In the popular TV game show “Jeopardy,” host Alex Trabek chides the competitors to "answer in the form of a question," rather than chime in with correct answers. To the uninitiated, the show’s canned format seems cockamamie. After all, from the moment we hit kindergarten until our dying breath, we're programmed to seek the right answers. To hell with the questions. We want the "gold star" for getting it right.
Like eager children, our elected leaders reflect the one-track orientation of the voters. In their quest to find the “right” answer to our economic downturn, leaders from the Oval Office to the Speaker’s Chambers were quick to whip out our national checkbook. Hailing their own bi-partisan cooperation, the President and Congress ballyhooed the cockeyed notion that a $600 rebate was the key to jump-starting our sluggish economy. According to their twisted logic, once American consumers get this whopping tax rebate, they’ll rush out to buy a flat panel TV so that they can watch Jeopardy in high def.
Now, pan the cameras north to Alaska. Visualize a double span, rising to 200 feet above ocean level, going from Ketchikan, Alaska (pop. 14,500) to Gravina Island (pop. 50 on a good day). The only thing of note on the island is Ketchikan's airport, which has six passenger flights most days --- maybe a few more during the summer. The ferries between Ketchikan and the airport run half-filled. And Ketchikan isn't even connected to the North American road system; if you go more than 10 miles from town, you run out of road.
Dubbed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” this $200 million dollar project became a national symbol of “Pork Barrel” run amok. But on closer examination, boondoggles like the Ketchikan Bridge, may actually be a better solution to the nation's economic malaise than the proposed rebate checks.
There is no question that America’s infrastructure is crumbling. Most of our roads and bridges were built around the time Elvis was king of the airwaves. Last year’s tragic collapse of a critical span over the Mississippi in Minneapolis is merely emblematic of the problem. A recent study by the American Society of Civil Engineers (“ASCE”) confirmed that about 25% of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are deteriorating or structurally deficient.
The linkage between the state of our infrastructure and industrial competitiveness is undisputed. Innovation and re-energized productivity, however, are meaningless if the goods produced can’t make it to market in a timely and cost-efficient fashion.
When queried about the efficacy of the proposed $150 billion rebate program, GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee joked that the money might be better spent widening the I-95, the interstate that stretches between Maine and Florida. While Huckabee’s chances of reaching the White House may be DOA, his flippant answer may hold particular merit.
During the “Great Depression,” building roads and highways was a key component to our economic recovery. Although the strain on the federal budget was astronomical, in the end, jobs were created, the economy was stimulated and we were left with a national system that not only gave us the ability to better fight a future world war, but positioned our nation to become an industrial power.
I am not suggesting that we fire-up the WPA. But, in light of our current economic slide, a closer examination of its salient principles may be warranted.
This year, President Bush is requesting another $368 billion to fight the war in Iraq on top of an additional $200 billion to wage the fight in Afghanistan. According to the Congressional Budget Office, by 2017, the cost of these wars is projected at reach an unthinkable $2.7 trillion.
On the heals of 9/11, no one contends that the threat from Al Qaeda isn’t real. But what’s the genuine value of fighting the war abroad, if we’re losing the war on the home front?
As the painful reality of the coming recession takes hold, Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere,” is looking like the right answer. Thanks Alex.
To learn more about my market recommendations, visit my website at:www.globewestfinancial.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment