transportation follies, now on a National scale

What we have endured here in MN is potentially going National.  What is it, you say? 

It’s the inexplicably bizarre stance Republicans have toward transportation. 

I’ll explain.

 

In what was originally framed as a ‘cost saving’ move, after the Republican candidates were elected to lead MN, they decided it would be fiscally responsible to use the formerly (and some would say, still) ceremonial and nearly useless position of Lieutenant Governor to also lead the state department of transportation (MNDoT).  I won’t go through all of the well documented string of poor decisions that came hence, suffice to say the chickens finally came home to roost on August 1, 2007, and suddenly the choice doesn’t seem so fiscally responsible.  Now we have all sorts of infrastructure issues, some of them quite suddenly ‘urgent’, and there’s no denying that the money we MN citizens ‘saved’ 5 years ago is more dear now, and must be spent to do what should have been a while ago.  (Recall the old TV ads for Fram Oil Filters:  ‘Pay me now or pay me later’, well, we’re paying, for sure).

 

Now Sen. McCain, in a move that’s clearly one of ‘buying our vote’ and full of sound-bite value, proposes to smite down the ugly Federal gas tax.  By doing so, we can have more disposable income to pull our economy out of the doldrums.  So we get 18 or so cents for every gallon we buy that will be eliminated.  That amounts to roughly $2.70 per fill when I top off the Ford.  Whoopee!!!  Gassing up every week, that means in a month I’ll save about $11.  Hey man, cutting taxes is OK in my book!  But this is tiny-small and inconsequential from a purchasing power perspective.  How utterly short-sighted, trivial, and dangerous!

 

These federal gas tax funds are used to pay for infrastructure, and by cutting these funds from the Federal budget, we’re doing, on a National scale, what went on in MN for the past 5 years.  With Sen. McCain choosing this unfortunate plan, is he consulting with Gov. Pawlenty?  This strategy could result in poorly funded infrastructure maintenance on a national scale.  Do we have to look out for another bridge incident?

 

I’d rather pay the extra $11 per month for my fuel if I could be confident that going over that bridge was going to be without incident.  I think any US citizen would pay it as well.

 

There are other ways to strengthen the economy.  How about strengthening the currency for starters?  We’re second-rate compared to the Euro, and the Chinese and Indian currencies are gaining fast against the dollar.  The Loonie (the Canadian Dollar) has also passed us by.  Combined with increased demand for commodities from developing countries, our greenback is in free-fall. 

 

Instead of hollow and trivial tactics that offer pittance relief but ‘sound’ good, why not make a more intelligent move to strengthen our global economic position.  These guys are asking for our vote, they should be smart enough to know how to do it.

---Hack