By Staff
May 21 we examined the premise through the prism of the "world's best health system" actually being a "dysfunctional mess" that Americans are coasting and better at rhetoric about how great we are than actually addressing problems.
We interrupt the breathless Paris-in-the-poky watch for a few more examples about how this nation is falling behind in critical areas such as maintenance from a new report by the Urban Land Institute think tank.
Global investment in infrastructure is soaring – just not in the United States.
Despite soaring gas prices, few cities boast good public transit, and higher fares won't cover the bills.
Chicago, for example, needs $6 billion just for subway repairs.
Some 3,500 U.S. dams are unsafe. Did you know we have 79,000? It would cost $30 billion to bring them all into compliance.
Trains? I read that the United States lags "decades behind" global standards. It could cost $250 billion to catch up.
The EPA estimates another $300 billion to $500 billion will be necessary to repair and upgrade wastewater systems.
U.S. airports, crowded and inefficient, need a $14 billion annual cash infusion just to keep pace.
Roads? While traffic congestion in some big cities tripled over the past 25 years, experts say 97 percent need improvements.
These issues don't really have anything in common, except it occurs to me that with all the too-early presidential campaigning threatening to cut into the airtime allotted to Lindsay landing in rehab again, I have never heard one White House pretender mention nation-building unless it was Iraq.
Seems odd to me, except voters are famous for not liking bad news or heavy lifting.
Eyes glued to "American Idol" probably missed Time magazine reporting the Bush administration is "quietly laying the groundwork for extending the surge."
War forever, plus NASA administrator Michael Griffin said on National Public Radio May 31 he's not sure global warming is a problem.
Security gap: Globe-trotting Atlanta lawyer with tuberculosis Andrew Speaker, 31, drove into the United States at Champlain, N.Y., despite his name appearing on a no-fly list provided to border guards.
"We put all this time and effort into identifying those who shouldn't enter our country, but what good is it if it can be brushed aside by a border guard?" wondered Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "I shudder to think that this individual could have been a terrorist."
NBC's Matt Lauer interviewed New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who broke his leg, 11 ribs, collarbone and sternum while riding unbelted in a state police-piloted sport utility vehicle that crashed April 12 while flying 91 mph along the Garden State Parkway.
So there was Lauer on "Today" May 30 interviewing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the back of a moving SUV.
Neither wore a seatbelt.
Milk prices keep pace with gas: It not only costs more to transport dairy products, but increased demand for corn dairy cattle eat to produce ethanol are spiraling moo juice, which cost $3.86 in Chicago and $4.09 in New Orleans.
NAFTA: "There's something wrong with that. It bothers me and I hope it bothers you,"
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said May 30 on Mackinac Island about American consultants working to move U.S. companies to China.
The U.S. went from a trade surplus with Mexico to a $68 billion deficit since 1993 approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"That's not free trade; that's giveaway trade," Hoffa said.