Bad local conditions are indicators of ineffective local government, so saying localities have to step in is not a fix.
Bad county roads, bridges, water and sewer systems: county problems.
Bad state roads, bridges—States.
The Federal government and federal taxes don’t belong fixing anything at the State level and below, unless it’s an Interstate land or water system.
Your, the citizen’s, fix is to stop electing crappy governments, or emigrate to places which didn’t experience your decline: the decline you witnessed and very likely participated in. California and New York are crappy now because Californians and New Yorkers let it happen. (Hopefully, when you emigrate, you won’t bring the same attitude you had that allowed your last home to become crappy.)
Unfortunately, idiots have created nice big welfare and “climate” systems that solve nothing in the long run. Giving people my money who live across the state or nation is wrong and lets my local infrastructure and quality of life decline for lack of resourcing. Our Federal government has become one massive intrusive blob that suffocates us all. This is true of many State governments, as well.
Of course, rather amazingly, it’s pretty easy to predict where the infrastructure problems are the greatest: blue bottoms out, and red rises above. Blue needs to get its act together, but I don’t think that is possible.
I'd like to just point out that local initiatives, while wonderful, only tend to happen when things have already hit rock-bottom. You didn't provide any examples of local initiatives that forestalled disaster, only ones that responded to disaster.
I rather suspect that most locals are not too keen on seeing their tax-money diverted from, for instance, welfare programs that they benefit from, cultural budgets they enjoy, and so forth, in order to fix decaying infrastructure they have lived their lives unaware of. Many citizens are, unfortunately, like the kids in the house. They want nice shiny gifts and feel-good stuff and don't appreciate their parents telling them: Sorry, we need to replace the boiler.
We’re ‘overbuilt’ in the USA, outsized, “Supersize Me.” And understaffed.
Here in Japan, everything is tiny in comparison (including the people 😂) and overstaffed; “overemployment” is what our sociopathic Ruling Class calls it: paying too many people to get the job done.
But everything works here 👍🙂
And everything is new or newish, new enough to my American eyes This place looks rich to me 👍🙂: roads, bridges, buildings, homes; construction, construction, construction all over the place here in our fringe-rural city in the greater Tokyo-metro region, 40 miles from central Tokyo.
It sure does not feel like Japan’s 260% debt to GDP ratio is impoverishing us, nor the top heavy age-population distribution curve; we see 4 1/2 & 5 foot tall 90-somethings walking around everywhere, their height stunted by WW2 period malnutrition - but they’re healthier than American youth are 😔
Japan has no natural resources, just its people & relatively good governance.
How come they can have such a smoothly functioning society but the USA was already dysfunctional in my GenX childhood?
Where did our infrastructure money go??!!
Let me conclude here with, no, I don’t think it was the Military Industrial Complex (because I believe that post-WW2, on balance, the USA has gained a financial return on its military-economic imperialism, despite the recent boondoggles in Iraq & Afghanistan).
No, I think America’s public infrastructure money was squandered by the “Good Middle-Class People” on 1) suburbia and 2) entitlement programs.
Japan doesn’t suffer from these two financial black holes.
I do not worry about the 30 million elderly Japanese who will pass way in these next 30 years because Japan does not offer luxury retirement size (Supersize Me) Social Security checks; you get just enough for food. It’s assumed the family takes the widowed mother in after her husband passes away, or she gets too old to live by herself.
Furthermore, there are no taxpayer provided Medicaid Concentration Camps here (@ $5,000/ month!) for abandoned seniors.
And they don’t have much poverty here; there’s no humongous underclass depending on food stamps (SNAP), etc..
And finally, very briefly, as for USA utterly car-dependent suburbia: ultra-low population density is very, very expensive. It’s a financial drain in so many ways, starting the mandatory two cars you need just in order to stay alive 😡
“That’s why we can’t have the nice things” like middle-class public transit, and electrical power that doesn’t get knocked out, predictably, with each ‘n’ every moderate thunderstorm 😡😡😡
In a word, too much privatization of personal wealth (suburbia & our two-tiered employment and retirement benefits packages) has impoverished the nation as a whole. That’s why GenZ is coming of age in a two-tiered socioeconomic system (like Latin America) where “middle class” means that you provide all of your own public services privately (because only the poor depend on the public infrastructure, both tangible infrastructure & the intangible, institutional infrastructure like education & healthcare). And when the nation doesn’t provide young people with a middle-class path (e.g. the American Dream), but your parents & grandparents can’t privately provide you with a ticket to the middle class, then you’re just outta luck 😡
Thanks for letting me Scream Into Cyberspace here 😔
The money that could have been used for infrastructure is often wasted in many ways. Up here, (Canada) they're throwing money at climate change initiatives, net zero nonsense and other ideological agendas backed by WEF puppets like Carney. Our ministers were heard commenting that no more roads will be in the budget, and we should get used to public transit and other "green" solutions. After years of out of control immigration, and irresponsible spending and taxation we're stuck in a really bad place with a huge national debt and rising inflation.
Some businesses (like Carney's Brookfield) are leaving for greener pastures down south, despite the bad optics for the unelected Carney. Even the disillusioned immigrants are leaving as the money and opportunities dry up.
What really bothers me is how many Canadians have bought into the globalist agenda and are ready to give up their freedom and prosperity for a twisted ideology. They're not connecting the dots and may vote for their own demise without even knowing they are.
I'm a Canadian citizen living in the U.S. I go up to visit family regularly. I'm pained by what I see happening and that the majority of people don't understand. Right now it's hating Trump and Musk and buying into what the globalists are telling them.
Instead of funding "airy-fairy" woke initiatives and "modern (f)art", unnecessary art organizations, and non-beneficial parades, sports, etc. the elected officials should entirely direct their attention to the critical infrastructure.
Talking infrastructure.
Florida citizen.
Bad local conditions are indicators of ineffective local government, so saying localities have to step in is not a fix.
Bad county roads, bridges, water and sewer systems: county problems.
Bad state roads, bridges—States.
The Federal government and federal taxes don’t belong fixing anything at the State level and below, unless it’s an Interstate land or water system.
Your, the citizen’s, fix is to stop electing crappy governments, or emigrate to places which didn’t experience your decline: the decline you witnessed and very likely participated in. California and New York are crappy now because Californians and New Yorkers let it happen. (Hopefully, when you emigrate, you won’t bring the same attitude you had that allowed your last home to become crappy.)
Unfortunately, idiots have created nice big welfare and “climate” systems that solve nothing in the long run. Giving people my money who live across the state or nation is wrong and lets my local infrastructure and quality of life decline for lack of resourcing. Our Federal government has become one massive intrusive blob that suffocates us all. This is true of many State governments, as well.
Of course, rather amazingly, it’s pretty easy to predict where the infrastructure problems are the greatest: blue bottoms out, and red rises above. Blue needs to get its act together, but I don’t think that is possible.
Excellent article, thank you.
I'd like to just point out that local initiatives, while wonderful, only tend to happen when things have already hit rock-bottom. You didn't provide any examples of local initiatives that forestalled disaster, only ones that responded to disaster.
I rather suspect that most locals are not too keen on seeing their tax-money diverted from, for instance, welfare programs that they benefit from, cultural budgets they enjoy, and so forth, in order to fix decaying infrastructure they have lived their lives unaware of. Many citizens are, unfortunately, like the kids in the house. They want nice shiny gifts and feel-good stuff and don't appreciate their parents telling them: Sorry, we need to replace the boiler.
Just one of the many problems with democracy.
We’re ‘overbuilt’ in the USA, outsized, “Supersize Me.” And understaffed.
Here in Japan, everything is tiny in comparison (including the people 😂) and overstaffed; “overemployment” is what our sociopathic Ruling Class calls it: paying too many people to get the job done.
But everything works here 👍🙂
And everything is new or newish, new enough to my American eyes This place looks rich to me 👍🙂: roads, bridges, buildings, homes; construction, construction, construction all over the place here in our fringe-rural city in the greater Tokyo-metro region, 40 miles from central Tokyo.
It sure does not feel like Japan’s 260% debt to GDP ratio is impoverishing us, nor the top heavy age-population distribution curve; we see 4 1/2 & 5 foot tall 90-somethings walking around everywhere, their height stunted by WW2 period malnutrition - but they’re healthier than American youth are 😔
Japan has no natural resources, just its people & relatively good governance.
How come they can have such a smoothly functioning society but the USA was already dysfunctional in my GenX childhood?
Where did our infrastructure money go??!!
Let me conclude here with, no, I don’t think it was the Military Industrial Complex (because I believe that post-WW2, on balance, the USA has gained a financial return on its military-economic imperialism, despite the recent boondoggles in Iraq & Afghanistan).
No, I think America’s public infrastructure money was squandered by the “Good Middle-Class People” on 1) suburbia and 2) entitlement programs.
Japan doesn’t suffer from these two financial black holes.
I do not worry about the 30 million elderly Japanese who will pass way in these next 30 years because Japan does not offer luxury retirement size (Supersize Me) Social Security checks; you get just enough for food. It’s assumed the family takes the widowed mother in after her husband passes away, or she gets too old to live by herself.
Furthermore, there are no taxpayer provided Medicaid Concentration Camps here (@ $5,000/ month!) for abandoned seniors.
And they don’t have much poverty here; there’s no humongous underclass depending on food stamps (SNAP), etc..
And finally, very briefly, as for USA utterly car-dependent suburbia: ultra-low population density is very, very expensive. It’s a financial drain in so many ways, starting the mandatory two cars you need just in order to stay alive 😡
“That’s why we can’t have the nice things” like middle-class public transit, and electrical power that doesn’t get knocked out, predictably, with each ‘n’ every moderate thunderstorm 😡😡😡
In a word, too much privatization of personal wealth (suburbia & our two-tiered employment and retirement benefits packages) has impoverished the nation as a whole. That’s why GenZ is coming of age in a two-tiered socioeconomic system (like Latin America) where “middle class” means that you provide all of your own public services privately (because only the poor depend on the public infrastructure, both tangible infrastructure & the intangible, institutional infrastructure like education & healthcare). And when the nation doesn’t provide young people with a middle-class path (e.g. the American Dream), but your parents & grandparents can’t privately provide you with a ticket to the middle class, then you’re just outta luck 😡
Thanks for letting me Scream Into Cyberspace here 😔
The money that could have been used for infrastructure is often wasted in many ways. Up here, (Canada) they're throwing money at climate change initiatives, net zero nonsense and other ideological agendas backed by WEF puppets like Carney. Our ministers were heard commenting that no more roads will be in the budget, and we should get used to public transit and other "green" solutions. After years of out of control immigration, and irresponsible spending and taxation we're stuck in a really bad place with a huge national debt and rising inflation.
Some businesses (like Carney's Brookfield) are leaving for greener pastures down south, despite the bad optics for the unelected Carney. Even the disillusioned immigrants are leaving as the money and opportunities dry up.
What really bothers me is how many Canadians have bought into the globalist agenda and are ready to give up their freedom and prosperity for a twisted ideology. They're not connecting the dots and may vote for their own demise without even knowing they are.
I'm a Canadian citizen living in the U.S. I go up to visit family regularly. I'm pained by what I see happening and that the majority of people don't understand. Right now it's hating Trump and Musk and buying into what the globalists are telling them.
Instead of funding "airy-fairy" woke initiatives and "modern (f)art", unnecessary art organizations, and non-beneficial parades, sports, etc. the elected officials should entirely direct their attention to the critical infrastructure.
I Am🤝🕶