Bridges: I35W, Brooklyn, And To Nowhere

The latest tragic disaster now involves bridges. It is now time for the MSM to scare the country into believing that all our bridges are unsafe. They have already done a hatchet job on air safety, subways, and skyscrapers. Next on the list will probably be elevators.

The latest bridge disaster has now put into question our entire highway infrastructure and the fact that Bush's war has cost at least 1 trillion dollars and therefore has denied our country of the necessary repair of our infrastructure. You can add to that all the waterways and levies. While I love to blame Bush for all of our problems, the highway funds are not a function of an either/or choice. In fact, as you may have noticed, road construction is alive and well in America. Just try to drive any distance in the summer and you will see construction everywhere.

When I was a practicing CPA, I had construction clients who only did road work for the various departments of transportation. If you think there is cronyism and fraud in corporate America, metaphorically speaking, the construction industry invented it. The truth is that there is an abundance of money in the highway road funds that come from the gasoline taxes we all pay. The real problem is that the construction companies that do the work are either the low bidders or ones with political clout.

I am surprised that more bridges have not fallen considering the way contractors are chosen by federal and state departments of transportation. However, much like the elevators in buildings, there are required annual inspections that usually protect us from these disasters.

Therefore, my conclusion is that the I35W Bridge collapsed because of human error or incompetence. On the whole, the bridges in America are reasonably safe and there is no need to have excessive concerns or fears about driving over them. And I also believe that this is true of air safety, subways, and the rest. The chances of your demise from one of these events including terrorism are about the same as winning the lottery. But, the MSM will try to sell you on anything that gives them a larger audience. If you believe the MSM, I have a bridge I would like to sell you; Brooklyn or "to nowhere."