Friday, February 6, 2015

How the Decline Hit's Home





Missouri has been pretty lucky this Winter. Only a couple of cold snaps that didn't last more than a night or two, no real big snow storms and some pretty frequent warmer spells so far. Gas prices that finally hit reasonable again and lower than normal feed prices to boot.

All the while though we been hearing nothing but crying, screaming and bellyaching from MoDot. The Missouri Department of Transportation which lost it's Hail Mary bid to get a ridiculous State-wide sales tax approved so they could continue their cash cow on the taxpayer dime.

Ominous warnings about MoDot's next budget and how it was going to have to abandon most of the roads within the state have been going around ever since the November vote. 

MoDot budget vote causes changes in Missouri Roads

The plan is called the "325 system" because the budget will drop to $325 million. MoDOT will now have to use its limited funds on just 8,000 miles of Missouri's 34,000 mile highway system.

Notice nothing is mentioned about reduction in employees, equipment, pensions, bonuses, double dipping positions, million dollar toys, paid holidays or any of that kind of stuff. NO what will be abandoned is just the work they are paid to do.

My bet is there are a number of directors and department heads sitting around some meeting in Jefferson City.... Wait no in Columbia because they always like to have their meetings in Columbia as far away from the central offices as possible... Complaining about the fact that there hasn't been a major snow storm this Winter to get their point and threats across.

This is a small example of how public departments and government employees everywhere are going to attempt to hold the people hostage as things continue to decline. You either pay up or we are going to stop services no cuts will be coming in salary, benefits or positions though. Seems to me if the DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION is ignoring almost 3/4's of it's roads then it doesn't need 3/4's of it's employees now does it?

As I have pointed out this is the stage of the collapse where the public is attacked, held hostage and extorted as the beast madly thrashes around refusing to die but trying to take as many of us with it as it can. Even that minimal snow we received the other night was not even touched on most of the highways. Next will come law enforcement and fire departments, street lights, well the list and timing will be different depending on location what all will have in common is big governments attempt to place any and all pain onto the private citizen not on itself.

The most dangerous time of this long slow collapse and decline is now. This is where entire savings will be eaten away by fines, fees and unforeseen emergencies. Loss of economic activity, harsher laws designed to transfer private wealth to public coffers etc.

Remember however the longer we hold out the weaker the beast becomes. Starve them, starve them all and perhaps we can survive this next level of decline.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


12 comments:

  1. Boy, you are spot on. Around here, fixing a few pot holes in a county road takes 2 guys actually working and 3 guys standing around watching them and six trucks with lights flashing. Featherbedding is alive and well in rural Oregon, too.

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    1. Tewshooz - Despite MoDot's reduced work load and lack of snow removal I still managed to see two MoDot trucks on the highway taking the sheep to market. Not plow trucks mind you just big pickups sitting along side the road with guys inside watching the lord only knows what. They still have plenty of time and money to do nothing.

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  2. Maybe they can cut back on their way-cool diverging diamond intersections and roundabouts at every low-traffic four-way and put down some decent pavement instead. There is one road in particular that I have been riding or driving over for sixty years. Twenty or twenty-five years ago, it was in great shape. Now, it's deteriorated to the point where it is legitimately dangerous because of the holes and loose surface material.

    The waitresses in Columbia are cuter, usually, than the ones in Jeff.

    Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians, as they used to say. And they weren't talking KC versus Cleveland, either.

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    1. mushroom - My personal favorite aside from the itty bitty traffic circles of doom are the miles and miles of cable fence they put along the highways now. They run like three crews for every 20 miles of this fence fixing em after one weekend of drunks running off the road and they really don't save anything from damage or lives for that matter. Just a high maintenance money sink.

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  3. Here in our county, from what I have seen, instead of resurfacing miles after miles of highways, they only do the sections that need to be repaired. I have seen this on some state roads too. After being behind in reconstruction of the metro freeways, they are doing some redesigning and widening about 20 to 25 years after it was needed. All of our inter city freeways where built in the 1960's over 55 years ago.

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    1. Rob - Even some of the concrete slab roads are showing some wear now. Wonder where they are gonna get the money for all the infrastructure repairs and pay all these pensions and salaries.

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  4. It is safe to say that we are in collapse, it isn't something that will happen it is happening.

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    1. +1 when Obama took office, a little before, but down hill ever since.

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    2. Sf - Yes we have been in one for years now. Just so slow and mostly at the edges most people don't notice. I think things are going to start hitting home for more people this year though.

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  5. Preppy, happens here too. Local government is happy to work on revenue generating (for themselves) activities but less so on things like roads that would benefit all (instead of toll roads). Local county official on the radio yesterday discussing business versus commercial tasks stated they needed to get everyone to "understand fairness of the system". Even in my liberal neck of the woods, I think a breaking point is starting to be reached.

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  6. I've hesitated to comment before but I have to know. The other day you mentioned Hannibal and today you mentioned Columbia. I have not been reading you long enough to know if you have shared your exact location (I usually pop over from Patrice's site) but I just want to say its nice to see someone from my old neck of the woods. I lived in Hannibal and moberly but was in Columbia often seeing how that was were my husband and I went on dates. It is a beautiful area that I miss, mostly the seasons though. I'm a Texan now though. As much as I miss the Midwest, I could never leave Texas.

    Ouida Gabriel

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