Infrastructure and the future economy

I write the following to my Congressman:

Dear Representative,

The devastating collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis combined with the bursting of the 80 year old steam pipe in NYC have made a dramatic statement about our presuming our infrastructure could be ignored a little longer. As was pointed out in various commentaires, postponing upgrades to our infrastructure is a calculated risk that community leaders take because they do not want to add to the tax burdens of our citizens.

As others have pointed out, those leaders on local levels have done creative financing to help major league sports venues and, on the national level, have embraced horrendous debt to fight a war in Iraq.

It is time to put that kind of wisdom to work to put our bridges, air ports, etc. back into safe and lasting condition.

Better yet, let's look at a massive federal government intervention including increased taxes as a way to do it.

Yeah, right!

Wait a moment. Think along with me for a minute and see if this highly unlikely scenario is feasible.

First, I think such a taxation would be accepted by the public, especially if the major corporations that benefit from the infrastructure pay a significant share. We'd all pay if the Oil Corporations paid.

Second, construction workers would benefit from the income they get from doing the work. They would pay taxes, spend that income on goods and services stimulating the economy, and provide a product that would be a benefit for years to come (as compared with the spending on military material which tends to end up destroyed). My college econ professor said that every dollar that enters the economy expands seven-fold. If the tax rate averages 15%, then each dollar spent by the government which goes into the workers' hands would pay for itself. - The problem is that there are "money grabbers" that minimize the money going to the workers and maximizes it going to themselves! So any good spending program needs to be monitored to prevent that kind of "Monopoly game playing" to maximize the economic value of the spending.

Third, the public will grew dramatically when that bridge fell down. Congress can keep that motivation going if it eliminates no-bid contracts, maximizes utilization of small local contractors, and meets deadlines for completing the needed upgrades.

Finally, President Roosevelt used public moneys to help our country begin to work its way out of the Depression. It was no small coincidence that the forty year old bridge which collapsed stood a quarter of a mile from a bridge built during the Depression!

Please begin the process of establishing a Congressional plan to deal with the collapsing infrastructure of our nation. Have something ready to go by January, 2008, if not sooner!