By Noah Graff
A recent article by wired.com suggested that one of the best remedies for the struggling U.S. economy would be an extensive overhaul of the country’s crumbling infrastructure.
Obama and McCain talk a lot about alternative energy, electric cars and high speed trains but those aspirations will take a great deal of time to come to fruition (assuming they do), and would be not be worth much if the roads, bridges, drinking water, and transit systems are a shambles.
A report card issued three years ago by the American Society of Civil Engineers gives those things listed above a D grade. The society says we’ve got to spend about $1.6 trillion just to bring things up to a B-.
“(Congress) should invest in the more than 3,000 ready-to-go highway projects that could be under contract within the next 30 to 90 days,” says John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “Funding these ready to go projects offers Congress a tremendous opportunity to put Americans to work and help cash-strapped states repair and replace our crumbling infrastructure.”
If the U.S. government decides to take on a fraction of these projects, it’s going to be a boost for American manufacturers like Caterpillar, Osh Kosh, and Bobcat.
Source: Wired.com
Question: Do you see a large amount of crumbling infrastructure where you live?
3 Comments
As the election nears it looks as though the media has done it’s job in protecting Senator Obama and he will win going away and with him bring in more Liberal Democrats. This will be a disaster for the eonomy and business in general and I am preparing for it by deciding who we will have to layoff next year. After what Democrats have given us with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacle and sub-prime loans I have even less faith in their questionable abilities!
I have read that the new tax increases coming will be on gross profits and fear that once they discover that there aren’t any they will switch to gross receipts….God help us because “The Messiah” (Obama) won’t!
A few questions for you. What did the “democrats give us” in the sub-prime loans and other economic problems? The republicans were the ones in power letting all of that happen.
You give quite an assumption that the democrats would shift the taxes to a ridiculous policy in all this mess. They haven’t said anything like you are fearing. Jim Cramer, my investing guru, proclaimed yesterday that the Democrats would never be crazy enough to raise taxes in a such a financial crisis. On top of that, assuming Obama does become president, he will likely have Buffet as his informal economic advisor. He won’t tax gross receipts.
Times are going to be tough, but it’s too early to blame Obama for them.
I think the recent nuclear crisis in Japan should also help us focus on infrastructure in the energy grid. Why are there so many discussions about which fuel or green resource to use for energy, when an overhaul or update to the grid infrastructure would save the same amount of energy and be a better investment for the future. It would also buy some time to figure out which fruit or vegetable will make the most ‘juice’.