Our economic recovery depends upon not only rehabilitating our national infrastructure, but also on large scale investment in state-of-the-art new projects. Infrastructure investment is a precondition to robust economic growth. America benefited from this insight during the New Deal period and also through Cold War-period investments in our information infrastructure, creating the Internet. The US has long advocated this strategy abroad contributing to the East Asian miracle and jumpstarting the post-War European economy through Marshall Plan infrastructure investments in Europe.
As the showdown between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain appears increasingly likely, how the candidates plan on jumpstarting our economy and achieving durable growth may decide the election. One of the main differences between the candidates is their approach towards this international orthodoxy that investment in infrastructure is a precondition to economic growth. Senator Obama favors the bi-partisan National Infrastructure Bank proposed by Senators Christopher J. Dodd and Chuck Hagel. Senator McCain has not sponsored the Bank, seemingly favoring a less interventionist, more laissez-faire approach to our economic crisis.
Support for infrastructure induced economic growth draws on US experiences and also on international experiences. Modernizing and importing successful models is paramount. The models now circulating among policy-makers invariably are public-private partnerships, referred to as PPPs or P3s. From Illinois to Florida to California, all recognize that limited government budgets necessitate private sector co-financing to meet dire needs. Governors Schwarzenegger and Rendell and also Mayor Bloomberg advocate P3s in their sub-national 'Building America's Future' plan.
While the argument for P3s is sound, to make use of the large pools of private capital now forming and the increasing political will accumulating, we must take care to avoid the Wild West mentality that has often undermined PPPs abroad leading to large numbers of failed projects and renegotiations. Arguments that we must learn from China or emulate the UK's railway privatization must be viewed with skepticism.
Internationally, too often P3s are carried out in the shadow of government regulation. P3 planners consistently advocate lessening government oversight and bypassing government agencies. The idea is that the private sector can itself recreate the good aspects of government and shed the bad. The result of this parallel private government has resulted in many low quality projects, public outcry over unaffordable toll roads, undrinkable water, and uneven electricity.
In introducing P3s, we must maintain America's strong public civil engineering culture to ensure that infrastructure quality will be not only profitable, but high standard. Our tradition of participatory planning will ensure that projects meet public needs and are accountable to citizen users. In our national economy, we must also ensure that our government planning coordinates local, regional, and national levels. Importantly, although we must partner with international allies, we must employ our under-compensated, highly skilled American workers to carry out these projects. We must encourage the use of US manufactured equipment and technological know-how. If we build American labor into our infrastructure investment, then projects will not only stimulate economic growth but also create the high quality jobs we so sorely need.
We thus must urge our presidential candidates to take the lead in reinvigorating our economy through strategic public investment that benefits Americans not only tomorrow but also gives them jobs now. Infrastructure should be the cornerstone of this strategy.
Utter and complete fantasy. The only place those claims are true is Iraq's infrastructure, not the US infrastructure.
Federal non-defense infrastructure spending has been in decline under the Bush administration.
Source: http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp217.html
The same funds that Regean and Daddy Bush used to spend the USSR into destruction. Russina is now building and expanding their infustructure to handel more business while our crumbles.
Now all the roads and bridges at in bad shape after years of patching and half efforts at repair.
The taxes are not there the tax cuts meant to starve Social Security and Medicare out of existence have also destoryed the built up Equity the American People had in the infustructure of the country.
Now we have to rebuild not only the leveies but highways, bridges and dams. All are in bad shape.
Thanks, Regean Republicans and Conservatives who think they should be able to use all the roads and bridges and not pay their part but pass the bill on down to the poorest with sales taxes and income taxes while they skirt the taxes with tax cuts on capital gains and government kick backs on taxes.
Time laws that are passed no longer include BARRIER TO ENTRY LAWS that prevent competition instead we need laws that open up the world and the U.S. to competition. Build barriers for new business to hurtle is not right just to extend one businesses profits when new businesses could find a better way to do things but reegulations stop them from even trying.
What does that even mean? Did you write it before the primaries were over and forgot to update it before posting it here?
The money needed to rebuild or infrastructure may or may not end up coming from a combination of federal and private sources. Regardless of how it is funded, I think congress needs to set up some rules to insure that the money all goes back into our own economy while we rebuild and expand our infrastructure. For such projects I think we should ban contracts with international corporations who avoid most US taxes by putting large chunks of their organization (whether offices, manufacturing operations or subsidaries) in other countries.
If we want to make sure that the investment goes into our infrastructure as well as economy, we should make sure the money really goes into our economy, not someone else's. Most of the debt we'll have to incur to do the rebuilding is going to be owed to Japan and China anyway. The least we can do is try to make sure that borrowed money gets reinvested through contractors who hire their workers pay their taxes here in the US.
I'm neither an isolationist, a protectionist or a nationalist, but this seems like basic common sense to me at this juncture in our history.