There is a sidewalk in the area where I live and work. It is well used if you consider that most folks will drive a ¼ mile rather than walk. I frequently walk the 2/3 of a mile to work on this urban path. The sidewalk is in disrepair. Some slabs have moved creating uneven surfaces between them. Parts of the sidewalk are crumbling. Generally it is in need of repair or replacement.
Instead of either option the city has sprayed areas that could be problematic to walkers with red paint. This I suppose is to alert you to the potential danger. It more or less works in the daylight hours. Nighttime is another matter. Of course, uneven sidewalks are the lesser of the dangers in this particular neighborhood. I live where I live for the convenient nearness to my employment, but sometimes I wonder. But I ramble.
The crumbling sidewalk is a good analogy for the general state of our infrastructure in the good old US of A. We are not tending to basic maintenance. We are pushing projects off to some future time. We have this obsession with “No taxes”. Well guess what, it takes money to run a society, to run a country. As a single person making a better than average income, I pay a goodly amount in taxes. The only tax that really galls me is sales tax, probably because it is so regressive. I see high sales taxes as politicians failing to institute a fair tax system.
I for one would like to see some more taxes, but on those who have managed to avoid most of them thanks to our politicians. It is time we taxed those who can really afford before our country totally degenerates into a third world nation covered with red paint.
