Next budget buster - infrastructure

"This is just some of it - not all of it. How much more will be addressed in Pelosi's bill? Unknown. The thing I fear the most is it will be fraught with 'greenie' things, which will not do much to fix our near term problems."

If you thought the last stimulus bill was a 600 pound pile of goo, just wait. Pelosi's Congress could be working on the "Mother of all bills" right now. One which could be eye popping large, and have no end in sight. Yes, infrastructure. A bill which has often been talked about in the past decade(s), but never really done. And just like home or car maintenance, the longer you wait to fix or repair, the more expensive things get.

Just for grins, let's look at some items which could or should be in that bill:

• Electric Grid - this is one which SHOULD be in the bill, but odds are, it will not be. But boy, oh boy, we need it! According to the National Academy of Engineering, the cost to fix the items which need fixing the most in our fragile grid, would cost between 1.5 and 2.0 trillion dollars. To scrap the entire thing and replace it with all new and efficient equipment, would be 5 trillion dollars. Of ALL the things in the infrastructure which needs to be addressed, this is number one by a country mile.
• Bridges and Highways - Remember when the 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis? That started a boat load of discussions on how ancient and decrepit our nation's bridges were. Like, many of them are graded poorly by county, state and federal engineers. The grades on many of our bridges are out and out scary. In fact, one out of four are listed as deficient, or not suited to carry the vehicle traffic which travel on them. To fix the roads and bridges which really need it, it would cost close to a trillion dollars (according to the United States Department of Transportation). And that might be low.
• Broadband - Compared to the other items, this one is cheap (if you call the price tag cheap). The Federal Communications Commission estimates to wire the entire nation with universal broadband would cost $350 billion dollars. That is a whole lot of money to pay young people to game, and troll social media. 
• Pipelines - Let's talk water first. Our nation has over 2 million miles of underground water pipelines. Much of it is aging and in need of repair or replacement. In fact, there is a water main break every 2 minutes in our country, resulting in the loss of 6 billion gallons of treated water. BTW - don't forget Flint, Michigan. That is not the only city which has lead and/or arsenic to deal with. How much to fix everything? Lots.
• Sewerage -  This is also a mess waiting to happen. The EPA estimates that to fix the sewerage systems in 30 large metro areas, it would cost close to $30B. How much to fix the entire nation's sewerage system? Lots.

This is just some of it - not all of it. How much more will be addressed in Pelosi's bill? Unknown. The thing I fear the most is it will be fraught with "greenie" things, which will not do much to fix our near term problems.

Stay tuned on this one folks. Ms. Nancy said this will be rolling down the tracks very soon. Speaking of tracks and what needs to be upgraded or fixed...