Invest Billions of $$$$ into DWSD

[Willi]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...rinking-water/

Love this quote from the article

“People resent having to pay anything for water,” she said. “There’s the thought that there’s a God-given right to have as much as we want but, if you want the cleanest water, these techniques take money.”

[Wesley Mouch]

I've done my homework on this , not everyone like investing in InfraStructure....

Excellent graphs. I can't reconcile this with the 'shovel ready' comments made by our President. Thought we would have seen in increase in public investment.

Krugman & Co. have been advocating that major investment as promised by 'shovel ready' is our best path to a return to 'normal'. That sure isn't it.

As to the tax resistance you cite, I don't think the problem is the public. I think the problem is the the government -- or what the government is today. The right in particular has major policy differences with the entitlement economy. Whether you agree or disagree, one can see that when a government migrates from being a provider of commonly agree-to services such as police, fire, trash, etc. to a social-welfare income redistribution machine, it should not be a surprise that many just don't want to fund it. Right or wrong, they believe those methods aren't best for society.

The second problem is that there's a strong believe on the right that the government has forgotten how to be an efficient method of getting things done. Corruption and bloat. Again, you need not agree on the facts. But the perception of the right is that tax increases do not go to investment. They go to gold-plated pensions, exorbitant pay, and schools that focus on global warming, social justice, and chocolate gun control more than basic education.

I don't want to get partisan here. Only trying to suggest that the resistance to taxes is not necessarily resistance to investment -- but has roots in other issues.

[Willi]

There is definitely some askew with representatives
meeting the everyday needs of the citizens.

[Willi]

Privitazation is NOT always the solution

http://redrundrain.wordpress.com/pri...-disasaterous/

[Willi]

As 2015 approaches how will people remember the sequence of events.

http://archive.freep.com/article/201...oit-bankruptcy

[Willi]

Another article about CHEMICALS discharged

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...igan-fish.html

Doing the bare minimum gets us in trouble
-- even if it """ meets""" federal standards

Water by the people, for the people, via Taxes ?
Choke on that awhile

[mwilbert]

Excellent graphs. I can't reconcile this with the 'shovel ready' comments made by our President. Thought we would have seen in increase in public investment.

Krugman & Co. have been advocating that major investment as promised by 'shovel ready' is our best path to a return to 'normal'. That sure isn't it.

As you can see from the graphs, infrastructure spending did go up as part of the ARRA. However, the infrastructure portion of the ARRA wasn't actually that big [[about a third of the whole thing), and the Congress has not been willing to do anything subsequently, not even being willing to fund normal transportation spending now that the gas tax is inadequate. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of useful infrastructure spending to be done, or that it would not be good for the economy, especially at current interest rates. It just means that our political system isn't capable of doing things at the moment, or for the forseeable future.

But there is another infrastructure problem which is separate, which is that infrastructure projects cost a lot more in the US than they do pretty much anywhere else, including high labor cost locations like Scandanavia and Germany. So for the money we do spend, we get less infrastructure, which makes any particular project less attractive and harder to justify. I haven't seen any good research on why this is, but it is a very important question.

I wouldn't say that the US is moving to third-world status, but it appears to be falling out the top tier of nations in a number of areas, including infrastructure.

[Willi]

People in Michigan take clean water for granted.
They simply think it will be good forever.

It gets touched by millions in the USA
And then by other millions in Canada.

We are mucking it up really fast, very quickly
Better, cleaner discharge is mandatory.

[Towne Cluber]

I prefer stark reality, that way I see the sledgehammer coming at my skull with both eyes.
Honestly don't care much about Pistons, Red Wings, Tigers or the stadiums - I'm not there.
Couldn't give a diddly poo about the Casinos [[either side of the border) - I don't gamble.
I do, drink the water from my kitchen sink, take showers and recreate on the Great Lakes

• Michigan has $11.8 billion need in drinking water infrastructure in next 20 years.
• Michigan has $3.7 billion need in wastewater infrastructure in next 20 years.
• I would rather see serious investment on those 2 items instead of entertainment

Well, at least you don't like all 4 of the major sports...not just "USA Football".

[Guideboat]

I'm not arguing the point, but here is a a far more accurate representation of the Great Lakes basin. Image from http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/basicinfo.html.

[Willi]

Maybe people would prefer to pay Coke, Pepsi and Nestle for bottled water -- because that's the way its headed.

Green gook can happen here; just as easily as it did for our southern neighbors.
People take far too much for granted, and expect an "entity" aka the government ; to protect them, but they don't know what they want protection from....because they don't pay attention or make a big enough fuss over pollutants.

[Willi]

Sure it is safe to drink, you trust us, right ???
Flint water issues 2015, right now !

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...r_plans_2.html