U.S. Fiscal Cliff

[archibaldcrane]

It's only useless if you ignorantly claim it's a bridge for 50 people.

People love to bludgeon that terribly misleading talking point though.

[Xno Kappa]

The bridge proposal itself just reeks of Congress doing favors for their corporate buddies when there's seemingly a few other cheaper alternatives that's just as effective. I admittedly am not well versed in the problems that lie within that community and it's airport but surely there's a better solution then a 400+ million dollar bridge servicing a relatively small community.

[Byrthnoth]

The bridge proposal itself just reeks of Congress doing favors for their corporate buddies when there's seemingly a few other cheaper alternatives that's just as effective. I admittedly am not well versed in the problems that lie within that community and it's airport but surely there's a better solution then a 400+ million dollar bridge servicing a relatively small community.

I recommend that you read the last few posts and reevaluate your understanding of the motivation for building the bridge.

[hey]

Isn't spending money on needy people something that you democrats love to do? Why the change of heart?

We could just give them each $8M houses somewhere else instead.

[Coren]

I recommend that you read the last few posts and reevaluate your understanding of the motivation for building the bridge.

My city has been trying to get money for YEARS to fix the highest-traveled interstate interchange in the state. They finally got the $250m they need to begin in 2015. While we're not LA, DC, or Atl, that interchange still sees over 100k cars per day and has a wreck on average once a day. Seeing $400m going to help 14k people (assuming all of them use the airport, which I doubt, and probably very few of them other than Palin use it regularly) when we can't get 250m for half a million people.... eh. Bridge to nowhere indeed.

[Byrthnoth]

My city has been trying to get money for YEARS to fix the highest-traveled interstate interchange in the state. They finally got the $250m they need to begin in 2015. While we're not LA, DC, or Atl, that interchange still sees over 100k cars per day and has a wreck on average once a day. Seeing $400m going to help 14k people (assuming all of them use the airport, which I doubt, and probably very few of them other than Palin use it regularly) when we can't get 250m for half a million people.... eh. Bridge to nowhere indeed.

Okay, but what if they assigned the money for improving the interstate to "that town just off the highway" because it was closest to the area that needed to be improved. Then it would be "Small town of only 2,000 gets 250m for highway." and "You could fit the cars of everyone in this town end to end on the length of highway made with this money and you would still have space for another 4000 cars!" Then complete it with a news guy standing next to a parked car to demonstrate how cars can line up in a row and make some quasi-nonsensical joke like, "I guess you could say this highway project drove itself. Back to you, Jennifer."

Bridge to an airport =/= Bridge so 50 people can get to town easier.

[Callisto]

Just curious if you're advocating a 400+ million dollar project for 50 people. It'd be much cheaper to move them but then Congress' favorite construction companies wouldn't be able to bid for such a lucrative contract.

yo there's probably already a Chipotle and a Target on the other side of that bridge now, shit's blowing up

[Coren]

Okay, but what if they assigned the money for improving the interstate to "that town just off the highway" because it was closest to the area that needed to be improved. Then it would be "Small town of only 2,000 gets 250m for highway." and "You could fit the cars of everyone in this town end to end on the length of highway made with this money and you would still have space for another 4000 cars!" Then complete it with a news guy standing next to a parked car to demonstrate how cars can line up in a row and make some quasi-nonsensical joke like, "I guess you could say this highway project drove itself. Back to you, Jennifer."

Bridge to an airport =/= Bridge so 50 people can get to town easier.

It's the major interstate between Atlanta and Charlotte we're talking about here. They've been trying to fix the 85/385 intersection for a very long time but had issues getting the funding. I know the highway to nowhere was quite a while ago, but those projects are a bit ridiculous when you figure the traffic we get.

[Clash Perez]

Building infrastructure to suit the needs of today rather than to suit reasonable expectations of future growth is a recipe for staying several steps behind the needs of society.

Hell, with global climate change that island could be the new NYC underwater in a couple of decades, so fuck it.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Mentioning Palin made me laugh. For a lot of reasons.

[Salodin]

Building infrastructure to suit the needs of today rather than to suit reasonable expectations of future growth is a recipe for staying several steps behind the needs of society.

Hell, with global climate change that island could be the new NYC underwater in a couple of decades, so fuck it.

Thank god you added that second bit, cause you wooshed me so hard I was about to make a damn fool of myself responding to it...

[Drex]

The bridge proposal itself just reeks of Congress doing favors for their corporate buddies when there's seemingly a few other cheaper alternatives that's just as effective.

That's pretty much all Congress ever does

[Moridam]

It's the major interstate between Atlanta and Charlotte we're talking about here. They've been trying to fix the 85/385 intersection for a very long time but had issues getting the funding. I know the highway to nowhere was quite a while ago, but those projects are a bit ridiculous when you figure the traffic we get.

is that the interchange in greenville? sounds really familiar, and while i didn't go past the airport super often when i lived in the area, i definitely remember some of the highways past there being pretty rough.

[Coren]

is that the interchange in greenville? sounds really familiar, and while i didn't go past the airport super often when i lived in the area, i definitely remember some of the highways past there being pretty rough.

That's the one. I drive through there 2 to 6 times a day, and it's always a fucking mess. Southbound is the worst. It backs up from exit 51 up past exit 56 on a daily basis. There is a single lane exit to get off onto Woodruff rd, 385 N, and 385 S.

The proposed changes will turn it into a similar layout to 85/285 in Atlanta (Spaghetti Junction). Other than the 3 years of construction, I can't wait.

[Coren]

To give this thread a bit of slightly more useful life, does anybody read Matt Taibbi regularly?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...ilout-20130104
His newest article. Talks about how the US Gov't lied us into all the bullshit bailouts. It included both the Bush and Obama admins, multiple treasury secretaries, and both fed chairmen. And after giving them billions in direct cash infusion, and trillions in guarantees, the system is more likely to blow up again any minute than it was before we started.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...treet-20120918
Another article about how the banks own congress (I know, shocker). Still depressing.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...eform-20120510
And another on how they maimed the dodd-frank financial reform bill.

The "fiscal cliff/curb" is stupid bullshit, and always has been. Being the cynical bastard I am, I almost expect it was just a "LOOK, OVER THERE" ploy to divert attention for 4 months. And we'll spend the next few months listening to how republicans in the house will refuse to raise the debt limit (again). It's a neverending train of bullshit designed to keep our eyes off of what really matters: the fact that rich assholes on wall street are raking in millions, and when the whole thing comes crashing down again, we'll all be on the hook for hundreds of billions... again.

[Coren]

Oh, and there's apparently a petition going around (online petitions, lol) trying to get Obama to nominate Paul Krugman to be the next treasury secretary. While I think he'd be a great pick, he'd never get nominated, much less ever get past the republican douchebags in the house.

[Callisto]

Who cares, there's a petition for them to get Biden a reality show on C-SPAN, that should take priority.

[test123]

[Plow]

once I got to the shit comparing newspaper/magazine cover prices to an index that includes subscription prices I decided there's just way, way, way, way too much horse shit compiled there to even begin to bother

[test123]

lol. "I don't like the case he is presenting so I am not even going to bother". If only most americans had this attitude, oh wait...