Road Conditions, Winter Storms, Lack of Funds
Federal Funds Have Dried Up for Basics Such as Road Conditions
There's a lot of rotten weather around the nation today that is creating headaches for holiday travel. A Weather Channel commentator just stated, as we write at 12:30 p.m. EST, "Mother Nature couldn't have picked a worse day."
Travelers who are immediately concerned about road conditions today are probably not in the mood for a treatise on the workings of government, but this is as good of a time as any. Road conditions, by and large, aren't as good as they used to be. This involves both the surface of the roads, and the salting and plowing of the roads in bad weather.
What's the reason? You may think we are stretching with our answer, but we are not. One example of the reason is the $700 billion Wall Street bailout for the economic crisis. Another reason is the $10 billion-per-month Iraq War.
What do the Wall Street bailout or the Iraq War have to do with road conditions? The federal government is in such a financial mess that Congress and President Bush must look for places to cut back. One of the easiest places to cut is through aid to state and local governments - aid for needs such as police, firefighters, and yes, roadworkers. That's the connection to road conditions.
People at the fed level make the cutbacks. People at the state and local levels face the blame.
Things can get tricky with road conditions. Funding often comes from gasoline taxes, or to make sure heavy trucks are included, gas and weight taxes. But when the price of gas skyrockets, people use less gas, and so there is less gas tax revenue to address road conditions.
Everything in government becomes interconnected, sooner or later. If you find yourself wondering why your local roads are not plowed or salted to your satisfaction, think of the Wall Street bailout or the Iraq War, or maybe even all of those federal trickle-down tax cuts. For good road conditions, like anything else, you get what you pay for.
SOURCES
http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=9424949
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=224175
Published by Michael Thompson
Michael Thompson is a retired newspaper reporter who lives in Saginaw, Michigan. Main topics are political and social justice issues, with occasional escapism into sports and so forth. View profile
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2 Comments
Post a CommentNicely written :)
Excellent analysis. :-)