Here's an opportunity to consider what's probably my least favorite subject: maintenance. There was a feature on last night's news reminding us that the US is heading into an infrastructure crisis. Our public transportation systems, built through an enormous expenditure of resources over many years is falling into severe disrepair. Transportation has fallen victim to what has become 'typical' administrative policy: deferred maintenance. On the surface, this seems like a 'lesser of two evils' sort of approach: defer maintenance that may not be immediately necessary in order to fund more critical projects. There's a whole lot wrong with this line of thinking, but it's so popular that it seems to be an 'obvious' choice when faced with a budget crunch nationally, state-wide, locally, company-wide and even in our families. We all do it, and we had better re-think our positions while we still can.
Let's start by considering where this idea of 'maintenance' comes from. According to Abraham Maslow, each of us exists within a hierarchy of needs. We begin life at the bottom of this hierarchy having to fulfill our most basic needs (food, security, human interaction) in order to preserve our very lives. As we grow into childhood, we recognize things that we want and, with the help of our protectors, we begin to realize our wants. Here's the key concept that most of us seldom think about: a fulfilled want becomes a need. We not only continue to need to be fed, we also continue to need to have physical and economic security, as well as expanding social and interpersonal connections, etc.
In this schema, how can we define 'maintenance'? Maintenance is nothing less than our efforts to continue to meet all of our current needs in order to maintain our status quo (the quality of our lives). Here are two examples. At the end of the Nineteenth Century, people poured enormous resources into creating a huge complex of railroad lines to move goods and passengers all around this country. The cost was so high, that the country was almost deforested from the harvesting of wood for railroad ties. Likewise, in the mid-Twentieth Century, the country went on an unequaled highway-building binge to respond to essentially the same needs: moving people and goods around the country.
We fulfilled an enormous want, and the country's economic progress reflected our success. We immediately came to rely on our transportation infrastructure to maintain our country's economic health and well-being. Just as we turned our economic resources away from building rail lines to building highways, we subsequently turned our wealth away from highways to the next set of big 'wants'. Yet, the more wants we turn into needs, the more resources it demands of us to maintain what we have. The proportion of our income that goes toward maintenance grows along with our assets.
What's the result of this budgetary strain? First, when the next Big Project comes along, we have fewer resources to invest (unless our gross domestic product is growing as fast or faster than our maintenance costs). Second, as maintenance demands grow, we eventually get to a point where maintenance needs start conflicting: it becomes too expensive to maintain everything all at once. So-called 'tough' choices have to be made.
They say 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' In this case, they are so right. Corrective action saps many time more resources than preventive action. Yet, when it feels much more exciting to fulfill new wants than to take care of old needs, those new wants come at a higher and higher price. We as a nation (and as individuals) push the debt limits at the expense of preventive maintenance. We move forward at ever greater levels of risk: not only risk of bankruptcy, but risk of the potentially unstoppable degradation of our quality of life. When the 'luxury tax' of all this deferred maintenance comes due (much of it at the same time), there won't be (and already there's not) enough resources to pay the bill. We as a country will pay for this extravagance with human lives.
Take this lesson to heart: as a family, learn to budget and invest your resources in maintaining your assets (your home, your cars, your other 'big ticket' items). On the other hand, beware of the urge to acquire more. Resources are much more wisely spent in intangible items (like education) that won't require a lot of preventive maintenance. And, lastly, do your best to stay ahead of the curve: take care of your property before it needs it — even when you think it doesn't need it. That's the wisest use of your resources, whether you're an individual, a family, a country or a planet. Long-term thinking pays off in the long run.
H. Les Brown, MA, CFCC
Copyright © 2008 H. Les Brown
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