從美國的經濟實力來看，美國現有國民生產總值(GDP)不足十五萬億美元，按美國GDP平均每年增長3%計算，美國每年的GDP增長額約5000億美元。而美國的負債高達十四萬億，其淨資產實際不足一萬億美元，對美國國債按5%的利率計算，美國每年要支付的債務利息高達6000億美元。應該說，美國的經濟不過是一個空中樓閣，不過是一個巨大的泡沫，稍有不慎，就會爆發債務危機，美國經濟就會“忽呲呲似大廈將傾，昏慘慘似燈將滅”，頃刻間會土崩瓦解。從美國的財政狀況來看，美國每年的財政收入約為2.8萬億美元，其每年的財政支出約為3萬億美元，截止目前，美國的累計財政赤字高達1.5萬億美元。在美國的財政支出中，僅軍費開支就高達6000多億美元。隨著美國的潛在敵人(中國、俄羅斯等國)經濟軍事實力的不斷增強，美國要繼續維持其在世界各地的霸權地位，就必須不斷擴大增加其軍費支出，在經濟一蹶不振、沒有增長的情況下，美國卻要不斷做大其財政規模，勢必吞噬美國經濟，遲滯美國經濟，直至拖垮美國經濟。看看世界各國的債務時鍾：http://www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html20 Facts That You Will Not Want To Read If You Still Want To Feel Good About America’s Decaying InfrastructureIf you haven\'t noticed lately, America is literally falling apart all around us. Decaying infrastructure is everywhere. Our roads and bridges are crumbling and are full of holes. Our rail system is ancient. Our airports and runways have definitely seen their better days. Aging sewer systems all over the country are leaking raw sewage all over the place. The power grid is straining to keep up with the ever-increasing thirst of the American people for electricity. Dams are failing at an unprecedented rate. Virtually all of our ports are handling far more traffic than they were ever intended to handle. Meanwhile, our national spending on infrastructure is way down. Back during the 1950s and 1960s we were spending between 3 and 4 percent of our national GDP on infrastructure, but today we are spending less than 2.5 percent of our national GDP on it. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, we need to spend approximately $2.2 trillion on infrastructure repairs and upgrades just to bring our existing infrastructure up to good condition.Does anyone have an extra $2.2 trillion to spare?If you get the feeling that America is decaying as you drive around this great country of ours, it is not just your imagination. It is literally happening.You should not read the list of facts below if you want to keep feeling good about the condition of America\'s infrastructure. There really is no way to sugar-coat what is happening. Previous generations handed us the greatest national infrastructure that anyone in the world has ever seen and we have neglected it and have allowed it to badly deteriorate.This first set of facts about America\'s decaying infrastructure was compiled from a fact sheet entitled The Case For U.S. Infrastructure Investment by an organization called Building America\'s Future....*****#1 One-third of America\'s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.#2 Traffic on more than half the miles of interstate highway exceeds 70 percent of capacity, and nearly 25 percent of the miles are strained at more than 95 percent of capacity.#3 Americans waste 4.2 billion hours and 2.8 billion gallons fuel a year sitting in traffic – equal to nearly one full work week and three weeks’ worth of gas for every traveler.#4 Over the next 30 years, our nation is expected to grow by 100 million and highway traffic will double again. Even if highway capacity grows no faster than in the last 25 years, Americans can expect to spend 160 hours – 4 work weeks – each year in traffic by 2035.#5 Nearly a third of all highway fatalities are due to substandard road conditions, obsolete road designs, or roadside hazards.#6 Over 4,095 dams are unsafe and have deficiencies that leave them more susceptible to failure, especially during large flood events or earthquakes.#7 Rolling blackouts and inefficiencies in the U.S. electrical grid cost an estimated $80 billion a year.#8 By 2020, every major U.S. container port is projected to at least double the volume of cargo it was designed to handle. Some East Coast ports will triple in volume, and some West Coast ports will quadruple.#9 Other countries are leapfrogging past us by investing in world-class ports. China is investing $6.9 billion; the port of Shanghai now has almost as much container capacity as all U.S. ports combined.#10 By 2020, China plans to build 55,000 miles of highways, more than the total length of the U.S. interstate system.*****The rest of these facts were compiled from various sources around the Internet. The more research that you do into America\'s decaying infrastructure the more depressing it becomes....#11 According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 25 percent of America\'s nearly 600,000 bridges need significant repairs or are burdened with more traffic than they were designed to carry.#12 More than a third of all dam failures or near failures since 1874 have happened in just the last decade.#13 All across the United States, conditions at many state parks, recreation areas and historic sites are deplorable at best. Some states have backlogs of repair projects that are now over a billion dollars long. The following is a quote from a recent MSNBC article about these project backlogs.... More than a dozen states estimate that their backlogs are at least $100 million. Massachusetts and New York\'s are at least $1 billion. Hawaii officials called park conditions deplorable in a December report asking for $50 million per year for five years to tackle a $240 million backlog that covers parks, trails and harbors.#14 Over the past year, approximately 100 of New York\'s state parks and historic sites have had to cut services and reduce hours.#15 All over America, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel because it is cheaper to maintain. The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt road into gravel over the past year, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have transformed at least some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.So why don\'t our state and local governments just spend the money necessary to fix all of these problems?Well, they can\'t spend the money because they are flat broke.Just consider some of the financial problems that state and local governments around the nation are facing right now....#16 One town in Michigan is so incredibly broke that it is literally begging the state to allow them to declare bankruptcy.#17 One Alabama town is in such financial turmoil that it has decided to simply quit paying pension benefits.#18 In Georgia, the county of Clayton recently eliminated its entire public bus system in order to save 8 million dollars.#19 Major cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Sacramento are so desperate to save money that they have instituted rolling brownouts in which various city fire stations are shut down on a rotating basis throughout the week.#20 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a unique way to save money. He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.The truth is that there are dozens of cities across the United States that are on the brink of bankruptcy. To see a bunch of high profile examples of this, check out the following article from Business Insider: 16 US Cities Facing Bankruptcy If They Don\'t Make Deep Cuts In 2011.But it just isn\'t local governments that are in deep trouble right now. In fact, there are quite a few state governments that are complete and total financial disaster zones at this point.
