3RD WORLD, HERE WE COME!

THIS IS HORRIBLE! We've got money for a war in Iraq we never should have entered into and money for a war in Afghanistan even though the enemy we went in to fight has left. And we can keep tax cuts for the top 2% of Americans because they worked so hard for their $ that we definitely shouldn't ask them to help the less fortunate in a recession when they have plenty to spare. That would be socialism! Meanwhile, our roads and schools disintegrate. This is a great read. Here's an excerpt:

And what about the economy’s future? Everything we know about economic growth says that a well-educated population and high-quality infrastructure are crucial. Emerging nations are making huge efforts to upgrade their roads, their ports and their schools. Yet in America we’re going backward.

NY TIMES: America Goes Dark By PAUL KRUGMAN



The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno.

Meanwhile, a country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself: in a number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel.

And a nation that once prized education — that was among the first to provide basic schooling to all its children — is now cutting back. Teachers are being laid off; programs are being canceled; in Hawaii, the school year itself is being drastically shortened.

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