Your Tax Money at Work

Being employed in the industry of heavy highway construction, I'm all too familiar with the myriad shortcomings of our infrastructure. Prices are inordinantly high for various reasons:

1. The state has a very short list of approved vendors & products. Some categories have only one or two to choose from. The vendors know that they have little or no competition so the sky is the limit when they set their prices.

2. Manufacturers & contractors are held to archaic standards while being subject to a degree of bureaucratic bullshit unimaginable to those in the private sector. So there's a huge premium tacked on to cover wasted time, unnecessary paperwork & other delays.

These companies jump through hoops every single day, buy more expensive materials than necessary & are constantly updating certification with various independent trade organizations -- which is extremely expensive & for the most part unnecessary yet it's the cost of doing business in this industry, thus driving up prices.

3. On the state level, inspection & oversight are subcontracted to private companies who offer little to none of the experience & accountability required of the approved manufacturers & contractors. Their level of incompetence causes delays, work stoppages, rejection of perfectly good products & all kinds of other problems that increase the cost of doing business, thus driving up prices.

* As a sidebar, I'd like to point out that these incompetent boobs don't have to have the same level of eductaion, knowledge or experience as those they oversee. However, they are required to have various certifications from independent trade organizations, which merely supports my claim of the relative uselessness of such certifications.

4. The red-tape of our state government is so thick that in many cases premiums barely cover the unnecessary costs that come out of heavy highway work. There's not a big profit margin so it's common to lose money in this industry. This drives many good manufacturers, vendors & contractors out of the sector altogether. Any reduction in the list of approved sources puts the remaining sources that much closer to a monopoly or oligopoly, thus driving up prices. It also clears the way for unscrupulous types to make out like bandits at the taxpayers' expense.

I could go on forever, but these are the main points. Pennsylvanians are all too familiar with our expansive & expensive state legislature -- much larger than it needs to be and about as useful as grandma on moving day.

What many people don't realize is that our infrastructure is being run in exactly the same way. Hundreds of unnecessary salaries, benefits & pensions are being paid every day. Those on the generous state payroll do little (if anything) to earn their keep while additional tax dollars are paid out to consultants.

After all of these superfluous "costs" are taken care of, whatever is left is the true budget for our infrastructure. And it's sorely lacking.

We use inefficient, outdated methods & materials, so the final products have a shorter lifespan & require constant rehabilitation. It would make sense to use the best, most efficient & effective methods initially, thereby saving money in the long run with less extensive & less frequent rehab of existing roads & bridges. But we don't do it that way.

Next time you follow a construction detour, get an alignment because of all the potholes on your commute, cross your fingers before crossing a bridge or drive through miles of construction zone where no work is being done, remember all of this.

While you're sitting in traffic on an insufficient road, look at your pay stub & think about just how much of your hard earned money the great state of Pennsylvania steals from you without giving anything in return. Think of the bureaucrats driving leased cars with gas cards & eating free catered meals while pocketing per diems. Remember that they have the best health benefits, free to them for life. And a pension that most can't even dream of. And then realize that even when they're convicted of a felony, they won't lose any of that if they resign before they're convicted.

You're paying for all of it. We all are. Why are Pennsylvanians taking this lying down? Why aren't we DOING something about this, any of this? If this were any type of private industry, these companies would be out of business. They couldn't survive in a free market. So why do we let this continue?

Instead of accountability, instead of sticking to a budget, instead of putting the needs of the taxpayers first, those in state government gets theirs first. Whatever is left over then gets spent on the people. If it's not enough, that's just too bad. Right Millvale? There's just not enough money to dredge the whole creek so we'll dredge part of it, alleviating the suffering of some people while simultaneously worsening the situation of others further down the creek.

Heaven forbid we cut some perks & unnecessary expenses in government to use those funds for something useful. Why not just raise taxes to fund the necessary projects?

Our state motto should be "Inefficiency - so far it's been working out ok for us".