Its The Infrastructure Stupid

This is part of an AP story from August 25, 2008.
...It's the dark side of the booming global demand for U.S. corn, wheat and soybeans. The surge in exports is revealing inefficiencies in the country's railways, highways and rivers that carry the grain that helps feed the world. And those bottlenecks are costing farmers, shippers and ultimately consumers millions of dollars a year...
A surprisingly large harvest this fall is expected to test the system even further. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts farmers will produce the second largest corn crop and fourth largest soybean crop in history. Some agribusiness groups worry the bottlenecks could hurt the United States' standing as a global food provider as other nations, such as Brazil and Argentina, compete for a lucrative share of the market. "We're way, way behind in our infrastructure investment, both in the private sector and publicly," said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, a trade group representing grain exporters. "And we need to move a lot on that or we will see other countries supplant us as they get greater investment in their infrastructure."
Congress authorized the Army Corps last year to update locks and dams along the Mississippi. But Congress must approve funding for the project, which is estimated to cost $2.21 billion over more than 20 years.

Ok, so Congress is having a tough time authorizing $2.21 billion over 20 years to fix how we can move everything in the US. Let's just say, because of the upcoming election, that nothing is really going to get done in the Government until 2009. It seems that we have agreed to start pulling troops out of Iraq by 2011 that is only 2 years away, and those Men and Women are going to be looking for jobs in an economy that will be still fighting its way out of a recession. We have already spent $500 Billion on the Iraq war, I'm thinking $2.21 to fix our rail, road and water transportation system is an Obvious drop in the bucket.
Let's hope none of the Politicians have to cross any of the bridges in St. Paul, MN...