Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
approved was federal funding to build a memorial in North Dakota to
the late band leader Lawrence Welk. Each year the group Citizens Against
Government Waste publishes the
Congressional Pig Book Summary
listing the pork projects deemed most egregious.
The Real Needs
It is easy to laugh at or condemn outrageous examples of wasteful federal
spending such as these, but not all expenditures classed as pork should be
criticized. The United States is in dire need of infrastructure maintenance
and upgrading, and the vast reach and large amounts of money involved
require that a substantial part of the cost be borne by the federal govern-
ment. Government spending on infrastructure fell sharply after construc-
tion of the interstate highway system many decades ago and has risen only
slightly since then
1
(fi gure 2.1). Leadership from Washington is essential,
and President Obama plans to devote a large amount of federal money to
infrastructure projects, the fi rst president to do so in many decades.
Strolling down city sidewalks, we implicitly assume that we are tread-
ing on solid earth. In reality, just beneath our feet lies a vast and dark
world inhabited by thousands of miles of water mains, gas mains,
sewers, immense labyrinths of communications cables and fi ber optics,
electrical conduits, storage tanks, tunnels, abandoned subway stations,
and assorted other things.
2.50%
Federal (nondefense)
State and Local
2.00%
1.50%
1.00%
0.50%
0.00%
Figure 2.1
Government spending for public projects. (http://sharedprosperity.org/bp217.html)
