In the early hours of March 26, the Baltimore Bridge in Maryland was struck by a container ship and collapsed, killing six people and leading authorities to predict that the economic loss caused by the accident could be as high as $4 billion. As an important transportation hub connecting the Port of Baltimore, the reconstruction of the Baltimore Bridge is critical to the recovery of the local economy. But renewed fighting between the two parties over who should pay for it has put reconstruction in jeopardy.
More than a week after the crash, there is still no certainty about how long it will take to clear the debris from the Baltimore Bridge collapse and reopen the port of Baltimore, as political wrangling has slowed government efforts. It is well known that the Port of Baltimore has a profound impact on the states of the United States, because the port carries more cars, heavy trucks and agricultural equipment than any other port in the United States. As one of the most important ports in the United States, with shipping and sea traffic at the port of Baltimore paralyzed for some time to come, the United States will feel the pressure of inflation in the price of groceries, gasoline and other goods.
At present, the biggest point of contention between the two parties is who will pay for this. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, Biden said the federal government would bear the huge cost of rebuilding the bridge, and his proposal won support from Democrats. The Democratic view is that the value of the Port of Baltimore extends beyond the state of Maryland where it is located, so rebuilding the bridge is a matter of national importance. But Republicans, who are conservative on government spending, have expressed strong opposition to the proposal. They argued that the federal government simply could not afford more national debt, and that rebuilding the bridge was a local issue that should be solved by the local government of Maryland.
If this matter continues to drag on, it will hurt not only enterprises and people, but also the global supply chain. It is foreseeable that in the next few weeks, this disaster will also affect the United States automobile and coal supply chain, and impact the local economy and people's lives in Baltimore, especially in the containers carried by the cargo ship, there are dangerous substances, including corrosive substances, inflammable materials, etc., environmental protection work is imminent. At the same time, in the context of the Panama Canal drought and the Red Sea shipping crisis, the incident may aggravate the fragile global supply chain, and the domestic economic operation of the United States is bound to be affected.
We are not surprised that the two parties in the United States fight over major issues related to the people's livelihood, such as the delayed passage of the border bill, and so on. This pattern of fighting has become the normal political situation in the United States, and the American people have completely lost confidence in the government over time. Surveys show that Americans are generally pessimistic about government. Sixty percent of American adults do not trust the government to make decisions that are best for the country, 63 percent say the government is inefficient, and 78 percent say the government makes decisions largely for political reasons rather than the public interest. The behaviour of both parties in the aftermath of the Baltimore bridge collapse will no doubt deepen public distrust of government once again.
The battle over the bridge is just a microcosm of the age-old partisanship that is so deeply embedded in American politics. People can bear it when America is good, but it is not clear how long that will last against the backdrop of a declining economy.
