With Democrats taking back control of the House, infrastructure boosters are taking comfort. Democrats may push President Trump harder than congressional Republicans have to fulfill one of his campaign promises. But more federal investment is only part of what our urban centers need to fix up their aged and strained transit systems, bridges and roads. States and cities also need to rein in the employee costs that restrict their ability to maintain their physical assets.
Nowhere are these issues more acute than in the Northeast. New York City and its surrounding tristate region have massive needs -- needs that will only be exacerbated by the arrival of 25,000 new Amazon employees. Amtrak must replace a 110-year-old tunnel under the Hudson River, at a cost of $20 billion, or New York will be cut off from its New Jersey commuter base. New York’s subways need tens of billions to modernize signals, replace train cars and continue expansions such as the Second Avenue subway.
That part s gone, it requires discretionary spending and unions do not allow it in California, witness the bullet train. Most of the infrastructure money goes to pension pot, little will be built, do not bother.
Then there is the problem of what exactly to millennials plan to buy with their humongous debt service. They will no afford to drive, why bother with roads? Remember, if he new millennials get this wrong, if they suffer the delusion then they end up with a lifetime of voters regret.
Dems will suffer. Millennials will be fooled, they will have an enormous rage. Suggest that Nancy emphasize the Pay Go to these new members, and they can accurately report how badly the boomers ripped them off. Like Obamacare, once the scam revealed Nancy lost Dems four of the next five elections. If Dems frig the millennials, and the millennials are too stupid to discover, the Dems will lose them for a generation. Voters regret is a real killer in politics.
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