Third World America (31 page)

122
As a result, according to
CreditCards.com
: Ben Woolsey and Matt Schultz, “Credit Card Statistics, Industry Facts, Debt Statistics,” 26 Mar. 2010,
www.creditcards.com
.

123
Half of all college undergraduates
: Ibid.

124
According to FinAid, 66 percent of college graduates
: “Student Loans,” FinAid: The Smart-Student Guide to Financial Aid,
www.finaid.org
.

125
In 2008, securities backed by credit card debt
: Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “The Next Meltdown: Credit-Card Debt,” 9 Oct. 2008,
www.businessweek.com
.

126
could be the knockout blow
: “Elizabeth Warren on Credit Card ‘Tricks and Traps,’ ” interview with David Brancaccio,
NOW
, 2 Jan. 2009,
www.pbs.org
.

127
In March 2010, a FOX News poll found that 79 percent
: Dana Blanton, “Fox News Poll: 79% Say U.S. Economy Could Collapse,” 23 Mar. 2010,
www.foxnews.com
.

128
An April 2010 Gallup poll revealed
: Jeffrey M. Jones, “Americans Remain Down About Their Financial Situations,” 22 Apr. 2010,
www.gallup.com
.

129
And 21 percent of workers think
: Dennis Jacobe, “One in Five Americans Fear Job Loss in Next 12 Months,” 23 Apr. 2010,
www.gallup.com
.

130
As reported by Don Peck
: Don Peck, “How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America,” Mar. 2010,
www.theatlantic.com
.

131
Researchers at Rutgers University interviewed
: Arthur Delaney, “Long-Term Unemployment: 80 Percent of People Jobless Last Summer Still Out of Work,” 4 May 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

132
“The cushion’s completely gone”
: Ibid.

133
came word that an Oklahoma Tea Party group
: Sean Murphy and Tim Talley, “Oklahoma Tea Party Plans to Form Armed Militia,” Associated Press, 12 Apr. 2010.

134
The FBI was investigating an antigovernment extremist group
: Michael Winter, “Anti-Government Group Tells Governors to Resign or Be Removed,” 2 Apr. 2010,
www.usatoday.com
.

135
This followed the arrests of members
: Brett Michael Dykes, “Who are the Christian Militia ‘Hutaree’ and Why Was the FBI Targeting Them?” 29 Mar. 2010,
www.yahoo.com
.

136
When Tea Party members gathered for tax-day protests
: Nick Wing and Jeremy Binckes, “Tea Parties Protest Tax Day 2010,” 17 Apr. 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

137
Sarah Palin urged her supporters to “reload”
: Ron Fournier, “Sarah Palin Tells GOP ‘Don’t Retreat—Reload’ at Southern Republican Leadership Conference,” Associated Press, 9 Apr. 2010.

138
Michele Bachmann said she wants her constituents
: Rachel Weiner, “Michele Bachmann: I Want People ‘Armed and Dangerous’ over Obama Tax Plan,” 23 Mar. 2009,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

139
According to
Rage on the Right: Mark Potok,
Rage on the Right: The Year in Hate and Extremism
, Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report No. 137, Spring 2010,
www.splcenter.org
.

140
“Discontent with the present and apprehension …”
: Tim Rutten, “The Winter of America’s Discontent,” 5 Feb. 2010,
www.latimes.com
.

141
“There are times—they mark the danger point for a political system …”
: Ian Kershaw,
Hitler: A Biography
(New York: W. W. Norton, 2008), 206.

142
For example, in the 1880s, as the post–Civil War Gilded Age
: Rebecca Edwards,
Angels in the Machinery
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 111.

143
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
: John Findlay, “Industrialization, Class and Race: Chinese and Anti-Chinese Movement in the Late 19th Century Northwest,” Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington, 1998,
www.washington.edu
.

144
One newspaperman captured the mood
: Ibid.

145
Then, as now, the agitation resulted in the formation
: Richard Hofstadter,
The Age of Reform
(New York: Random House, 1955), 62.

146
Conspiracy theories were rampant
: Ibid., 70.

147
during the Great Depression, the United States
: Wendy Koch, “U.S. Urged to Apologize for 1930s Deportations,” 5 Apr. 2006,
www.usatoday.com
.

148
In 1935, for example, many shops
: Hasia R. Diner,
The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000
(Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2004), 211.

149
And, of course, the flames of bigotry
: Social Security Administration, “Social Security History: Father Charles Coughlin,”
www.ssa.gov
.

150
In 1969, Pete Hamill published
: Pete Hamill, “The Revolt of the White Lower Middle Class,”
New York
, 14 Apr. 1969, 24–29.

151
and 92 percent of Tea Partiers
: Kate Zernike and Megan Thee-Brenan, “Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated,” 14 Apr. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

152
A Harris poll in March 2010
: “ ‘Wingnuts’ and President Obama,” 24 Mar. 2010,
www.harrisinteractive.com
.

153
But then again, according to psychologist Michael Bader, paranoia
: Michael Bader, “We Need to Have Empathy for Tea Partiers,” 5 Mar. 2010,
www.psychologytoday.com
.

1
George Washington knew that
: Robert Fishman, “Beyond Motor City, 1808–1908–2008: National Planning for America,” 23 Jan. 2010,
www.america2050.org
.

2
The nation’s overall infrastructure grade
: American Society of Civil Engineers,
2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

3
downward trend since 2005
: American Society of Civil Engineers,
2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
,
www.asce.org
.

4
“It’s the kind of report card you …”
: Katherine Harmon, “U.S. Infrastructure Crumbling,” 28 Jan. 2009,
www.scientificamerican.com
.

5
According to the ASCE
: American Society of Civil Engineers,
2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

6
But we’ve only budgeted $975 billion
: Ibid.

7
America’s population is expected to reach
: Jeffrey Passel and D’Vera Cohn, “Immigration to Play Lead Role in Future U.S. Growth,” 11 Feb. 2008,
www.pewresearch.org
.

8
We invest just 2.4 percent of gross domestic product
: “The Cracks Are Showing,” 28 Jun. 2008,
www.economist.com
.

9
China is busy building the most up-to-date
: “Rushing on by Road, Rail and Air,” 14 Feb. 2008,
www.economist.com
.

10
For example, from 2006 through 2009, China spent
: Keith Bradsher, “China Sees Growth Engine in a Web of Fast Trains,” 12 Feb. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

11
World Bank officials have described as
: “Rushing on by Road, Rail and Air,” 14 Feb. 2008,
www.economist.com
.

12
And by 2020 China plans to construct
: Andrew Peaple, “China’s Infrastructure Still on Rails,” 3 Mar. 2010,
www.wsj.com
.

13
In 2009 China built over 230,000 miles
: “China’s Rural Road Length Hits 3.3 Million Kilometers; Most Villages, Towns Connected: Official,” People’s Daily Online, 22 Feb. 2010,
www.english.peopledaily.com
.

14
and announced plans to build ninety-seven airports
: “Rushing on by Road, Rail and Air,” 14 Feb. 2008,
www.economist.com
.

15
In a column headlined “Time to Reboot America”
: Thomas Friedman, “Time to Reboot America,” 23 Dec. 2008,
www.nytimes.com
.

16
Armando Carbonell, chairman of the Department of Planning
: “Are ‘Mega-Regions’ the Future of Transportation?” 29 Jun. 2008,
www.npr.org
.

17
Felix Rohatyn, author of
Bold Endeavors: Felix Rohatyn,
Bold Endeavors: How Our Government Built America, and Why It Must Rebuild Now
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 2, 3.

18
Building America’s Future (BAF)
:
www.bafuture.org/about
.

19
“deliver a message to Washington …”
: “Pa.’s Rendell Urging Fix for Bridges, Roads,” 29 Jun. 2008,
www.npr.org
.

20
“If we don’t do something quickly …”
: “The Next American Economy: Transforming Energy and Infrastructure Investment,” 3 Feb. 2010,
www.brookings.edu
.

21
According to Department of Transportation estimates
: American Society of Civil Engineers, “National Fact Sheet,” 2005,
www.asce.org
.

22
In addition, it could also produce what Rendell
: “Pa.’s Rendell Urging Fix for Bridges, Roads,” 29 Jun. 2008,
www.npr.org
.

23
As the debate over the stimulus began
: Thomas Friedman, “Time to Reboot America,” 23 Dec. 2008,
www.nytimes.com
.

24
The result was a bill Jeffrey Sachs
: Jeffrey Sachs, “A Fiscal Straitjacket,” 27 Jan. 2009,
www.ft.com
.

25
In the end, the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
: Ed O’Keefe, “Eye Opener: April 14, 2009,”
www.washingtonpost.com
.

26
“I fear that we may soon look back and say …”
: Van Jones, in conversation with the author, 2 Feb. 2009.

27
Faced with an even more devastating economic crisis
: Alan Brinkley, “Roosevelt, Franklin Delano,” Feb. 2000,
www.fdrheritage.org
.

28
Among them is Steven Solomon
: “Will the Next War Be Fought over Water?” 3 Jan. 2010,
www.npr.org
.

29
Despite the indispensable nature
: Jeanne M. VanBriesen, “The Nation’s Big Water Repair Bill,” 11 Apr. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

30
Indeed, some of the nation’s tap water
: Charles Duhigg, “Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly,” 14 Mar. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

31
As a result of leaking pipes, we lose
: American Society of Civil Engineers, “Infrastructure Report Card Fact Sheet: Drinking Water,” 2009,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

32
According to a
New York Times
analysis of data
: Charles Duhigg, “Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly,” 14 Mar. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

33
Washington, D.C., averages a water line break
: Ibid.

34
“We have about two million miles of pipe …”
: “Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure,” 19 Oct. 2009,
www.infrastructureusa.org
.

35
Even now, our tap water is becoming
: Testimony of Judy Treml, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 15 Oct. 2009,
www.transportation.house.gov
.

36
“Older systems are plagued by chronic overflows …”
: American Society of Civil Engineers, “America’s Infrastructure Report Card Fact Sheet: Wastewater,” 2009,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

37
While demand for electricity has risen
: Thomas J. Donohue, “Rebuilding America—the Time Is Now,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 10 Aug. 2007,
www.uschamber.com
.

38
Since we need all the power
: American Society of Civil Engineers, “America’s Infrastructure Report Card Fact Sheet: Energy,” 2009,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

39
These ongoing brownouts and blackouts
: U.S. Department of Energy, “Smart Grid System Report,” Jul. 2009,
www.energy.gov
.

40
The ASCE estimates that it could take
: American Society of Civil Engineers, “America’s Infrastructure Report Card Fact Sheet: Energy,” 2009,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

41
On August 14, 2003, we got a glimpse
: Allan J. DeBlasio et al., “Learning from the 2003 Blackout,” U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Sep./Oct. 2004,
www.tfhrc.gov
.

42
What happened? Power lines, heavy from
: “U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force: Final Report on the August 14th Blackout in the United States and Canada,” 61, 93,
www.energy.gov
.

43
America’s roads are also in miserable shape
: American Society of Civil Engineers, “America’s Infrastructure Report Card: Roads,” 2009,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

44
From 1980 to 2005, the miles traveled by cars
: Ibid.

45
Americans spend 4.2 billion hours a year
: Ibid.

46
City drivers have it particularly bad
: Ted R. Miller and Eduard Zaloshnja, “On a Crash Course: The Dangers and Health Costs of Deficient Roadways,” Apr. 2009,
www.pire.org
.

47
Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) determined
: Ibid.