The sky is falling

Get used to it. Maybe get an umbrella. A really strong one. Parts of a major expressway in downtown Toronto started falling on the street below this week. Initial reactions by officials were that everything is fine. Which, of course, it is not. It may not be a big structural issue for the Gardiner to have its superficial outer layer flaking off, but it sure is a big health issue for anyone walking or driving on the Lakeshore underneath it.

This is just another piece of crumbling infrastructure which we can't pay to keep up. Which, it turns out, is built into the North American way of life. Someone pointed me at this series of articles this week. They are very well reasoned and full of evidence in the form of case studies. I strongly recommend you take the time to read them all, but if you are really pressed, I'd say read #2 and #5.

And then, remember this: whatever you're paying – in taxes, for goods, for services – it's not enough. And if you don't pony up, eventually the sky will fall on your head.

The Growth Ponzi Scheme

1. The Mechanisms of Growth - Trading near-term cash for long-term obligations.


2. Case studies that show how our places do not create, but destroy, our wealth.


3. The Ponzi scheme revealed - How new development is used to pay for old development.


4. How we've sustained the unsustainable by going "all in" on the suburban pattern of development.


5. Responses that are rational and responses that are irrational.