http://www.californiadroughtupdate.org/pdf/20180510-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
Since the election of Donald Trump in November, 2016, there has been a great deal of discussion concerning rebuilding American infrastructure. Much of it is incompetent. All of it is inadequate. What are being put forward are limited, small approaches, very few of which will have a dramatic effect on increasing national productivity, and the sum total of what is being proposed utterly fails to address the urgent national requirements 50 to 100 years into the future. Everyone is thinking too small. Additionally, the projects and proposals being bandied about—were they all built—will have a negligible impact on reducing the poverty which is destroying the lives of tens of millions.
American Poverty and Its Solution (See “Feature” for Part II)
A Note To Readers
The “Feature” this week is Part II of the extended excerpts from the EIR article, “American Poverty and Its Solution.” Part II focuses on solutions. And as Part I stated, just the fact that virtually no one thinks poverty in the nation can be eliminated, despite the demonstration by China on how to do that, is worse than a tragedy, it is a crime.
Part II provides the pathway for not only a real economic development policy, but the only one on the table that can eliminate poverty. It focuses on the comprehensive policy that is presented in the newly issued LaRouche PAC pamphlet, “CAMPAIGN TO WIN THE FUTURE– A NEW PARADIGM FOR MANKIND; LAROUCHE’S FOUR LAWS FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY.”
http://media.larouchepac.com/larouche/documents/20180503-LPAC-2018-Campaign-web.pdf
Here in California, the state with not only the highest poverty rate in the nation, but a state in which we cannot avoid seeing that poverty every day as we step over the homeless sleeping on the sidewalk.
Now, almost four years after Proposition 1 was passed by voters to “build more water storage,” the commission established to pick the projects to fund is finally doing so. And the projects on the short list to be funded, while each one is necessary, demonstrate just how small the thinking of both the political class and the water management teams have become.
That shall be illustrated in the appropriate sections of the following report.
But first, a few more words on my theme. It is not only that we no longer think big, as did Abraham Lincoln in initiating the Transcontinental Railroad in the midst of the Civil War, or Franklin Roosevelt’s Tennessee Valley Project, the Central Valley Project, the Grand Coulee Dam and much more, or President John Kennedy’s Apollo Project. But, we have come to accept, not only that more than 60 percent of our fellow citizens are so poor that they do not have even $500 in the bank for an emergency, like a simple car repair. That is what must change, and change now. Perhaps President Trump’s example of saying the truth, when that truth has been denied for so long will help others to step up and do the same. Show me one other politician who has said, as Trump has said repeatedly: “We wasted $7 trillion on useless wars in the Middle-east.” But, make sure that what is said is the truth! And the first criteria is to put forth the policy required by the nation, no matter how much Wall Street objects! No matter how much idiot ideologues of the Republican Party object! No matter how much irrational environmentalists of the Democratic Party object!
Maybe to make this more sensuous these figures should be studied and thought about:
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 12.7 percent of the American people—or 43.1 million people—live below the official poverty line. Forty-three million– more than the entire population of this state!
The U.S. government defines poverty as a yearly income of less than $12,060 for an individual, $16,240 for a couple, and $24,600 for a family of four. With rent in Oakland at $3,000 for two bedrooms!
The Census Bureau has a sub-category called “deep poverty,” which means a household income below 50 percent of the poverty threshold, i.e., less than $12,300 for a family of four. According to the Census Bureau, in 2017 18.5 million people reported deep poverty.
During the last five years, more than half of all the new jobs created in America were low-wage jobs, either at the minimum wage or slightly higher. According to the National Employment Law Project, 42.4 percent of American workers currently make less than $15 an hour. And those 42.4 percent also support millions of children and other non-working household members. The vast majority of the jobs held by these individuals are in the realm of unskilled and semi-skilled labor. The American workforce and American culture has been decimated.
In this week’s report:
The drought news this week focuses on the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people in multiple states.
Our Oroville Dam Update includes a construction report from the Department of Water Resources and an alarming, for the state, report that FEMA may not cover 75% of the near $1 billion repair costs that everyone assumed they would.
The Delta Tunnels project secured another water district’s funding this week. But the major item I include is an extensive background report.
And Proposition 1 funding for water storage projects actually chose winners and losers this past week. Many people are very unhappy.
