So the last couple of days I have posted articles about how our federal government is facing some serious debt problems. Watch this video in the link below and see yet another huge problem that our country is facing, and something that is not even accounted for it today's federal budget.
It is estimated that a water main breaks on average every 2 minutes across the country every single day, or about 300,000 per year. Majority of these water infrastructures across the country were build in the decades following World War II, making some cities like Washington D.C. with 77 year old pipes. It is estimated to replace these old pipes, drinking water over the next 3 decades will cost $250 billion. Problems include: cities are burden by debt and don't have to pay the money for replacing these pipes; President Obama's 50 billion proposal in federal spending to fix infrastructure across the country does not include water projects. Finally, the longer we wait there is a greater possibility that our drinking water can become contaminated. This is a very serious issue and something clearly needs to happen soon; any ideas on how our government can replace this infrastructure? If government can't afford it, who can?
It sounds like this is another serious problem that our country will be facing in the coming years. It seems to be the same old story. The government needs more for X but does not have money for X. Is there any other way to raise X without raising taxes? If so, what is it? Contaminated drinking water is a serious issue that plagues millions of people around the world. To think that our country may be plagued with contaminated drinking water in the future is frightening to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThis is just another issue adding to the grocery list of things that need to be replaced by the government. No one knows where the money will come from because we are still not making as much as we were and the government has bailed us out for that reason several times. The amount we owe has reached the unimaginable point that no one can really grasp. It is very scary to think that a natural resource needed to survive will become tainted and unusable in America. Will we really become more like some of the 2nd world countries around the world because there isn't money to fix it? Let's hope not.
ReplyDeleteThis is, yet again, another scary issue that the US faces. Seeing that our drinking water is at risk and these water main breaks continue to keep getting significantly more destructive, it seems vital that this water infrastructure gets replaced before it’s too late. If we end up reaching this point, I can’t imagine the costs of having to purify all of America’s drinking water on top of having to replace these old pipes. Chances are we wouldn’t have enough money to do all of this; then what would happen? It's scary to think about.
ReplyDeleteSince the government can't afford to replace the infrastructure, wouldn’t it be nice if the top 1/10 of the top 1% of high-income Americans (which make more than the bottom 50% combined) could pool some money together and put it towards fixing this problem? I mean, what the heck are they going to do with all that money anyways? ...If only society worked that way.
That was my sentiment when we discussed Michigans debt and its disproportion of wealth.. There are a lot of billionaires and millionaires who might be able to contribute to this grocerie list of items, but like we've also blooged about, why would these people donate their personal income towards these projects. It doesn't directly benefit them, and they probably wouldn't like the idea of all the free riders that would reap their rewards, but seems like donations from big firms and/or private enterprises could help start up the fundraising necessary to leave a positive impact. I look forward to hearing about Obama's state of the union adress tomorrow night to see how he handles all that is on his plate...
ReplyDeleteCould the US privatize water pipelines like the Ambassador Bridge?
ReplyDeleteEcuador has bad, bad water pipes. I do not wish the water born illness there on anyone. There has to be a solution.
One of the many changes in life style that I had to get accustomed to when I got to the US was the fact that I could drink straight out of the faucet here. I mean sure a lot of Americans do not advise it but a fellow Pakistani told me that our immune system can very well bare the water in the pipes here. She was right! Back home if we want to use tap water we boil it first otherwise we find alternate sources of drinking water - those that can afford it at least.
ReplyDeleteThis really is a huge problem for the American public and I remember from my Issues in Urban Economics class with Dr. McKinney, a lot of these water pipes were laid out and have not been replaced since late 19th/early 20th Century. A core complication in wanting to advocate for change is that the previous generation of voters and politicians did not do much about it so why should we? We can just let the next generation of voters and politicians to deal with this problem - just like all the other problems this Millenial generation has inherited from our predecessors.
Privitization of the water pipelines will only be undertaken if and only if the industry is seen as a profit making venture by these very powerful people. The only reason the government would think about this is if these top tier rich people wanted to venture out into such an industry.
According to conventional economics, or at least my understanding of it, water pipelines would be categorized as a natural monopoly due to the huge, huge initial costs but what about the aspect that we discussed in class today about the market being extremely limited and restricted by not just costs but also preferences aka demand?