Marginal Utility

by Tom Bozzo

Nick Coleman in the Strib:

If it wasn't an act of God or the hand of hate, and it proves not to be just a lousy accident - a girder mistakenly cut, a train that hit a support - then we are left to conclude that it was worse than any of those things, because it was more mundane and more insidious: This death and destruction was the result of incompetence or indifference.

In a word, it was avoidable...

For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been No New Taxes. It's been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase - the first in 20 years - last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government.

Labels: infrastructure

by Tom Bozzo

Assrocket (d made me look):

This is the kind of disaster that just doesn't happen in the United States--a bridge spontaneously collapsing, apparently, into a river.

Yes they do.

Labels: infrastructure, Wingnuttia

by Tom Bozzo

1. Nicholas Beaudrot (of), at Ezra Klein's:

[N]number of Republicans voting for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: TWO (Chris Shays (R-CT) and Don Young (R-AK)).

I certainly wouldn't have expected all Republican Congresswomen to vote for the bill, but you have to believe that at least some of them had experienced gender bias in their lives... Or, at the very least, that they would fear organized opposition from even the moderate women's groups that support the bill. Or if not women's groups, maybe AARP... Does the Republican party really think it is a good idea to turn "equal pay for equal work" into a partisan issue and come out against it? Have their party strategists simply lost their minds?

That's building a bridge to the 19th Century for you. As to the second question — well, duh!


2. Mithras is very shrill:

There are thousands of bridges in this country that are substandard and in need of repair or replacement. But the funds needed to do so are not available because rightwing politicians would rather watch our interstates collapse than raise the necessary tax revenue. Republicans don't do infrastructure anymore - especially when fixing that infrastructure would involve high-paying jobs for working people.

Officials say "here's no indication of a nexus to terrorism." No? I thought terrorism was the killing of civilians for political ends.

Just remember, future George Mason U. econ faculty members, there is an optimal level of negligence!

Labels: Bigger Places Than This on the Intertubes, infrastructure, Politics

by Ken Houghton

Many of us thrill to and/or grew up on the video in this post.

Part of the reason it is a thrill, with due respect to the Randroids, is that we know no one died in the actual collapse. It's just a bridge and a car.

That's probably not true here (h/t Theresa here), so a hope and a prayer to those with friends, relatives, and others in Minneapolis.

Labels: infrastructure