don't even realize their own actions when they have built a pathological stimulus around them; Like Bush convincing himself that his mission is honorable, but it really consists of manipulating resources he has been programmed to understand this nation must have to exist. All the support for this pathological mechanism is already entrenched, and has been for years. Bush is stuck in this mindset that cannot be relinquished.
Bush will never let go- not because he is not a good person, but because he is a fake. A guy who thinks he's courageous but actually hid behind daddy's trousers so he wouldn't have to go to Nam; actionspeak: Coward..
A guy who thinks he's a good president because he believes "his ends will justify the means" which is a horrible and historic miscalculation tragically espoused by Napoleon, Hitler, Nixon, Many others; actionspeak: destined for the trash heap of history. A guy who thinks he's smart, but whose actions show he is actually a fullblown friggin IDIOT.
The Iraq war was to stop Iraq from increasing oil output from 3 million barrels a day to 12 million barrels a day (Saudis produce 9 million barrels a day) as soon as the sanctions were lifted.
Iraq was ready to amp up oil production and had signed contracts with French and German companies.
We attacked and oil production never went up. In fact, it is down from 3 million to 2 million barrels a day.
America flushed itself down the toilot long ago - in 2000 and again in 2004. The Iraq bill will soon be due - Depression-Bankrupcy-Riots-martial law.
There is really no way to get out of this one. Bush's best bet is to bomb Iran and start World War III.
Sad to say, but America got what it deserved by electing a lying, murdering, dry drunk to a second term.
What an absolute mess this Nation has become.
The hard truth is that we, as a nation, have had over 30 years of ample warnings about the dangers and costs of staying "addicted" to oil. To then whine about what your dealer is charging is stupid.
I agree, but just look at all the comments by those who DON’T understand. They follow the lead of Dubya and “misunderestimate” the entire issue.
Since the introduction of the Petro Dollar, US Administrations have been able to finance all sorts of misadventures and just put the cost on a credit card. Essentially foreign countries have been forced to pay our bills by trading exclusively in dollars. This has worked for a few decades but the Bush administration has tipped the balance with unrestrained spending and borrowing; the Fed is printing money faster than he can spend it. These policies have created hyper inflation trends and a decrease in the value of our currency which will give foreign countries justification to move to a stable or rising currency such as the Euro. Some of the nations moving to the Euro include Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Indonesia; countries that Bush has on his hit list.
The examples of European countries with better infrastructure at every level enjoy it because the people pay for it with taxes. Nothing's free, not even lunch.
Just think where would be today if Gore had taken his rightful seat as president when he should have…where would we be today? If that doesn’t make you mad as hell….
The USA's wealth and resources have been re locating to overseas locations, particularly Europe, since WWII. But so much worse, is the loss of our youth dying or with egregious wounds, fighting to save various countries independence and safety, or attempting to solve their problems. For years we've all been fools as we hand over our coats for holding while our men and women risk their lives for those holding our coat -- not fighting themselves, but fooling the USA into doing the battling. And our wealth has disappeared into Europe as the countries there grew very prosperous as our standard of living has diminished, and today only day-to-day grinds along.
So all you lefties and righties, get off the duffs and come together, stop the stupid jostling and fighting amongst yourselves. Demand the USA come together, come home, and tell Europe to fuck off while our country heals itself.
And blu2purple: Gore would have done the same thing all presidents have done since WWII, except Eisenhower, in the shifting of wealth and blood overseas.