If the government is going to keep borrowing trillions of dollars to keep the government "open" but not use any of those borrowed trillions for infrastructure, then why in the Hell are we paying taxes? Where do our taxes go? It sure isn't to keep the government operating nor infrastructure.
The vast majority of the newly minted paper flows right into the stock market. Through FED's QE showering the corps, banks and the military industrial complex with trillions of $ through 'aid programs', bail outs, stock buybacks and buying bonds.
Amen to that.. All the money we spend on George W. Bush War. we could have Invested in our roads,highways, and bridges and in Transportation all over The United States 🇺🇸 and had lots of money left over to Invest in each big city In The United States 🇺🇸 We could had all this Super Fast Trains going all over the United States!!!
No problem. All Biden have to do is print money in trillions. Not enough, another few trillion. Still not enough, a few more trillion. Easy money. Not like others so stupid have to work to make money. Biden only need to print money. So clever. 💶🤑😜💸
@@sootuckchoong7077 it's all administrations that print money. The only president since Reagan who actually ran a surplus was Clinton but that's because Republicans were all over him. After that tax cuts, wars, a pandemic and the Great Recession led Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden to increase the national debt. And remember Congress approves the federal budget so both parties are guilty of spending more than they collect.
@@KB-ke3fi The US is the biggest warmonger on the planet altough they are no threated on their home-turf since WW2. The last peace time for the US was 1976 to 1978.
America would rather increase military budget by $50 billion making it $800 billion a year than fix infrastructure. Military budget doesn’t even include billions given away to other countries. Imagine what America could have been if they simply reinvested in their country and citizens by providing not only better roads but a nationalized healthcare.
Turns out that car infrastructure is financially unsustainable as well as environmentally unsustainable. Building and maintaining 20 highway bridges instead of 1 train bridge that could carry the same amount of traffic or cargo gets expensive. Cyclists and pedestrians, of course, don't need bridges as often. In fact, most "pedestrian" bridges are really car infrastructure, to get pedestrians out of the way so that motorists don't have to slow down or pay attention to their surroundings.
@@peredavi Not Just Bikes covers how suburbia is subsided by down town and poor neighborhoods. Most of them are financially unviable as the tax base of single dwelling homes is *10%* of the cost of maintaining their infrastructure.
@@jeffshackleford3152 Before 1940 the US was like any other city, walkable, with public transit and not dependent on cars. I recommend Not Just Bikes as a view on a different world. One that is economically viable (suburbia is subsidized and too thinly populated to support a tax base that can afford itself), saves lives, saves time, is better economically, healthier and pleasant
@@jeffshackleford3152 Cars have their place, but we use them even to go between and within our cities. Using the most expensive, least-efficient option for absolutely every trip we make is untenable.
The US has squandered so much money on stupid military adventures and “nation building” Eisenhower warned us. I used to go to Hong Kong ,China and Europe on business until 2020. US is so far behind. The trajectory is bad. There are not even enough young people going into trades to work on them.
Trying to get the Windsor-Detroit bridge project approved was a feat unto itself largely due to the private ownership of the existing Ambassador bridge whose owners fought tooth and nail against a new crossing. And then, we could not get our American neighbours to pay their share of the construction. In the end, Canada had to finance 85% of the cost of construction.
Matty Moron, I mean Moroun, even funded a ballot initiative to bring all international crossings to a popular state vote. Fortunately, voters in Michigan (Like me), rejected it.
private ownerships are thieves. oklahoma highway so bad and it too is all the sudden private ownership. who took over these roads after tax payors money was used to build them?
We don’t need more lanes, we need more public transit, higher density, more walkability, mixed use zoning, and regular maintenance scheduled in the budget and planning. There’s little fundamental difference between 50s traffic levels and 80s traffic levels, it’s all about the kind of environments that are built
I concur. My husband and I moved to a walkable community 4 years ago and won a big difference is made in our lives. We spend a lot less time and money on cars and transportation than we ever had in our life wish they would bring trains back in Vogue in the United States what a wonderful beautiful way to travel.
They prioritize maintaining the vast military industrial complex. The MIC is one of the legs for maintaining American hegemony, by supporting the Petrodollar reserve currency status.
As a Dutch person that loves making videos about transport infrastructure, I really hate to see that too little money is given to infrastructure maintenance!
It is worse than just not enough funds being used. There was one news story that came out after the bridge collapse in Pennsylvania that found that the state had redirected nearly $4,000,000 in funds that should have gone to maintenance to other projects. Meaning the state itself reduced funding and let the wear build up.
@@thisisatonofbs what u expect? US rather spent it's budget for wars than infrastructure or to spend for people. Infrastructure collapsing + homelessness, US near sunset and sunrise in China.
@@yogawan3805 We spend more on taking care of Mexico's population over our own. Hundreds of billions each year. What they send home is the number one source of revenue for Mexico...
While it is true that our cities should spend more on infrastructure and less on cops (a lot of towns spend more than half their budget on cops), there will never be enough money to keep all of this car infrastructure in good shape. The reason you guys over in the Netherlands have such good bicycle infrastructure is that you realized decades ago that cars were bankrupting you. The U.S. is too rich, though, we'll probably continue throwing money into this black hole for decades before we're forced to change.
The fed and states have fuel taxes, registration fees, and taxes, the states get cash from the feds etc. My old Broward County pothole crews spent half the day sleeping in their trucks under trees. Picked up asphalt in the morning and brought back half of it. Supervisors were told and knew all about it.
Congress just passed the bill to send Ukraine 30 billion by relocating Covid fund originally aimed for helping US people. Obviously, US people is not as important.
do a Walk China search on youtube and see what industrialization does to a country and its cities. There are skyscrapper scenery in 3rd tier cities in China that rival NYC and Chicago.
Why U.S. Bridges Are In Such Bad Shape? New bridge construction is a capital expense, typically funded with bonds, i.e., debt. Existing bridge maintenance is an operating expense that is often underfunded due to budgeting pressures. So politicians prefer to build new things (not just bridges) with debt, not maintain them to reduce budgets, then replace the poorly maintained deteriorated infrastructure with new things funded with debt, and the cycle continues ad nauseum.
We used to build stuff. Now we hire consultants and lawyers to tell us how to do it. Everyone gets a cut and the final product is shoddy and won't last. Thus time to hire more consultants to find out why it failed. 🤦♂️
The reason is that ALL extra money is sent to the military. 13 billion dollars would be great to fix bridges but instead it is given to Ukraine. The USA is a mature economy where the manufacturing left for China. Now we are a service economy and caring for the elderly in what we call Healthcare is the biggest service sector.
USA is such a poorly run country. Our governments are doing very poor job maintaining and repairing bridges and tunnels. It is a huge disgrace that our infrastructure is crumbling before our very eyes. There are so many things in America that can be fixed and drastically improved upon. It is time to look at things with critical eyes.
@@katjerouac 🤣🤣🤣 Yeah free food room and board for the white supremacy country with clown 🤡 President. That $15 billion for foreigners. I never imagined anyone could be worse than Trump but there is now.
After the last inflation shock in the 1970s, Reagan had America mistrust the government and believe in themselves for solutions. That's been the narrative dominating American politics ever since, along with associated side effects of neglected infrastructure which no private entity is capable of rectifying at a profit.
I have to ask, if that one bridge is 25% of trade between Canada and the USA, what else is in the top ten border crossings list and how does their share of trade compare? Is it mostly truck traffic, or are there rail ways and pipelines too?
That number is often misquoted. It is 25% of trade by value. Items which have a lot of volume are typically shipped by train. This includes items such as cereals, coal and raw ore and oil. It also includes large and extremely heavy items.
Improving and replacing our bridges is a problem with execution, not from a lack of resources. As the most recent legislation has shown; we spend plenty of money on "infrastructure" but not nearly enough on infrastructure.
The idea that traffic “demand” should govern bridge design is absurd because of induced demand. No matter how many lanes are put on the bridge, you will never be able to eliminate traffic. Other, more space-dense travel modes like cycling and transit are the only solution to traffic.
I agree that cities should implement extremely good public transit systems. However, the goal of traffic designers should not be to eliminate traffic but rather to most effectively allow people to go where they want to go.
Then you don't know anything. 1. Future Annual Daily Traffic 2. Axle loads of vehicles. 3. Type of Channel crossing 4. Ground conditions. 5. Notional Loads expected. 6. Design Life and population growth .....Are just a few of the many factors considered in bridge design. So traffic demand iscalways a factor. But you are absurd.
The infrastructure across the nation needed repairs back in the 90's. Americans were warned it would all cost around $5 trillion, but Americans decided it wasn't important and decided to fund other things... I was part of the people who wanted it repaired at that time. In my opinion, the issue is much worse and the chances of it being repaired is close to zero. 7 years of red tape to repair or rebuild a bridge. There's major issues besides bridges and that includes dams that will eventually burst and flood out entire communities.
You seem to think that Americans have the ability to approve or disapprove money for infrastructure improvement. Each state funds that work, not the federal government. States do get money from the federal government, but it is each individual state that makes those decisions. Now which states are engaged in war?
@@daf62757 They voted people in office who did NOTHING to repair infrastructure. It was the Ross Perot campaign who knew it needed repairs. States are heavily dependent on Federal dollars to do repairs. Voters decided they wanted Bill Clinton in office who decided it was best not to repair anything and was best to support legislation to move 80% of our manufacturing to China and Mexico. States cannot afford the massive repairs needed, they simply do not have enough money. The task is much larger than CNBC is making it sound. The chances of it being repaired is close to ZERO. Meaning, we are headed for 3rd world status. Even under the socialist infrastructure bill and I did read over it, there's simply not enough workers who have experience to do the repairs he wants done and most of the funding goes towards N.Y. state and Texas. I agree, it's the states responsibility, but the voters are to blame as well for not electing people who will actually make this a major issue and make things happen.
@@Boxagami I agree with most of what you said, but as a former FHWA employee, I think there is enough money and the states simply don't put the money where it is needed. Texas and California have the most population but I think Texas actually has the better road infrastructure program and their roads are not in that bad of shape. And if you think the country's roads and bridges are in bad shape now, wait until the Communist government gets there way and we have to drive electric cars which weigh more and will cause much more damage. Plus no more gas tax money since we will not be gassing up. The government caused this problem but each respective state bears the majority of the blame since the federal highway trust fund has provided trillions of dollars over its life to states to do road work.
The federal goverment brings in 40 plus billion from gas tax and local goverments bring about the same. There is plenty of money to take care of the roads.
@@chuckd9007 dude... That $125 billion to ONLY fix the most critical bridges. That does NOT include the $203 billion spent each year on top of that that is required simply to do basic maintennance on the roads already built and some capital projects. It also doesn't include many upgrades to current road infrastructure that is desperately needed in many parts of the country. Gasoline taxes are a drop in the bucket for what is needed.
Then why all other G7 nations except America doesn’t have this issue though they’re all democratic nations? That doesn’t make sense. And don’t forget the US is 15th on infrastructure ranking after some non-democratic countries too. I think you guys got to elect better politicians who are not so focused on going after oils and stop funding way too many wars.
@@KittenBowl1 its not a universal that is in every part of america. Maybe you arent familiar with how large of a country it is in order for you to appreciate the nuances. Lets also not forget that the usa exports many things that the rest of the world cant live without, like food
You have absolutely no idea how expensive maintaining any kind of road infrastructure is and you have a culture of seeing paying tax as a bad thing and something to be avoided. What do you expect?
We pay taxes on gas and that money is supposed to be used to maintain roads and bridges. If our certain local goverments werent corrupt and spending that money on other things then nobody would complain about paying the tax.
Because suburbia is a Ponzi scheme of the least efficient zoning. Requiring the most stuff to be built per person, while somehow being subsidized. Fix R1 to something sustainable and walkable.
Wow, $125 billion to repair ALL bridges (at 2:05)? That's a lot of money. That is also only 16% of our yearly military budget. So if we shrink our military spending by 16% for only one year, we can eliminate this huge problem entirely. I admit that it is not practical to literally shrink the budget by 16% for a year, but it does put our priorities and choices into perspective.
I cannot for the life of me understand why Americans are so against infrastructure spending. Do you seriously believe bridges, railways, dams, and roads will just pop out of nowhere? Or maybe they will be handed to you by the billionaires whose tax-free existence you seek to zealously protect?
We are not against spending on infrastructure, it's actually the opposite. What you fail to understand is that our politicians, who create the bills for infrastructure spending, add in additional nonsense spending for their special interests that have nothing to do with infrastructure, hence the reason they have a hard time agreeing to pass infrastructure spending.
As my grandma always used to say, "Now say something nice." Well.... 🤔 if we were ever invaded by Russia, they would have a helluva time getting their convoys around with all our bridges collapsing on them
You think only bridges are in bad shape? We have an entire infra structure that is dire need of upgrading. Bu no, the US wants to spend on defense. So that's what you get. Did you know that the federal government has been spending less on higher ed and research than some decades ago? In China it's the opposite.
@@bgg2249 Because before Corona came, family traveled extensively to China (Shenzen) and even the new Bejing airport is massive compared to what the US has.
Good report. Some states, like Pennsylvania and Michigan, are not as wealthy as they used to be from heavy industry, and must still contend with winter weather and road salting. They have high maintenance costs. The GW Bridge is a vital national highway link. But, that highlights the shortage of trans-Hudson River NY-NJ capacity, either road or rail. NYC subway lines could be extended to New Jersey. Such as the No 7 to Secaucus and the A train over the GW Bridge to Fort Lee. Some existing rail lines can be reconfigured to enable easier cross-regional NJ-NY-Conn/Long Island passenger travel. In the 20th century, the US opted for a mass motoring society instead of extensive mass transit, so there is an insatiable need for road maintenance.
What is sad is the gas company i consulted for spent more money, maintained more miles of road and uograded more roads/bridges than they 4 counties we worked in combined. We had almost 400 miles of road, 80+ bridges and completely rebuilt 20 miles a year not including maintenance. Infrastructure is easy to ignore u till it isnt.
The Brent Spence Bridge Bridge that carries I-75 across the Ohio River between Kentucky and Ohio has large chunks of concrete roadway falling from the upper deck onto traffic on the lower deck. That has been happening fo/r decades. Yet it never gets priority when bridge repairs are mentioned. Not even in this CNBC report. Why is it being ignored?
Seattle has bridges like that. Originally put in expecting single vehicles not semi trucks a multiaxle transit buses. The City has lowered maximum weight per axle and lowered speed limits. Note the transit bus at the break point.
@@AustinWirl what the funk does the West Bank or Israel have to do with the US infrastructure or the American people. It's not only our roads that need the money, the people needed it. Israel is a grown kid now and should go live on his own, being allies, doesn't mean that one side should have parasitic tendencies.
That was a pretty informative White Wash. Our infrastructure is in very bad shape if you travel the country, especially off the main thoroughfare. You would probably turn around a lot if you got out of your car or whatever to look under the bridge your about to pass over. While traveling the USA i use to stop and get out to search riverbeds for interesting rocks to tumble when i got home and i saw a lot of decay under the bridges that people don't normally see. The roads and bridges are worse than the nice pie chart i do believe, but that's just my opinion.
If America kept up with that Bridges and maintain them for years we will not be in this problem today.. lack of maintenance.. not to mention the roads and the tunnels are just as bad so now the chickens are coming home to roost.. it's going to cost America to much money no matter how rich America race they cannot catch up on these bills never.
We built them in the 1920s and 30s (federal highways) then 1960 to 1991 (Eisenhower Interstates). Then we spent maintenance money on 3 decades of forever wars.
A MAJOR bridge in Baltimore just downed. Meanwhile, America: $2700 billion to military $100 billion to Israel $60 billion to Ukraine $30 billion to Taiwan
This video completely missed what Minnesota did after the collapse of the I35W bridge. The State did a study that identified that the DOT had competent engineers; but was woefully underfunded for bridge maintenance and replacement. I live in Wisconsin and I recall a multi-$billion Statewide referendum to fund bridge repair and replacement; and the gas tax was raised as well for additional money. For about the next 12 years there were two seasons in Minnesota. Winter and bridge construction. Minnesota addressed all structurally deficient bridges in the State and most of the functionally obsolete ones as well (and are now working on the remaining functionally obsolete bridges). Now any bridge that gets identified as on its way towards Structurally deficient gets a planned rebuild or replacement project started. The DOT is now adequately funded for bridge maintenance and replacement. No one in Minnesota is complaining about the cost. Why can't other States do the same. Does each State have to wait for a major collapse that kills people before they take action. I believe that this video should have pointed out that One State - Minnesota actually took care of their problem.
The core issue is corrupted politicians and lack of focus on internal infrastructure. We spend too much money abroad. Our country needs to focus and spend money on domestic infrastructure, and not other countries. America First!
Had to wait for over 45 minutes yesterday cause of a sailboat using the lift span of the Interstate Bridge between Oregon and Washington. Traffic backs up fast on I-5 and takes forever to clear up. We need a new higher bridge with no lift span. Unfortunately, it's gonna cost over 3 billion dollars and the Oregon people are whining that don't want to pay a 4 dollar toll each time they cross. They say it will affect low income residents the most but, with the way gas prices are now, not many low income people are going to use the bridge.
I have a idea 💡 Stop coming across the Columbia to Oregon to take advantage of no sales tax and better jobs than what Vancouver has to offer. BTW, you Washington drivers are awful.
Some says Russia is hungry for super power. Actually we are the one constantly hungry for super power. New York subway is just a embarrassment compare with Subway around the world and they are not willing to fix it.
There has been plenty of taxes through gas taxes. Too much of that money is wasted on redundant environmental regulations and other categories of spending that steal money away from serious needs.
R E P L A C I N G the freight railroad infrastructure was NEVER the goal or EXPECTED from the resulting infrastructure that is the National Freeways and HI Ways.
Can't you just let it sink into your thick skulls that America just doesn't do infrastructure that well? This is one of the most expensive countries in the world for this type of work, which is why foreign countries don't hire American firms for their projects. They hire European and Japanese firms, who can deliver three times as much infrastructure as American firms for the same price. Plus, the US mass transit industry went into decline decades ago and since then the US still hasn't developed any expertise in manufacturing modern transit systems. Biden's "Buy America" agenda is not going to deliver the infrastructure Americans want and deserve, as it effectively prohibits foreign firms from bidding on our projects. It's a dumb economic policy but a great political strategy if you think the Rust Belt is an electoral fast track to the White House. Why don't the major news networks call out Biden's expensive "Buy America" agenda so that American voters have the facts? Surely the major networks aren't owned by unions too.
Contact other non-US media outlets that have international recognitions (there’s plenty), and let them take up this topic. All the American media outlets like CNBC, CNN etc are controlled by American politicians on the narratives they can use. That’s why they have media briefings at the White House on a daily basis, and all they do is invite other commentators so called “experts” and repeat what the White House said with twisted facts and opinions. If you want the US and American people to wake up and improve this situation, you guys have to work on media outlets that are independent and not some puppets of politicians.
@@KittenBowl1 Well, Canadian outlets have been calling out this administration's "Buy America" agenda, because it's something that directly impacts Canadian jobs. But sadly most Americans don't read or listen to Canadian networks, much less European news (I do, but most don't). There is also a weird religious belief in this country that Americans can be the absolute best at doing everything - which is not a reasonable belief. Different countries specialize in different types of production, which is what makes international trade beneficial for economies. This administration does not hold this view, contrary to all economic evidence and logic. And so here we are throwing obscene amounts of money at a problem that will never get fixed with this sort of thinking. There are many things the Europeans can learn from us, but how to do 21st Century infrastructure isn't one of them. This is something we should be hiring European firms to work on, like every other country in the world.
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I can tell you that infrastructures of the US are equivalent to many of the developing nations in some areas. And not just bridges but everything, from public transportations to services to a level of professionalism in general. That would require like 20+ years of billions of dollars each year from tax payers and it won’t be fixed overnight but takes a full generation or two generations maybe to see an improvement even. The US roads are just very poor in general. Public transportations are not accessible and almost nonexistent and well dangerous. Don’t get me started on overall safety of the country either. Almost like a developing country. I also think it’s because it’s too large of a country and very divided. In reality it’s nothing like the name of the country.
Thats strange where i live in america the roads are great. The bridges are fine. Almost all of them are multi girder design which will never collapse. Its those old twin girder bridges that fall down when they get to be over 100years old.
@@chuckd9007 Yeah, they thought that too in Minnesota (2007) and the bridge connecting Arkansas and Tennessee (Memphis) is also in dire need of repair. I am afraid the US is a little bigger than where you live.
answer: the capitalist class does not see the benefit in maintaining anything. they'd rather wait for it to be destroyed, then build something new with taxpayer money.
when the press desperately tries to sell the build back better, this is pathetic more spending on the public treasury at the expense of the good and hardworking people
This is why we absolutely need more means of transport, not JUST cars! We need trains, trams, better buses and more bicycle routes!! These issues will never end because US is so car centric.
Amazing, that first bridge looks just like the bridges in Ukraine.... you know, after the Russians have bombed them. So yeah, maybe America should spend a little on its infrastructure. Then again, F-35's are expensive, right?
