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North and South Korea: Game On
How can you go to war with your enemy when the enemy is on the same sports team as one of your best friends? And playing on his home field? That is the dilemma facing U.S. strategists as they reel from the invitation by South Korea to North Korea to embrace its athletes into nextRead moreAn air war in Korea would be tougher than Mideast fights, general says
WASHINGTON – If the U.S. goes to war against North Korea, it would face a vastly tougher challenge in the air that it did in any recent conflicts, a top Air Force general said Thursday. North Korea maintains a more highly developed air defense system than the U.S. faced in the Middle East, said Lt. Gen.Read moreOn “Betrayal and Resurrection”
Published in “Style Sonata” on October 27, 2017 On “Betrayal and Resurrection” You look in the mirror and you can almost see the spot. Somewhere floating between your heart and your gut. That is where betrayal lodges once you realize the rug had been pulled out from under you, the wool was pulled overRead moreDiplomacy Matters in Key US Discussions
President Trump recently placed a telephone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in large part to discuss future steps toward Middle East stability. The call — both the act and any promises made — may turn out to provide something more vital and imperative: a critical rebound in the crucial relationship between the United StatesRead moreThe next frontier: Time to create a new military branch for space?
By tom On Wednesday, January 17 th, 2018 · no Comments · In And more news stories ,News stories ,WritingWASHINGTON — The Pentagon should develop a new branch of military service — or at least a robust stand-alone corps within the Air Force — to boost space warfare and protections, a growing number of military analysts and members of Congress are saying. Some say the change could occur within five years, as momentum isRead moreNew friend — or foe — on the way for satellites
By tom On Thursday, January 25 th, 2018 · no Comments · In And more news stories ,News stories ,WritingWASHINGTON — From Defense Secretary James Mattis to think-tankers and congressional military soothsayers, the need to ramp up U.S. space security is being proclaimed more and more and louder and louder. A key first step may already be underway in one of the most successful parts of the military — DARPA, its research and developmentRead moreSnowflakes reappear in the Pentagon: Rumseld’s musings have life again
By tom On Monday, January 29 th, 2018 · no Comments · In And more news stories ,News stories ,WritingWASHINGTON — Very few things send Washington into a tizzy like a forecast of snow. But those palpitations are nothing compared to the tsunami shudder that coursed through the Pentagon at the thought of a ”snowflake” circulating up and down its more than 17.5 miles of hallways. That would be a Donald Rumsfeld snowflake —Read moreThe Old Geezer prods and praises….
December 31, 2017 It is cold and crisp outside on the deck and thus perfect for seeing what the universe is trying, once again, to tell me. The wind swirls on the ground, some leaves rustle free from beneath the snow, the fireplace of a new beginning sees its flames burning confidently. Visually the worldRead moreOn Betrayal and Resurrection
Style Sonata is an online curator of accessories from emerging designers and its FreeStyle blog features, as they say the candid musings of interesting personalities in media, entertainment and fashion. Here is the link:http://ow.ly/5Y1G30goLsyRead moreFour columns in U.S. News and World Report
Please use this link to read four columns on foreign affairs that I was honored to have appear in U.S. News and World Report. https://www.usnews.com/topics/author/tom_squitieriRead more24 hours, always
24 hours, always — July 26, 2017 © 2017/TomSquitieri There is no wake up from the the dreams I have of you They course through the day, through the slight moments and the raging passion I breathlessly wait to hear from you, to see you, to imagine being with you Now I wear this love,Read moreWollman Rink or Plaza Hotel?
Presuming that at some point President Trump runs out of executive orders to issue – granted, that is an open question – he may get around to trying to fulfill some of his more concrete campaign promises. Pun intended. Atop that list is one thing where Trump and many Democrats and Republicans agree: the needRead more
Presuming that at some point President Trump runs out of executive orders to issue – granted, that is an open question – he may get around to trying to fulfill some of his more concrete campaign promises.
Pun intended.
Atop that list is one thing where Trump and many Democrats and Republicans agree: the need for a comprehensive program to repair, restore and advance the nation’s infrastructure system.
If Trump was anything in his previous lives beyond a showman, there were occasions when he was a builder. That could bode well for him as he trumpets an infrastructure program that most Americans feel is desperately needed.
Thus comes the question: will Trump-frastructure be the next Wollman Park or Plaza Hotel?
Some explanation.
The first time I interviewed Donald Trump was 1999, and 13 years after what he told me that day was “the big proof” how he was “the best at private enterprise” and better than any politician and government bureaucracy.
His example was the Wollman skating rink in New York’s Central Park, beloved by New Yorkers since it opened in 1949 but sitting idle at the time for five years because of disrepair.
The city promised to reopen it by 1985. But, as the media noted then, incompetent city commissioners and contractors let the job run $12 million over its original $4.7 million budget. By 1986, the finish line was nowhere in sight.
Enter Trump. Fresh off developing Trump Tower – and thick into a name-calling feud with the city over tax abatements and zoning rules – Trump offered in June to have the rink open before Christmas if they him do it his way.
The city said yes, hoping Trump would fail and they would score a public relations victory. Trump had it reopened by November 1, giving him for the moment folk hero status in New York and a major talking point to boast of a can-do reputation.
His approach was refreshing – and if implemented for the infrastructure program could produce fascinating results. Trump asked himself who were best at repairing ice rinks and who knew the most about them. His deduced Canadians since they had a “great love of hockey.” He then hired the Canadian firm that had built the most ice hockey rinks for the NHL and it worked.
Fixing the infrastructure would be a signature accomplishment for Trump. The elements seem ready. Democrats are likely to get on board, if the package is right – meaning, work in their home states and districts, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said a “robust infrastructure jobs bill” could be Trump’s “common ground” with Democrats on the Hill.
There are catches.
Trump’s proposal for $1 trillion worth of new infrastructure construction relies entirely on private financing, which industry experts say is likely to fall far short of adequately funding improvements to roads, bridges and airports. The plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors who back profitable construction projects. These projects (such as electrical grid modernization or energy pipeline expansion) might already be planned or even underway. There’s no requirement that the tax breaks be used for incremental or otherwise vital needs. And desperately needed infrastructure projects that are not attractive to private investors — municipal water-system overhauls, repairs of existing roads, replacement of bridges that do not charge tolls — get no help from Trump’s plan
If Trump follows his Wollman Park method, it may be a remarkable transformation of our decrepit infrastructure. If he follows the Plaza Hotel route, we are in more trouble.
Trump was jonesing to buy the Plaza Hotel for years. He was repeatedly rebuffed and when the opportunity finally arrived, Trump quickly agreed to a price of slightly more than $400 million, an unprecedented sum for a hotel at the time. Just a few years later, in 1992, the Plaza wound up in bankruptcy protection, part of a vast and humiliating restructuring of some $900 million of personal debt that Trump owed to a consortium of banks.
Quite simply, unlike Wollman, Trump did not think it through and make a sound business decision. He says otherwise. “To me the Plaza was like a great painting,” he said in an interview at the time of the bankruptcy. “It wasn’t purely about the bottom line. I have many assets like that and the end result is that they are always much more valuable than what you paid for them.”
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., says Congress will establish a priority list of infrastructure projects working the states to develop a list of projects of national and regional significance. He thinks the House could act in late spring or early summer – but it has to be driven by tax reform, which would pay for the work.
No one disputes the need, no one disputes the urgency. What remains are the crucial details and, of course, congressional funding. This is not executive order-able.
Trump planned well for the rink and it worked magnificently. He did not for the Plaza and failed spectacularly. We shall wait for the first new road to learn which route he has chosen.