Engineers: $3.3 trillion needed over 10 yrs. to fix USA

The American Society of Civil Engineers just released a report claiming our country needs an investment of $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years to ensure sound infrastructure nationwide. At the current funding rate, the group found that an investment gap on projects, from highways to waterways, will grow to more than $5 trillion by 2040. $5 trillion. “If we want our economy to thrive then we need to invest in its backbone. Instead we’ve allowed it to live on borrowed time and are paying the price of its inefficiencies every day,” said Greg DiLoreto, chairman of the group’s Committee for America’s Infrastructure.

We need to take care of Flint, Michigan, not the Middle East. We need to take care of our own infrastructure here in the U.S.

We clearly have problems in our own backyard. Why do we worry about solving everybody else's problems throughout the world? Since when did we take on that role?

If we pullout of the Middle East wars, we will have the sources to take care of our people at home. It’s that simple. But as long as we keep throwing money down the Middle Eastern sewer pipe, then we're going to bankrupt our own country.

Please don’t take what I say lightly either. When I say “bankrupt,” I don't mean financially, but continuing our wars abroad will break our way of living in America to the point where we’re going to have nothing but a mess. We'll be a third-world nation if we continue on the path to war. There's a quote from me. We'll have no resources to take care of our people. I believe it.

Donald Trump still seems more eager to me than other candidates to spend money on our defense budget. I think this is absurd. I don’t like hearing candidates say that our military’s inadequate. I take that as an insult. Our military’s as good as it’s ever been. To sit there and indicate otherwise -- and to advocate for more money, more troops, more arms -- is wrong. And this what Trump advocates. More defense spending, because our troops aren’t prepared. I say bullcrap. Our troops are prepared. They’re ready. They ought to be: they’ve been fighting the equivalent of the Vietnam War for 15 years.

Bernie Sanders is the only one from both mainstream parties who opposes the wars. The rest are all for it. They just want to go about it in different ways. But they see that our involvement over there as necessary.

I'm not for our involvement there. I say we get out. Leave them unto themselves. It's a shame all the problems we've caused stemming from our invasion of Iraq.

Had we not invaded Iraq, I believe the Middle East would not be in the turmoil it’s in today. I might be wrong, but we’ll never know now, will we? Cause we done and did it anyway.

-Jesse Ventura

WANT MORE? SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE #OFFTHEGRID UPDATES

Interested in receiving #OffTheGrid show updates, advance sneak peeks, giveaways & more awesome in-the-know info about the show? Click here to subscribe to our regular e-updates.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.