America's characteristic infrastructural sloth displayed in Colorado — and the larger lesson that goes with it

03 May 2024

The belligerent clowns in charge of the United States . . .

. . . think that they can compete with China?

What a sad laugh.

Below is a small, but fully representative, example of how the United States actually works.

Or doesn't.

For example, in western Colorado

Despite years of knowing that the US 50 (middle) bridge over Blue Mesa Reservoir was in bad shape. And presumably recognizing its economic and travel importance to Western Colorado, Colorado's Department of Transportation did nothing to fix it.

So now, suddenly, the bridge is closed. At the behest of the Feds. Who themselves generally ignore fixing rickety infrastructure all over the country. This purported savings in tax dollars taking place, so that we Americans can keep funneling lucre-trillions into the United States' Death and Warfare Complex:

A safety closure is in place for the middle bridge on US Highway 50 located west of Gunnison by the Dillon Pinnacles. The Colorado Department of Transportation closed the bridge at the urging of the Federal Highway Administration and state bridge engineering experts due to the findings of an ongoing safety inspection, which identified anomalies in the bridge on Thursday, April 18th.

The closure is in place between US 50 Mile Point 131 (intersection with CO Hwy 92) and MP 138. Motorists should use COTrip.org to plan an alternate route. There is currently no estimated time for reopening.

The northern route is 354 miles and requires approximately six hours of travel time. The southern route is 331 miles and requires nearly seven hours of travel time.

The closure of the Middle Bridge over Blue Mesa on U.S. Highway 50 is having significant impacts on agricultural producers in Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose and Delta Counties.

Pertinent video

The following video does a good job of explaining the negative impact this Colorado bridge closure has on people in (or traveling through) the region:

Ironhead Sally, Travelers! US50 in Colorado- Montrose to Gunnison Closed Indefinitely. Blue Mesa Bridge Cracks, YouTube (22 April 2024)

In the same basket of economically suicidal negligence . . .

. . . sits Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse fiasco.

After Florida's 1980 wake-up experience with the ship-initiated collision-collapse of its own Sunshine Skyway Bridge — why did Baltimore not subsequently protect the Key Bridge with similarly sized and numbers of dolphins that Florida was wise enough to add to their own bridge repair project?

The moral? — Money-grifting halfassery . . .

. . . in virtually all things, is American Government's way.

Returning to my earlier China observation — given that we have offshored all meaningful American manufacturing, again to benefit oligarchical avarice and grift — it is unlikely that we will recover enough to compete with China in any vitally important economic way.

Laughably furthermore, without a manufacturing base of substantial size and competence to match China's, we will not defeat the People's Republic in the war that American Government is so fervently trying to start.

Just witness the massive human and geopolitical disaster, in the shape of the Ukraine War, that US neocons provoked for no sensible strategic reason.

We are being sucked dry by leech-like, oligarchy-favoring, warmongering cretins.

PeteFree.com

America's characteristic infrastructural sloth displayed in Colorado — and the larger lesson that goes with it