[pct-l] Pct-L Digest, Vol 73, Issue 32

[Brick Robbins]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 8:45 PM, Diarmaid Harmon
<irishharmon at comcast.net> wrote:
> And a bridge over the Colombia river is 4.6 billion About the same as an aircraft carrier... I don't think you can throw the entire problem at the corporations. The government wants their cut too.

I assume you are talking about the Columbia River Crossing bridge.
That was cancelled by the Washington half of the project. What Oregon
will do is uncertain, but they certainly won't spend anywhere hear
4.6B

That bridge would have been built by contractors (read corporations)
just like an aircraft carrier. The contracts, whether civil or
military are often awarded as a result of intense lobbying by the
corporations, which I think amounts to legal bribery, and as a result,
end up being taxpayer funded hand outs to the stockholders, or in
other words, welfare for people wealthy enough to own stock.

If you read my post you will see that my point is the collusion
between the corporations and the government.  If you want to blame
only the government half, that is your prerogative, but I feel
strongly that both are to blame, and after Citizens United, things
will only continue to get worse.

The fact that this is legal, and the politicians that are bought are
from both sides of the aisle makes this not a Left or a Right issue.
It is a citizens issue.

What will happen to our natural places, like the PCT and our
wilderness areas, if they are faced with this sort of lobbying
pressure to violate them? I shudder to think.

That sort of funding, whether a bridge or and military asset is much
easier to get than money to pay people swinging hand tools.