BCT Editorial – 2/7/08

This page was last updated on February 12, 2008.

Starting point; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 7, 2008.

The subtitle of the editorial is “Rendell’s infrastructure proposals in 2008-09 budget should be above politics.” Have you noticed all spending advocated by the Times “should be above politics?”

FYI, I’m not lobbying against necessary infrastructure maintenance. The purpose of this critique is to uncover the flawed “thinking” of the editorial authors.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The final 2008-09 state budget won’t look anything like the one Gov. Ed Rendell introduced on Tuesday.

“Spending no doubt will be in the ballpark of the $28.3 billion the governor has proposed, but the details won’t. With Democrats in control of the House and Republicans in control of the Senate, much of what Rendell wants will be revised, prioritized or jettisoned.

“And with this being an election year for every member of the House and half of the Senate, the grandstanding is going to be even more over the top than usual.

“But certain aspects of Rendell’s budget deserve exemption from Harrisburg’s politics as usual.

“Three infrastructure proposals top the list.

“Rendell wants to borrow $600 million over three years to replace aging and crumbling bridges. Significantly, the debt would be repaid with existing tax revenue.”

[RWC] Did you catch that last sentence? If you did, do you believe it?

If “the debt would be repaid with existing tax revenue,” don’t some programs need to cut spending? The editorial, however, doesn’t mention any corresponding spending cuts. Do you care to guess why?

“The injection of more money is needed. Pennsylvania has 22,276 bridges. In its “2006 Report Card for Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure,” The American Society of Civil Engineers reported that 25 percent are considered to be structurally deficient and 18 percent are considered to be functionally obsolete.

“The governor also wants to borrow $100 million to make abandoned industrial sites “shovel ready” for occupation by new businesses. Pennsylvania has thousands of these sites, many of which are in prime locations but need to be made improved so businesses can reuse them. This, too, would be repaid with existing tax revenue.”

[RWC] Wow, more new spending that “would be repaid with existing tax revenue.”

“Finally, Rendell has proposed increasing a low-interest loan program for municipal infrastructure projects by $13 million to $30 million.”

[RWC] Let me guess. This too “would be repaid with existing tax revenue?”

“The proposals don’t just address infrastructure needs. They’d also provide economic stimulus by creating jobs that would pump money into the state’s economy.”

[RWC] Yep, the road (no pun intended) to economic prosperity is via taxpayer spending. If that were true, why does the PA economy lag so far behind the rest of the country?

Isn’t this the same argument we heard for Toll Route 60, the PIT mid-field terminal, Heinz Field & PNC Park, Lazarus, Lord & Taylor, et cetera?

“Between now and June 30 — the deadline for the adoption of a budget for next year (and perhaps beyond that date given election-year politics in Harrisburg) — state lawmakers and the governor are going to be bogged down in budget talks and political rhetoric.

“In the end, let’s hope they have the good sense to adopt these infrastructure proposals in some form because everybody in the commonwealth will benefit from them.”