Our infrastructure needs help

Re “ ‘Structurally deficient’ for 17 years,” Aug. 3

Who will stand up in Congress and say that for what we have wasted in Iraq, we could have rebuilt every bridge, school and highway in the United States, providing real security and jobs to every American and a new infrastructure for the next several generations? What a colossal waste of life and resources.

Abraham Entin

Granada Hills

Wouldn’t it be nice if we spent the money to maintain bridges before they collapse, instead of saying we will pay to have them rebuilt and pray for those who were killed through our gross negligence?

Hans Grellmann

Palos Verdes Estates

When President Bush says, “We are fighting the terrorists over there, so we don’t have to fight them here,” what he really means is that we are spending our money over there, so we don’t have any left to spend here.

Edward Held

Woodland Hills

Often I wish the letters to The Times weren’t so predictable. The collapse of the Minneapolis bridge was, of course, the result of a lack of funds allocated to bridge inspection, some of which were absconded with by the Bush administration for its evil purposes. So it goes. Meanwhile, no one noticed that the inspectors annually decided that the bridge was safe.

No amount of additional funds would have changed that unless bonuses could have been paid with them for finding the bridge unsafe. This would only be fair, considering the monstrous additional paperwork.

H.R. Richner

Costa Mesa

Every time such a disaster occurs, insurance companies must lose money.

Why don’t they get together and pool their lobbying money and push the government to remedy the ailing bridges, roads, tunnels, dams and so on? Wouldn’t that save money in the long run and free up those dollars for useful things such as private jets for the chief executives and third or fourth vacation homes for their chief financial officers?

June Chase

Los Angeles