In this week's Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and Charles Hugh Smith discuss:
- The War Within The Deep State
- Which regime will triumph?
- Our Crumbling National Infrastructure
- Can the American empire still afford itself?
- How The Oroville Dam Is An Omen
- Systemic collapse always surprised with its swiftness
- The Wrong Mindset
- Our leaders aren't incented to care about preserving what we have
In the wake of the near-crisis at California's Oroville dam, Chris and Charles shine a bright spotlight on the cracks and disrepair found in our nation's aging infrastructure. Not only were much of the public works that created our highways, railways, waterways, bridges, etc constructed over 60 years ago, much their maintenance has been neglected as politicians redirected funds to shinier projects more likely to get them re-elected.
As Charles laments, this dangerous mindset is responsible for our sorry state where we can hardly afford to repair what we have, let alone advance the integrity and capabilities of our public transport systems:
If you are a politician in the US, you've had an expanding pie for 70 years. We have had more energy and we have had more growth and more credit and more debt and more government revenues to spend.
In that environment, you've won re-election by overpromising, right? Increasing benefits, new entitlements and lower taxes.
by pauljam 
