Politics and Policy   Last week, I woke up and realized how far we have fallen. In the 1960’s we provided health care to the aged, food to the hungry, financed the space program and landed the first men on the moon, were by far the leaders in manufacturing methods, engineering, electronics, and computer technology. Of the five major commercial airplane manufacturers in the world, three of them were American (Boeing, Lockheed, McDonald-Douglas). We built an interstate highway system which cris-crossed the country in less than a decade. Now we have no manufacturing base to think of, and are consuming the wealth accumulated by our parents and grandparents. (Read Warren Buffet’s last annual report, where he said as much). We rely upon the middle-east for our fuel, China for our products, and many middle-east and Asian countries as lenders to finance our deficit spending. The space race is no longer between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., but between Japan and China, the U.S. having conceeded any further efforts in manned space exploration. Europe and Japan built high-speed rail networks decades ago, as well as urban transportation systems. But here in the U.S., at the turn of the century, we are not building new train systems, putting men on Mars, or producing great advancements in technology. Our infrastructure is aging and crumbling. Instead of leading the world, we are crying that there is no way we could ever afford to build a tunnel under the waterfront, or replace a bridge across Lake Washington, or pay for a light rail line to get us from the suburbs to central business districts (or from one suburb to another). God, what a bunch of wimps we have become. And I do blame the Republicans. The “Reagan Revolution” only had the effect of starving investment into public infrastructure, the type which served as the catalyst for futher advancements, both private and governmental. At the time, they argued that putting money in the hands of the wealthy would allow them to invest and thereby create new jobs. But all it did was allow them to make more money buying and selling and dismanteling existing businesses, sending jobs off-shore so as to increase their profits, and also locating those profits off-shore so as to avoid any taxes or benefits to the American public. Great job, guys. Time to step aside and let the adults take charge. (Posted by rhp6033 on Nov. 7, 2007)   Check out the other “Politics and Policy” Articles (click the link below): Politics and Policy Articles   Sponsors        Copyright 2006-2007 - Brookridge Associates Inc. All rights reserved.