To renew U.S., rebuild infrastructure (Politico opinion piece recommended by Bernie Sanders)

[highplainsdem]

Found this link

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66093.html

via Bernie Sanders' Newsroom page this morning:

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=621edca8-0f94-4e4a-9082-15c44e866205

The opinion piece, by Siemens president/CEO Daryl Dulaney, starts with an anecdote Bernie tells about the time he visited a small Vermont town and the mayor invited him to tour the water and sewer lines.

-snip-

“The worker who laid this pipe,” the mayor said, pointing to one of the aging pipes, “finished the project and then left Vermont to fight in the war.” “Which war?” Sanders asked. “The Civil War,” the mayor replied.

The sad part is that the small Vermont town is not alone. Much of America is fighting the global competitiveness battle of the 21st century with roads, bridges and airports from the early to mid-20th century and pipes and rail lines from the 19th century. It’s one reason the American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the U.S. a “D” on its infrastructure.

No other part of any industry in the world is competing and winning with machines, technology or systems that are even one-third as old as the national infrastructure in the U.S. China alone plans to build 56 new airports over the next five years. That’s on top of the 66 it has built or renovated since 2005.

-snip-

From 1950 to 1979, public investment in infrastructure grew 4.1 percent per year, while the U.S. economy averaged 4.0 percent growth. When infrastructure investments dropped to 2.3 percent between 1980 and 2007, economic growth fell to 2.9 percent.

-snip-

[bigtree]

1. I'll bet this is where legislation begins to move again

One of the first bills in the legislative tree to pass is normally the Highway bill. That's because so many localities rely on those funds to supplement their own economy, as well as their infrastructure. You can generate a lot of support for an infrastructure program from the local pols in anticipation of the grants.