«AND I THINK I SEE MORE HOMELESS PEOPLE ON THE STREET EVERY MONTH.HOW CAN WE LET THIS KEEP HAPPENING?» -ANDY WARHOL

Why does the media ignore the ramifications of such overwhelming statistics? Huffington provides an answer. Rather than probing the reasons for all the crumbling around us, the media is much more concerned with covering sensational stories such as the Balloon Boy’s—remember the boy who supposedly flew off into the sky alone in a hot-air balloon but was actually in his attic?--whose story was covered for days. Fortunately, Huffington doesn’t hesitate about cataloging all of the future horrors that face the country if Americans continue to be hoodwinked by politicians and the media. In a chapter called “America the Beautiful Dilapidated,” she provides the details, just in case we haven’t been paying attention (and most Americans have not). Power blackouts, unsafe water, collapsed bridges, raw sewage leeks, patched highways, deteriorating train tracks, dams, and levees, and--scariest of all—dysfunctional schools. Taken together, these problems provide a pathetic sight, “A guided tour of Third World America,” familiar to many of us who have spent time in the poorer countries of the world. Ariann Huffington is right in calling our broken country “an American nightmare of our own making,” adding that “We are fast becoming a nation collectively waiting for the next shoe to drop.”

-Counterpunch.org