Following this previous dispatch on why boring old “infrastructure” is what distinguishes a successful country from a failing one:
1) A chart showing changes in U.S. infrastructure investment. Ignore the details for the moment and look at the trend.
Fallows posts this chart, showing the expenditures on infrastructure in the US. Notice the downward trend.
This is spending on roads, bridges, pipelines… and when spending is down, those items tend to wear out.
Remember the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota a few years back? Lack of INFRASTRUCTURE spending, people!
