Wastewater D-
America's Infrastructure GPA: D
Estimated 5 Year Investment Need: $2.2 Trillion
There's the demand. Where's the supply? Um... how about 20+ million un- or underemployed, including construction workers, whose unemployment rate is about 18%.
I know... show me the money. These are public goods, and thus private industry will underinvest in them. Now, I know we're in the midst of spending-cut frenzy, but infrastructure investment -- that's "investment" as in: do this right and it boosts the economy's productive capacity -- has historically been one area where partisans agree.
In that regard, it was unfortunate to read Rep. Eric Cantor in this AM's paper get this wrong: "The president talked about a need for us to continue to quote-unquote invest from Washington's standpoint, and for a lot of us that's code for more Washington spending, something that we can't afford right now."
No, sir -- with respect, that is not secret code. The president is right, and to ignore needed public investments based on anti-spending ideology is to create an infrastructure deficit much more worrisome and damaging to the long-term economic well-being of this nation than the federal budget deficit.
Plus, I kinda need to get back in the office one of these days.
This post originally appeared at Jared Bernstein's On The Economy blog.
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