BCT Editorial – 9/10/08

This page was last updated on September 18, 2008.

Falling apart; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 10, 2008.

The editorial says, “We’re allowing our infrastructure to crumble to Third World status, making it that much harder to compete in the global economy.” As I’ve written previously, “Third World” is at or near the top of the list of the Times most overused terms of hyperbole. This is at least the sixth editorial this year alone (The previous five were “Stoop labor,” “Cattle call,” “Lapped,” “Poor health,” and “Power failure”.) that’s compared the U.S. to the Third World.

A current theme with Times editorials, the “solution” to the problem is increased taxation. This despite the fact the average family eventually turns over nearly 33% of its income to all levels of government (This is near the all time high of 34% in 2000.). It’s odd how spending cuts in other areas never appear to be considered.

Did you catch the point that one reason for less fuel tax revenue is “the high price of gasoline has led drivers to conserve gas by driving less or switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles?” The Times is telling is “Go ahead and reduce your fuel consumption as we’re lobbying you to do and we’ll raise your tax rate as a reward.” You have to love it!

Finally, as I believe I’ve written previously, I don’t understand why the federal government is in the road/bridge building/maintenance business anyway. Any need for this involvement in the past has long since passed. All U.S. and Interstate highways should be turned over to local and state governments.