VP Joe Biden Calls U.S. Transport Infrastructure ‘Embarrassing’ and ‘Stupid’

Vice President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia today to introduce a new locomotive that will serve Amtrak passengers in the busy Northeast Corridor region between Washington, D.C. and Boston.

He used his appearance to advocate on behalf of improved infrastructure in the U.S., as well as heap criticism on New York’s LaGuardia airport, a recent target of his scorn.

“If I took someone blindfolded at two AM into the airport in Hong Kong and said ‘where do you think you are?’ they’d say ‘this must be America, it’s a modern airport.'”

“If I took him blindfolded to LaGuardia Airport in New York he’d think I must be in some third-world country.”

In his speech Biden connected the U.S.’s economic strength over the last sixty years to the country’s infrastructure, while also noting how fast it’s now falling behind.

“Why did we lead the world economically for so long? We had the most modern infrastructure in the world.”

According the the World Economic Forum, in the last decade the U.S. has fallen 20 spots when it comes to the quality of infrastructure.

“It’s embarrassing and it’s stupid,” Biden said of the study. “They rank us behind Barbados. Great country. One airport.”

“No joke we need to modernize and reinvest in our infrastructure, especially in rail.”

"We need to modernize in order to compete," says @VP. #amtrak #Siemenslocomotive #madeinamerica

— Amtrak (@Amtrak) February 6, 2014