Sing Tao World Wide Web News:The economic losses caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the response measures taken by the United States have further expanded the US fiscal deficit. It is estimated that the US federal fiscal deficit will reach 3 trillion in fiscal year 2021, that is, from October 1 last year to September 30 this year. The U.S. dollar will account for 13.4% of GDP, the second highest level since 1945.
CCTV News reported that at present, the two parties in the US Congress are discussing an infrastructure construction plan totaling about one trillion US dollars. According to previous estimates by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, this plan will push up the federal budget deficit by about $256 billion in the next 10 years.
High efficiency, low cost, U.S. infrastructure problems
An endless stream of accidents has made infrastructure construction a “hot word” in the U.S. news recently, and whether this infrastructure bill can be passed has also attracted much attention. According to an assessment report released by the American Society of Civil Engineers in March this year, the U.S. faces an infrastructure funding gap of up to $2.59 trillion!
What is the current state of U.S. infrastructure? Let’s start with the public transportation system.
Of the US$550 billion in new expenditures included in the US$1 trillion infrastructure bill, 39 billion is intended to be used to improve the public transportation system-but this can really solve the “backwardness” of the United States in public transportation. Is it the status quo?
Chicago is one of the few cities in the United States that has a subway. The old facilities in the station make it hard to believe that this is the subway built by the world’s “superpower”, and the constant characteristics of each train are “delay” and “emergency”. parking”.
CCTV reporter Xu Tao:Chicago has the second largest public transportation system in the United States, but due to the relatively early construction time, many of the equipment now has the problem of aging. On our way to the airport, the train stopped three times in emergency.
There are many reasons for the emergency stop: many trains in Chicago have been put into use in 1980, and the vehicles themselves may have many problems; trains need to switch tracks when passing through intersections, but due to the old communication equipment and signal loss, some areas require manual operation. The operation is required to allow the train to pass through the intersection; in addition, there are great hidden dangers in the internal safety of the Chicago subway, and crimes often occur.
Public transportation in this state has greatly reduced the willingness of passengers to ride, resulting in the current low efficiency and high cost of public transportation in the United States.
Ram Pendiala, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment:Even before the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the public transportation system in the United States had been struggling, and passenger flow continued to decline, which undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the operation of the public transportation system.
However, in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States that has been in operation for 40 years, when walking out of Dulles International Airport, it was discovered that there was still no subway connecting the airport to the city.
In fact, the second phase of the “Washington D.C. Silver Line Subway” project designed to connect the airport to the city began as early as 2014, but it has not been completed so far. Cracks have appeared in the cement wall and repairs have begun-the project budget has increased from the initial US$2.7 billion to US$4.1 billion.
The reason is that because Washington DC is directly under the administrative jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government, the autonomy of local governments is far less than that of the states, and there is no voting power even in Congress. As a result, many issues including subway projects have become Congress. The bargaining chip of the political game.
Public transportation that should serve the public and provide convenience for the people has become a bargaining chip in the political game in the United States. It is no wonder that some experts will say that the public transportation in the United States needs systematic and qualitative changes.
Ram Pendiala:We have always made some marginal adjustments, such as upgrading a few buses, adding a few stations here or modifying a few places there, but these small adjustments really won’t have any impact. What you need is a certain impact on the system, in other words, you need a qualitative change.
Water supply system equipment is aging and drinking water pollution is serious
The water supply system is an important guarantee for residents’ daily life, especially the supply of drinking water. In the assessment report released by the American Society of Civil Engineers in March this year, the drinking water system was rated “C-“.
The winter storm that swept across the United States in February this year paralyzed the water supply system in many southern states, and it did give people a glimpse of the current aging status of water supply equipment in the United States-but this is not the only problem that Americans face in their daily drinking water.
CCTV reporter Xu Tao:This is a community in southwestern Memphis. For a long time, this predominantly African-American community has had problems with water supply. In early 2021, after the winter storm that swept through the southern United States, many pipelines broke down here, the water supply system was once paralyzed, and many residents did not have drinking water at home-but this is not the main problem that local residents face in water supply. Drinking water in Memphis is taken from underground aquifers, and there are many large factories nearby, and water pollution has always plagued local residents. In 2017, arsenic and lead levels in groundwater nearby were detected to exceed safe drinking water standards. The arsenic content in groundwater near a thermal power plant was more than 300 times higher than the US federal drinking water standard.
At the beginning of this year, local residents encountered a new problem. A company planned to build an oil pipeline that would pass through southwestern Memphis into northern Mississippi. It would pass through an aquifer that provides drinking water for 1 million people. Strongly opposed.
Justin Pearson, founder of the Memphis community’s anti-oil pipeline construction group: Memphis is the world’s largest city that draws water entirely from the ground, but they plan to lay oil pipelines on the aquifer, and we know there are known rupture points there. According to related research reports, one gallon of oil spill will pollute 25 million gallons of water.
Under pressure, the company announced last month that it would cancel its plan to build the pipeline, but the factories only across the road are still operating. Moreover, the risk may not only come from the environment in which the community is located, but also from the daily water supply pipes-lead pipes. Lead pollution in drinking water is a long-standing problem in the US water supply system.
In the United States, lead-containing water supply pipes are also affecting residents’ daily water use. It is estimated that there are currently approximately 380,000 leaded water supply pipes in Chicago that provide water to approximately 80% of the local households.
Chicago is currently the city with the most leaded water supply pipes in the United States. According to the survey, in the past six years, about 80% of communities have faced the problem of lead pollution in drinking water. In the words of local residents, every day is like using lead-containing straws. Drinking water.
Brenda Santoyo, member of the environmental organization:When using lead-containing water supply pipes, it is like drinking with a lead-containing straw. Many households may be unconsciously affected by lead in the water.
Although Chicago announced plans for the renovation of lead water pipes in 2020, due to lack of funds, the progress is slow-some experts jokingly said, “At the current rate, it will take about 500 years to complete the renovation of all pipes.” According to the statistics of the US Natural Resources Defense Council, there are currently more than 6 million lead-containing water supply pipelines in the United States. From 2018 to 2020, more than 61 million people use water supply systems. The lead content in drinking water exceeds that in the United States. The safety value set by the pharmacy for bottled water.
Of the $550 billion in new expenditures of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, $55 billion is used to replace lead pipes and service pipes to supply clean drinking water across the country.
US Natural Resources Defense Council senior lawyer Jeremy Orr: This seems to be enough, but when we look for old infrastructure, the number of lead pipelines will increase, and the amount of funds required will also increase.
Although the funds may not be enough, it is there anyway. However, some experts said that many of the current buildings that use lead water supply pipes are private property, and the replacement of these pipes requires the environmental protection department, the state and Effective coordination between local governments, water suppliers, and private homeowners. Therefore, it may take ten years or more to replace lead pipes nationwide.
What is the difficulty of US infrastructure construction?
Since the beginning of his tenure, Biden proposed major infrastructure projects, the two parties have been deadlocked, and the budget has dropped from US$2.3 trillion to the current US$1 trillion. Although the two parties have reached a consensus on the $1 trillion plan, according to US media reports, the voting process is expected to have many twists and turns. Why is it so difficult to build infrastructure in the United States?
In fact, this is not the first time that the President of the United States has proposed to engage in infrastructure construction. When Obama was president, he proposed $3.9 trillion in infrastructure, but it didn’t work out. When Trump was president, he proposed $2 trillion in infrastructure but failed. Now, Biden has put forward an infrastructure plan, and the budget has shrunk again and again.
Infrastructure construction is a good thing, but it is difficult to implement it when many US presidents are in office.
Bipartisan disputes make it difficult to reach agreement on infrastructure
In fact, the Democratic and Republican parties are not opposed to infrastructure construction. However, there is a big difference between the two parties’ perceptions of what constitutes “infrastructure.” The construction of railways and roads, etc.; the infrastructure proposed by the Democratic Party mainly revolves around wind energy, solar energy, and Internet+. The railways and roads built are mainly developed around new technologies-it is precisely because of this fundamental difference in cognition that makes The two parties have been arguing over the issue of infrastructure for many years and could not reach an agreement.
Conflict of interest between federal and local governments makes infrastructure difficult
The U.S.’s own system problems have also brought considerable resistance to infrastructure construction. Because the United States adopts a federal system, each state has its own laws, and sometimes federal laws cannot interfere with state laws. If the federal government engages in infrastructure projects that touch the interests of local governments, quarrels and rants will definitely happen, which will inevitably affect the construction of the project. Interstate 95, which has been repaired for 61 years, is the best example.
Foreign wars cost more than 30 years and cost more than 14 trillion
It is difficult to engage in infrastructure construction, but the United States is generous in its defense budget. In May of this year, the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 federal government budget submitted to Congress included a total of $715 billion in the U.S. Department of Defense budget. Even so, some congressmen said it was “not enough.” Indeed, in this regard, the U.S. “Very willing to spend money”: From the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991 to the present 30 years, the United States has fought 13 wars and spent 14.2 trillion US dollars, and the Iraq War alone spent 3 trillion US dollars-from this money With one-third of that, the current infrastructure plan can be realized, and the “Texas power supply crisis” and the “decapitated highway” may not appear in the lives of Americans.