Running out of patience (and money)

"Donald Trump has hit a nerve with many of us. Things which need to get done, he wants to do. Infrastructure for starters." 

High on my list of faults is my lack of patience. When things don't happen as fast as they should, I get frustrated. Sometimes I even get angry. When it is my fault that things don't happen fast enough, I can usually fix it. However, when it is the fault of those whom we elect, that is where my frustration really starts to peak. I think this election year, many felt that same frustration. Consequently, we collectively "threw many of the bums out."

Donald Trump has hit a nerve with many of us. Things which need to get done, he wants to do. Infrastructure for starters. There are few things which frustrate me more than the lack of effort we have put into this major problem. 

Electrical Grid - In my opinion, this is the element of our infrastructure which needs fixing the fastest. And it is going to be a big ouch (financially). Our current grid is a mess. It has been referred to as the most complicated machine on Earth. We are lagging way behind the Europeans in "smart technology" on our grid. Plus, our grid must also be hardened to withstand natural or man-made EMP events.

How much will it cost? Buckle up for this one. Back in 2009 during the Porkulus Bill (Stimulus Package) which did NOTHING, it was estimated to harden our grid it would cost about 1/3 trillion dollars. Since the Porkulus Bill was close to a trillion dollars, we could have done it then. But we did not.

Today, it is estimated by some engineers to make our grid both robust and "smart" (like the Euro grid), it will cost upwards of 2T by the year 2030. As important as this is, and with as many jobs as this will create, the question still remains - where will the money come from? Another Porkulus Bill, even bigger than the last? Our national debt cannot handle it.

The Others - Most structural engineers look at the entire scope of the rest of our infrastructure and hit the alarm bell. All in all, it is a mess. Years, decades, of neglect. Now it is time to pay the piper or really have some big problems. What am I talking about? Roads, bridges, ports, pipelines, water treatment, sewer treatment and so on.

In 2015 the magazine Wired penned an article on this subject. After doing some research, they estimated to really bring our aging infrastructure up to snuff by 2020, it would cost a jaw dropping $3.6T! Once again, where in the world would that money come from? Well, part of it could have come the portion of the Porkulus Bill which was not used to harden the grid. But it did not.

Here is where we come to the intersection of patience and money.
Fact One: If these estimates are correct, we will need over $5T in the next ten to fifteen years to upgrade everything in our infrastructure which needs it.
Fact Two: Our national debt is approaching $20T and cannot take much more without wrecking our economy.
Fact Three: There is no doubt that tens maybe hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be created to make these upgrades happen. That is a good thing.
Fact Four: President Elect Trump is correct. We have let this slide way too long. We are out of time.

There are other things which contribute to my "running out of patience" list which I will address in the near future (like NASA). Today, it was just a quick brush of infrastructure. Anybody want to be President and try to figure this one out? Not me.