The UNAVOIDABLE!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

A lot of the infrastructure out there is old and needs to be replaced. We cannot avoid this forever. I noticed that there was another gas line explosion. This time it forced a town in OH to be evacuated.

This is a local example of the fraction of jobs that are going to be generated from HUGE investment in infrastructure over the next 20 years.


U of S crumbling: Campus needs $617 million worth of maintenance
www.thestarphoenix.com/news/crumbling+Campus+needs+million+worth+maintenance/4148173/story.html

These things will create jobs here, that will remain here!

[decoy409]

You may or may not have caught the documentary on a week or so ago as to the shape of the infrastructure here in the U.S. and how it has been put on the back burner in all areas for quite some years. Simply neglected. But with 'amazement' we do see wherever we may live always a project or two being done.

meanwhile the gas accidents have a astounding ratio if one looks a little deeper into what you find of concern. I am certainly all for putting our people to work, generating revenue and all the while the task at hand, ifrastructure repair on a mass scale finally happens. Or will it?

Quote: Jan.27,2009 U.S. Infrastructure Is in Dire Straits, Report Says

More than a quarter of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Leaky pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water every day. And aging sewage systems send billions of gallons of untreated wastewater cascading into the nation’s waterways each year.

These are among the findings of a report to be released Wednesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which assigned an overall D grade to the nation’s infrastructure and estimated that it would take a $2.2 trillion investment from all levels of government over the next five years to bring it into a state of good repair.

The society had planned to release the report in March, but moved it up to try to influence the debate over the $825 billion economic stimulus bill being negotiated by the Obama administration and Congress. Advocates for greater investment in public works projects have expressed disappointment that less than a third of the current proposal — which could be approved by the House on Wednesday — would be spent on infrastructure, and an even smaller part of that would go toward traditional concrete-and-steel projects like roads and transit.

“Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity,” the president of the society, D. Wayne Klotz, said in a statement. “Our leaders are looking for solutions to the nation’s current economic crisis. Not only could investment in these critical foundations have a positive impact, but if done responsibly, it would also provide tangible benefits to the American people, such as reduced traffic congestion, improved air quality, clean and abundant water supplies and protection against natural hazards.”

The current stimulus plan is weighted toward tax cuts, aid to the states, and an expanded safety net for people struggling to make ends meet. Much of the infrastructure spending it does contain would be in unusual areas. The plan devotes money to creating a database of health records, for example, and would spend more money making federal buildings energy-efficient than on repairing roads and bridges. In part this is because of questions about how soon major building projects can begin, because the goal of the bill is to inject money into the parched economy as quickly as possible.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which has been sounding the alarm about the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure for years, and whose members would benefit from a major new investment in building and repair projects, paints a bleak picture of the state of the nation’s roads, transit systems, aviation system and levees. And it warned that in area after area, spending was being far outpaced by needs.

The society gave the nation’s roads a D-minus, noting that Americans are spending an estimated 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic and that 45 percent of major urban highways are congested. Transit and aviation did not fare much better, getting D grades. The society noted that while mass transit use increased 25 percent from 1995 to 2005, nearly half of American households still lacked access to bus or rail transit. And it said that the increasing delays faced by airline passengers highlighted the need to modernize the outdated air traffic control system.

For the first time, this year the group examined the nation’s levees, and gave them a D-minus. The report warned that many of the nation’s levees were built more than 50 years ago to protect crops, but now protect communities. It warned that the cost of repairing and rehabilitating them could exceed $100 billion.

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/us/politics/28projects.html


but for now, (unless you have the cake to loan?) we can look forward to more of this,

Quote: Sept.14, 2009 Aging gas pipes at risk of explosion nationwide
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39159597/ns/us_news-life/

and as of late elsewhere, just run the search in Google as to, us natural gas explosions jan. 2011

why you would be amazed at what's up just for Jan. 2011!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

My point exactly! You can bet over the next 20 yrs there is lots of money going into infrastructure. Think 1950's.

[The Virginian]

My point exactly! You can bet over the next 20 yrs there is lots of money going into infrastructure. Think 1950's.

Except this time the Illegals will get all the jobs!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Except this time the Illegals will get all the job!

Not many Illegals have gas tickets. You need certification to work on gas lines. Boiler replacement and plumbing? Ask Neoh how many unskilled(un-certified) people you want around when your working with those things. Some of the base and road work maybe. However, a lot of these things are jobs that skilled people are going to have to do!

[comokate]

A few years ago, the city I live in decided to pave the "unimproved" streets and put in grass filled easement areas. I noticed all the manual labor was being done what appeared to be Mexican-Americans...which I thought was odd because this far north they are not, statistically, a very big percentage of our state's population. About one month later, news broke that THE CITY had been hiring undocumented workers! THE CITY ! The INS busted dozens of illegals that had been hired by a contractor the city used for the job. You'd think the city would have checked the workforce out a bit...
The city has also chosen to have an entire segment of their social services department's workforce jobs sent overseas to a phone center in India. Seriously. This call center, a world away, has the names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, birth dates, etc of living American citizens. Security reasons aside, these jobs are being paid for with local tax dollars that are now flowing out of the country and not back into the local economies. Not the smartest move, for many reasons, that our city has made.
The decision making process and the transparency of actions has left a lot to be desired in many segments of our government. We should, and can, expect better. "We the People", right?

[itstippy]

Maintenance and repairs are unavoidable. They can, however, be delayed for years. That's what the duct tape and Mighty Putty are for.

You rip everything up, get all inconvenienced, and when you put it back together again it does pretty much the same thing it did before you started. Plus it's expensive as heck. Let our kids and grandkids worry about it. I want a new boat, not a new city water pipe. I'll just drink bottled water on my new boat.

G'dam potholes are screwing up the alignment on my Navigator. Grr.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Kate, a lot of Canadian jobs in the calling centers have gone to India as well. Never fear as they want more and get more, they will buy more and have more of a domestic economy. Then we can all service our own economies.

Again, Gas and plumbing work has to be certified, with work done by certified people. Do you know of a lot certified Illegal immigrants?? Or heard stories of Illegal immigrants receiving certification in these areas?? What about the guy's driving the machines where they Mexican-American?? A lot of those jobs you have to be certified for as well.

Nice post itstippy

[verrip1]

Jan 28, 2011 17:01:17 GMT -5 @comokate said:

A few years ago, the city I live in decided to pave the "unimproved" streets and put in grass filled easement areas. I noticed all the manual labor was being done what appeared to be Mexican-Americans...which I thought was odd because this far north they are not, statistically, a very big percentage of our state's population. About one month later, news broke that THE CITY had been hiring undocumented workers! THE CITY ! The INS busted dozens of illegals that had been hired by a contractor the city used for the job. You'd think the city would have checked the workforce out a bit...
The city has also chosen to have an entire segment of their social services department's workforce jobs sent overseas to a phone center in India. Seriously. This call center, a world away, has the names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, birth dates, etc of living American citizens. Security reasons aside, these jobs are being paid for with local tax dollars that are now flowing out of the country and not back into the local economies. Not the smartest move, for many reasons, that our city has made.
The decision making process and the transparency of actions has left a lot to be desired in many segments of our government. We should, and can, expect better. "We the People", right?

Quite a load of liberal bilge. This post is 100% anecdotal and full of absolutely unsupported assumptions concerning illegal Mexicans and other conflict-generating assumptions. It proves nothing.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

That is another way of putting it

[comokate]

Jan 28, 2011 23:23:51 GMT -5 verrip1 said:

Jan 28, 2011 17:01:17 GMT -5 @comokate said:

A few years ago, the city I live in decided to pave the "unimproved" streets and put in grass filled easement areas. I noticed all the manual labor was being done what appeared to be Mexican-Americans...which I thought was odd because this far north they are not, statistically, a very big percentage of our state's population. About one month later, news broke that THE CITY had been hiring undocumented workers! THE CITY ! The INS busted dozens of illegals that had been hired by a contractor the city used for the job. You'd think the city would have checked the workforce out a bit...
The city has also chosen to have an entire segment of their social services department's workforce jobs sent overseas to a phone center in India. Seriously. This call center, a world away, has the names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, birth dates, etc of living American citizens. Security reasons aside, these jobs are being paid for with local tax dollars that are now flowing out of the country and not back into the local economies. Not the smartest move, for many reasons, that our city has made.
The decision making process and the transparency of actions has left a lot to be desired in many segments of our government. We should, and can, expect better. "We the People", right?

Quite a load of liberal bilge. This post is 100% anecdotal and full of absolutely unsupported assumptions concerning illegal Mexicans and other conflict-generating assumptions. It proves nothing.

It's easy to label people as "liberal" or "conservative" as an attempt to discredit them and get people immediately polarized . Those "bad" conservatives ! Those "bad" liberals ! What rubbish and how utterly simplistic. I don't identify with political groups or labels.
I am concerned living in a state that has one of the highest personal income tax rates on it's citizens, that job opportunities that exist, which are paid for by those state taxes are not only leaving the state, but the country as well.
If there is "bilge" present, it isn't coming from me-

[verrip1]

I understand. Many liberals want to hide from their ideology.

[comokate]

Jan 29, 2011 2:28:31 GMT -5 verrip1 said:

I understand. Many liberals want to hide from their ideology.

I know, anyone who does not agree with you gets a label.
How...predictable.

[verrip1]

Last word!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

More of that 1950's infastructure..

Long road for water-line repair:
www.mcall.com/news/local/warrior/mc-road-warrior-sumner-20110206,0,6638832.column

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

See a pattern yet??

Calif. utility told to cut gas pipeline pressures:
www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/06/us-pipeline-explosion/

US ports race to keep up with bigger Panama Canal:
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133557738

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Juhl Wind Expands Into Turbine Service, Maintenance
www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/22552

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

The biggest news of the Day, IMO!!! Free Enterprise FTW!!!! Socialism has failed! ;D

Bank plan would help build bridges, boost jobs
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43606379/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

"he government can’t promise anything close to an amount that dwarfs most countries' total economies. But a national infrastructure bank could help.
The idea of such a bank has been around since the 1990s but has never gained significant attention until now. In March a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate that gained the support of the US Chamber of Commerce, America’s leading business lobby, and the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation — two groups on opposite sides of most debates."

Time to work together!!!