Wall Street Journal Opinion Page, October 21, 2010
Monday, October 25th, 2010Public Works Compete With Other Beneficial Goals
Dear Sir,
Your very compelling editorial (October 15, 2010-“Liberalism and Public Works”) does not touch on several other reasons that “shovel ready jobs” are never as beneficial as liberals would purport them to be: the present value of money and Davis Bacon work rules.
In Cincinnati the I-75 bridge over the Ohio River is in desperate shape and is a priority for replacement. If the funding were in hand, and it is not, best estimates are that construction would commence in 2015. Required permitting and studies, lawsuits, environmental regulations and community activists all conspire to delay projects such as this needed bridge, while still running up attendant bureaucratic costs for years. This is a principal reason why public works projects ALWAYS are plodding to get started, come in late and over budget. Who knows what materials and equipment will cost five and more years into the future. Certainly more than they do today!
The Depression era Davis Bacon work rules, so adored by the left, insure that the taxpayer does not get the best possible job completed at the fairest price. Union wages and work rules hinder the ability of project administrators to consider all labor options when budgeting public works and inflates costs beyond what local conditions often would bear.
President Obama famously said this week what those of us who live in the entrepreneurial private sector have always known; “There are no shovel ready jobs”. The misguided stimulus was like crack for addicts to state, county, city and township politicians. They uniformly chirped, “give us the money, we have plenty of shovel ready projects”. Some seemed to be screaming that their projects were so shovel ready that they had invented the shovel. Just “give us the money”.
Until the public recognizes and demands that politicians streamline regulatory road blocks, use modern private business efficiencies and allow private enterprise to construct and maintain public projects the most productive country in the history of the world will exist in a self-imposed figure four leglock. In the 19th century James Hill built the Northern Railroad, 1800 miles, dozens of bridges and tunnels, through the inhospitable Rocky Mountains in four years, on time and under budget using private funds. Today we can’t build a simple highway exchange on time or close to budget.
Geoff Ficke
8459-F US 42 Suite 243
Florence, KY 41042
859-567-1609 (off)
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www.duquesamarketing.com
