I was shocked when i heard about this tragedy. I mean, it's a nightmare come true - you're driving home from work, and some construction crumbles beneath you, and you don't have any chance of escaping.
We *CANNOT* afford to fix every deficiency immediately
OK, let's get a bit political here. I'm pretty sure that the US government _would_ have the money to care about all these important bridges, buildings, etc.. But from what i see, they decided to spend the budget they have on other things instead. We all know that the US military budget was raised to gigantic number in the last few years, and the "war against terrorism" is costing huge amounts of money, too. That's were a large portion of your tax money goes. It's a matter of priorities.
..and how long till it slips under the radar, for the next crisis.
That's the way it works, sadly. What will happen now? An investigation comitee will be formed, and time will pass. In the meantime, the people that may be responsible for this tragedy will blame each other, and say "i'm not responsible for this", until you don't know what or whom to believe. When the investigation is finally complete, after one or two years, there will be some small notes in the papers, but no-one will notice it.
