sunilg

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.


A road crew in Jamestown, N.D., where road repair means reclaiming the original asphalt and processing it to resemble gravel.
Image courtesy: Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com

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. And all signs point to even more cuts ahead.

We’re told that we have no choice, that basic government functions — essential services that have been provided for generations — are no longer affordable. And it’s true that state and local governments, hit hard by the recession, are cash-strapped. But they wouldn’t be quite as cash-strapped if their politicians were willing to consider at least some tax increases.

And the federal government, which can sell inflation-protected long-term bonds at an interest rate of only 1.04 percent, isn’t cash-strapped at all. It could and should be offering aid to local governments, to protect the future of our infrastructure and our children.

But Washington is providing only a trickle of help, and even that grudgingly. We must place priority on reducing the deficit, say Republicans and “centrist” Democrats. And then, virtually in the next breath, they declare that we must preserve tax cuts for the very affluent, at a budget cost of $700 billion over the next decade.

In effect, a large part of our political class is showing its priorities: given the choice between asking the richest 2 percent or so of Americans to go back to paying the tax rates they paid during the Clinton-era boom, or allowing the nation’s foundations to crumble — literally in the case of roads, figuratively in the case of education — they’re choosing the latter.

It’s a disastrous choice in both the short run and the long run.

In the short run, those state and local cutbacks are a major drag on the economy, perpetuating devastatingly high unemployment.

It’s crucial to keep state and local government in mind when you hear people ranting about runaway government spending under President Obama. Yes, the federal government is spending more, although not as much as you might think. But state and local governments are cutting back. And if you add them together, it turns out that the only big spending increases have been in safety-net programs like unemployment insurance, which have soared in cost thanks to the severity of the slump.

That is, for all the talk of a failed stimulus, if you look at government spending as a whole you see hardly any stimulus at all. And with federal spending now trailing off, while big state and local cutbacks continue, we’re going into reverse.

But isn’t keeping taxes for the affluent low also a form of stimulus? Not so you’d notice. When we save a schoolteacher’s job, that unambiguously aids employment; when we give millionaires more money instead, there’s a good chance that most of that money will just sit idle.

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.

How did we get to this point? It’s the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can’t do anything right.

The antigovernment campaign has always been phrased in terms of opposition to waste and fraud — to checks sent to welfare queens driving Cadillacs, to vast armies of bureaucrats uselessly pushing paper around. But those were myths, of course; there was never remotely as much waste and fraud as the right claimed. And now that the campaign has reached fruition, we’re seeing what was actually in the firing line: services that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must provide or nobody will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent schooling for the public as a whole.

So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we’ve taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/op...n.html?_r=1&bl

ALSO MUST READ: Economic Crisis Forces Local Governments to Let Asphalt Roads Return to Gravel - WSJ.com

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sunilg

Now see this in Indian context, the story is same here; every other guy in this country would curse government for the corruption and tell you how "a rupee collected in taxes is always a rupee wasted." But the picture isn't always as bad as has been portrayed. We always crib about the potholes and the bad roads and how we could live a better life if we were born in US of A or some other western country, but we forget that no meal is a free meal. So, next time you see a stretch of good blacktop tarmac, be thankful to the government and don't forget to pay your taxes.

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raja_roadster

Sunil bhai i feel like here in india things much much tilted to the favour of rich than for a commoner the lifestyle strategy of a common man has not seemed to be influenced whereas in US its not so

Puneet1

Imo the situation in india is a bit different . we crib because our tax money is not utilized efficiently . only the corrupt bureaucrats , politico , contractors and middlemen seem to gain . somehow the fund flow from top to bottom level of society is very ineffective . accountability here is not there and a good recent example being the cwg games development in delhi .

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rachitkdogra

"a rupee collected in taxes is always a rupee wasted."

I agree that the image that we have for the government is much worse than they actually are. But when you actually some second nephews of politicians or IAS officers roaming on roads with Red Light on top of their cars and a BodyGuards with guns following them you really feel rebelious.

Every time I see the Tax Deducted column in my Salary Slip, I really feel angry. I sometimes even thing of raging a 'Non Tay Payment Movement' against the government so that they can realise the value of our hard earned money.

But still I feel this is not the only problem. This is just one of the problems. In the rest of the problems, many of them we are responsible for.

I will qoute Rang De Basanti's Dialogue.

No country is perfect. Every country needs to be made Perfect.

I think till the time common, educated, honest people of this country dont start running this country these problems will be there. If we should do something, than it should not be to complain, it should be to Act in our own small ways. If everybody starts acting in this direction in their own small ways, the collective result be Significant and that would hopefully change things for the country.

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rahulingle1

we always blame our political leaders their work and rupee taxed is wasted ? i m sorry to tell u guys that is not the case. our political leaders might be currupt they might not working efficiently but there is still a faith and democracy maitain in the country, where every 50 km language changes, more that 25 official languages, 100s of religins 1000s of way of lifes. the country with the oldest living civilization and yet we have "Adivasi" at the center of India how don't even realized wat is India and in wat country they live ?
to maintain harmoney and make all these thing work we have to search our past, our way of life back only 50 years was dangerouly diffrent than today ! princly state lost there status only back 30 yr. the country which is the largest democracy in world need efficient politicieans and they are good in the business wat they do.
why we forget every polotical party need money to thier day to day activity and if we belive democracy ( yea that we do for last 60 yr) we have to pay for it.
we made mistake comparing our country with developed western countries. they (westerns) have lost the culture they belong only the thing which are mixed and very popular are maintain and carry forward. Apache tribe is no more in America, even if they are present they lost thier way of life. social structure so poor. but in India still pongal, durga devi pooja, puri rath yatra and many more we are doing thin for more that 500yr some rituals related with Naga sadhu's are phalic in nature and been practiced more that 1000yr.
To maitain country like this in one Nation required guts and our politician are doing that very effectively. when Rosen Sane say that " we are the reliable and strategic partners with the western country" think who he is representing ? when third world countries look for help, and our forigne and commers minister say that we will represent third and we are commited for the development of peoples and only trade, think for that man ?
our politician might be in-effective, un-educated, having 14 chillderns, can't right a speach and currupt, but those are representing us . and that is how democracy works.
I think curruption is not a political problem it is a personal problem ? when we start to think that i will not bribe a trafic police no matter wat even if i have to go to cort or my licence get canceled ! ( batter u bribe him, u save u r time, u contribute money to gov officer, then u minimised the long process of getting to court and then, explain u r not guilty, then a jurry will make dicision and he spent time to know u r case, though he is already dealing with cases like murders, and land, then pay fine ?) now tell me simple way is to pay bribe and that is Rs 100 for any rule braking other wise Rs 1000/- is for not carry u r licence and PUC certificat ! tell me guys what is efficiency ?
still want to know more, this country runs the 'Sarvashiksha Abhiya' gurranty of education till the age of 14, (no other country can do it), this country has largest numbers of primary teachers in the world ? and they are working at Rs 1200/- for a month ? (we might spend that amount for the saturday night party) and we produce more graduates per year than entire population of Ausstrelia. wat efficiency u r talking about dear.
In this country 27 million people sleep without food so that we can have nuclear capabilities, other wise that money could have spend on their education and developement. and i can mention many more cases of magical management of this county that is not possible without our currupt poilitican ?

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NitinGirish

This news has been prevailing for nearly an year now, especially America's crumbling road infrastructure. But resorting to power cuts Gosh! Now Yedyurappa will say even in US people don't get 24hr power supply

This is what happens when countries are sought to run like companies. Bottomline driven, Quarter Se Quarter Tak (QSQT) and greed mentatlity.Goverments all over are obsessed with reducing fiscal defecit, with the same sense of urgency as a corporate would to reduce losses. While nobody argues against the logic of it, it need not be dealt with the same urgency as a corporate would.

Once the economy recovers and stimuls spending by the government withdrawn, offering utility services should be easy for US Government. That assuming ofcourse, the Corporate lobby doesn't get successful in getting the government out of whatever little it does in business.

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RedApple

As an American, im kinda sad right now that my country is going through such a tough time, but i think this article is mostly referring to roads in rural towns and city (that picture is taken from North Dakota...a state that has less than a million people total residing there). I mean its the natural cycle of the economy as well. A lot of people, both in India, and in the rest of the world, dont understand how acerbic and how divided the American political spectrum has become in recent years. This is what i tell people when i argue with them; people dont read up on facts and issues before they start arguing their position. I would suggest people read the history and see how political the taxes issue has become. A lot of people just dont get it about taxes...unfortunetly...and how they are neccessary for the upkeep of the nation. The Republicans have done a great job of co-opting the message on taxes, the economy, how government should be and driving it home to people..unfortunetly, changing perceptions takes a long time.

To be fair, most of the roads that i drove on in Texas were actually quite nice and seemed new..at least to me. Yeah, a lot of the roads in CA seem the same to me as they did years ago, but Caltrans is trying to do an alright job. They just built a new highway interchange by my house a year back, so its not all going downhill. Things will pick back up...eventually. What happened during Bush's time was really bad...and we need some time to clean up this mess..it cant be done overnight, and certainly not in 1 or 2 years.

@rahulingle1: I dont buy your argument about the West losing culture. The USA is home to more cultures than anywhere else in the world. Where else can you go down the street and find a Chinatown, Viet Town, Little India, Little Korea, Little Armenia, etc, etc..all in the same street, next to each other...and all of those communities getting along. Yes, Native Americans have been sort of forgotten, and i agree that is wrong, but their heritage has been richly preserved for all of us to see, learn about and explore. India hasnt really taken in people of other cultures or regions as much as maybe other countries in Asia have, like Singapore, Malaysia, the Mid East, etc. I agree that India is amazing and that it is the oldest living civilization, but why is that we always put our region or our state before India Herself? Each State fights over stupid, trivial issues and makes hay out of it..instead of pledging to work out their differences in the right way. The North-South-East-West divide in India is horrible and is the cause of many problems. For god sakes our politicians act like stupid, spoiled children in the Parliment. Instead of doing whats good for India, they just want to act like stupid babies and fatten their pockets. India needs good leadership, and its sad that young people arent taking a more active role in government and politics. Change will come when the good, decent people in India stand up and kick all these losers out from office.

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aargee

Comparing India & USA is like comparing bank robbery versus pick pocketing. If USA is robbing from world, India is robbing from its own people. The former is progressive, the latter is destructive. This is an interesting topic, let me read the links at leisure & post more comments.

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RedApple

i think you are right about "India robbing from its own people". You see it every day...red tapism, shady government practices, how people evade income tax, the discovery that billions of rupees are sitting in Swiss bank accounts, our VERY inept politicians (save for a few..like PM Singh and Rahul Gandhi), etc, etc.

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