Comments on: WE HAVE 156,000 structurally deficient bridges, crumbling water pipes, antiquated power grid, urban decay,?

By: Charles M

Charles M — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:44:59 +0000

Good Question.

Here in Missouri, our gas tax use to go into the general fund. The politicians then spent it on any thing they wanted. We had to pass a law, brought before the voters, to get that money straight to MODOT, where it belongs. If you give money to politicians, it is guaranteed that they will spend, and not on what is truly needed.

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
– P.J O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
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By: Two Parties, Doesn't Work

Two Parties, Doesn't Work — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:27:59 +0000

Great question.

We have not been represented for decades. Tax, tax and tax is all we have gotten. But the governments can find money to restore old building that should be torn down. They can find money to remodel their offices and buy new cop cars every year. But they just won’t fill a pothole with something that will stick. They continue to grow assistance programs, but won’t help a person get a micro loan to open a small business, despite having a small business administration. Our system of government is corrupt and needs remodeling.
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By: Hater Police

Hater Police — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:06:59 +0000

We haven’t made serious investments in infrastructure in a few decades…that’s why

Brianne: WHERE do you get this stuff? Many of these things are FEDERALLY FUNDED whether fully or in part. States rely on the feds to help with highways, levees, bridges, etc. The feds haven’t been kicking money for these things.

Honeybee: Most of the money from the cigarette company penalties went to STATES.
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By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:59:59 +0000

I was under the assumption that Jesus was returning so we shouldn’t worry about these things.
This is kind of a good question though.
Maybe we’re to worried about Al-Qaeda to think about the things that really are important and stand a better chance of disrupting our lives.
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By: honeybeejim

honeybeejim — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:39:59 +0000

When LBJ started the general fund everything went to hell. Ever wonder what ever happened to all the cigarette money from the big law suit
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By: Poohcat1

Poohcat1 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:12:59 +0000

You ask what the government did with the money. They paid the interest on all the money they had borrowed before. And, they kept on borrowing. They borrowed for the war in Iraq, and they borrowed for the first stimulus package and they borrowed for this last one.

If the government demanded taxes for everything that they inefficiently do for us, we would ALL be taxed at a 99% rate. Our priorities are all screwed up. We want to much…and it always has to be now…so the things that don’t show…like infrastructure…get left by the wayside.
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By: ladydreamer24

ladydreamer24 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:04:59 +0000

That is exactly what I wrote to my senators and to Obama. IF they would stop all the waste and stealing from the coffers there would NOT be a problem. We are talking millions here! The postal service will be raising rates in May, and it was just reported that the head of the service has been paid 100’s of thousand of dollars! WHY? This is just one little example in a multitude of situations. Medicare, disability and food stamp fraud, millions lost every year! The county puts a freeze on hiring, lets go non-essential employees and begs the officials to raise taxes. Then they turn around and buy a whole fleet of new dump trucks and equipment! What the h#@@ is going on?
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By: BARACK THE MAGIC MONKEY

BARACK THE MAGIC MONKEY — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:20:59 +0000

They gave it all to lazy deadbeats.
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By: delphi

delphi — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:36:59 +0000

War. And other situations that went against the interest of country and people.
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By: Dick H

Dick H — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:55:59 +0000

They used affirmative action to promote blacks to positions they were not qualified to run. This is why you can’t drink tap water in D.C. The Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission is run by the most incompetent black people on the face of the earth. That is why the infrastructure is crumbling.
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