Want to reboot the economy? Build some new roads! The American Society of Civil Engineers released a new report yesterday showing our economy will lose $3 trillion over the next decade thanks to the poor condition of our national infrastructure. As the report says, “If the nation’s infrastructure were free of deficient conditions in pavement, bridges, transit vehicles, and track and transit facilities, Americans would earn more personal income and industry would be more productive.”

That means more revenue into the government – which means lower deficits. So not only would we be stimulating the economy with a new national infrastructure project – but we’d also be addressing our debt. And this isn’t a new idea – it’s exactly what Democratic and Republican presidents did after World War 2 when our national debt was even higher – Eisenhower built the interstate highway system and expanded what is now Amtrak.

It’s a no-brainer solution – unfortunately Eisenhower Republicans don’t exist anymore.

-Thom

(What is the deteriorating infrastructure costing you? Tell us here.)

The Daily Stack

Quote: "Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society." -- Thomas Jefferson.

Article: "Dan Savage Threatens to Re-Define Rick Santorum's First Name, Too" by Chris Rovzar.

Article: "Teabagger Rep. Joe Walsh sued for unpaid child support" by Bush Bites.

Article: "Revised Boehner Budget Bill Would Cut $915 Billion, CBO Says" by Brian Faler.

Site: "DeFazio for Congress".

Article: "John McCain calls Tea Party pols 'hobbits' in fiery Senate speech about Boehner's debt-ceiling deal" by Aliyah Shahid.

Book: "The Fourth Turning" by William Strauss, Neil Howe.

Article: "Deteriorating Transportation Infrastructure Could Cost America $3.1 Trillion" by Matt Sledge.

Article: "GE moving X-ray business to China. What message is sent to U.S.?" by Jack Cafferty.

Article: "Schumer Blasts House GOP For Using Violent Movie Clip To Rally GOP Caucus" by Judd Legum.

Article: "Palin: American capitalism is ‘foreign to our president’" by David Edwards.

Article: "Boehner spending day whipping votes for his plan to raise debt limit" by Jed Lewison.

Hour Two: After Right-Wing Pressure, DHS Now Has ‘Just One Person’ Dealing With Domestic Terrorism Mark Williams, Former Chair-Tea Party Express

Book: "Taking Back America One Tea Party At A Time" by Mark Williams.

Article: "Planned Parenthood Bombed Despite Lack of Abortion Provision" by Amanda Marcotte.

Article: "DHS Now Has ‘Just One Person’ Dealing With Domestic Terrorism" by Ben Armbruster.

Video: "John McCain Defends Tea Party, “Hobbits” Remark" by Sean Hannity.

Evidence GOP hacked/stole 2004 election Professor Bob Fitrakis, Columbus State Community College

Article: "Howard Dean Guest-hosts Topic [A] With Tina Brown", August 8, 2004 (Bev Harris shows him how to hack a voting machine).

Book: "Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election?" by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman.

Article: "New court filing reveals how the 2004 Ohio presidential election was hacked" by Bob Fitrakis.

Cheesy news alert: "China Puts US on eBay" by Andy Borowitz.

Site: "Unitarian Universalist Refugee and Immigrant Services and Education".

Talk Radio News Segment: Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief

Article: "U.S. jobless claims, housing data offer economic hope" by Lucia Mutikani.

Article: "Boehner Plan Revised, Headed To The Floor" by TRNS.

Article: "White House Still Pressing GOP To "Compromise"" by Geoff Holtzman.

Article: "Congressman Boehner: Let's Pass This Bill & End This Debt Limit Crisis " by John Boehner.

Article: "US House Republicans challenge Senate Democrats" by Reuters.

Article: "White House: Boehner, aka The Grinch, Already Spoiling Christmas In July" by Susan Crabtree.

Article: "Reid: Republicans’ Refusal To Compromise Taking Toll On Economy" by Harry Reid.

Article: "In Briefing, Carney Still Sees Path to Compromise" by Rebecca Kaplan.

Article: "Britain recognises Libyan rebels and expels Gaddafi's London embassy staff" by Nicholas Watt.

Article: "Carney: Treasury Will Deal with Overdue Bills Closer to Deadline" by Catherine Hollander.

Article: "White House Press Briefing by Jay Carney, July 28, 2011".

Hour Three: Intelligent Design vs. Neo-Darwinian Evolution Casey Luskin, Discovery Institute

Article: "The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of "Irreducible Complexity"" by Kenneth R. Miller.

Article: "About Irreducible Complexity" by Discovery Institute.

Article: "Irreducible complexity" (including flagellum).

Article: "Kenneth Miller's Best Arguments Against Intelligent Design" by Sean D. Pitman, M.D.

Article: "Radio Hot Talker Thom Hartmann Uses Classic Darwin Lobby Tricks to Ignore Challenges to Evolution" by Evolution News & Views.

Article: "Punctuated equilibrium".

Geeky Science alert: "It’s hard being a knight" by Nadia Drake.

The good: "Jay Carney to Ed Henry: ‘I know you’re creating a thing here for Fox’" by Chris Ariens.

The bad: "Varney On Soros: "I Do Not Like Billionaire Socialists Who Hate America And Try To Make Money Out Of Our Ruin"" by Media Matters.

The very, very ugly: "Joe Walsh's defense: 'He's had no more problems with child support than any other average guy'" by Jed Lewison.

Site: "Conversations With Great Minds ... with Thom Hartmann".

Video: "Conversations with Great Minds with Neil Howe, Pt 1".

Video: "Conversations with Great Minds with Neil Howe, Pt 2".

Article: "At Ikea’s Only U.S. Factory, Workers Vote to Join Union" by AP.

Book: "Coexistence and commerce: Guidelines for transactions between East and West" by Samuel Pisar.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 1, section 8 paragraph 7. "To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"

Speech: "Social and Industrial Justice" by Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, New York, August, 1912.

Article: "Clinton, in letter, blasts bill restricting foreign aid" by Mary Beth Sheridan.

Book: "Inquiry into phone-hacking scandal begins" by UPI.

Hour One: If it's Friday, it's "Brunch With Bernie"... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will be here with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...

Plus, It's Anything Goes on Townhall Friday...you choose the topics and we'll talk...

The Thom Hartmann Program... your media support group for we the people.

Read an excerpt here, and buy the book!

Read an excerpt here, and buy the book!