Infrastructure

Strong infrastructure is critical to a strong economy.  Infrastructure refers to the services and facilities a society needs for the economy to function.  This could include roads, bridges, water supply, sewers, power grids, public transit, and telecommunications like the internet.  11% of the American workforce today is employed in infrastructure sectors.  According to the White House Council of Economic Advisors, every $1 billion in infrastructure investment creates 13,000 jobs.  Every dollar of infrastructure investment leads to an estimated $1.60 increase in the GDP the following year and twice that over the subsequent 20 years.  

Federal infrastructure investment is about half of what it was when I was born (35 years ago).  The American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that about 3.6 trillion would be needed by 2020 to make the country’s infrastructure “acceptable.”

Some of the problems our country faces due to lack of infrastructure investment include traffic congestion, threats of floods, airport delays, and difficulty of businesses and farmers getting goods to customers due to all of the above.  It is estimated that car maintenance due to the “pothole tax” costs American families $500 per year.  Rush-hour commuters waste 42 hours in traffic each year costing an extra $1,000 in fuel, not to mention loss of time with families, and the effects on the environment as a result.  More than 1 in 5 flights are delayed or cancelled.  As consumers, we pay more for everything from food to furniture due to these congestion and delays of freight.

Some say infrastructure is the key to wiping out poverty as the addition of roads or public transit brings people closer to employment options and better healthcare.  Poor infrastructure disproportionately affects low-income communities.    People needing to travel more than an hour to work or using inefficient public transport find it difficult to get and keep a job.  Access to jobs through affordable transit is one of the most powerful mobilizers in connecting people to work, school, or just daily errands like the grocery store or the bank.

I can’t possibly say it better than the editor-in-chief of the U.S. News & World Report, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, as he stated in this April 1, 2016 article entitled, “Rebuild America: Invest in Infrastructure to Boost Jobs & the Economy”

“Americans expect that our roads and bridges and trains will get us to our destination without injury, that our airports are modern and safe, our tap water is clean and our dams and levies won't burst when it rains. But in 2012, there were nearly a quarter-million water main breaks and we may be losing more than 2 trillion gallons of treated drinking water each year in part due to leaking pipes and faulty meters. Think of the shame of Flint.

Rebuilding America – a private, public and policy coalition – aims to support millions, as many as 13 million, good-paying jobs, jobs that our economy needs. We spend less than 3 percent of GDP on infrastructure, while Europe spends close to twice our rate, and China three times our rate, according to statistics frequently cited by politicians. In 2012, one out of every nine bridges in our country were structurally deficient and nearly a quarter were functionally obsolete. Roughly a third of our roads were in poor or mediocre condition and more than 42 percent of all urban highways were congested.”

Here is where the candidates stand on the issue.

Clinton:  Clinton has announced an extensive $275 billion 5 year plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure.  She would like to pass this plan within her first 100 days in office.  This plan includes:

• repairing and expanding roads and bridges in order to make them more structurally sound and reduce congestion
• expanding public transit, especially in low-income areas, to connect workers with affordable transportation to get them to jobs
• connecting all families to the internet by 2020 by offering affordable broadband and investing in new resources to bring free Wi-Fi to public buildings and public transportation.
• modernizing our national airspace system and airports which also reduces carbon emissions and will save travelers and airlines and estimated $100 billion in avoided delays over the next 15 years.
• modernizing dams, levees, and wastewater systems, saving billions of gallons in clean drinking water and generating clean energy.

She pays for this plan through business tax reform.

Trump:  Trump has put forth no official plan for infrastructure on his website.  However, in his book released last year, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again, he says that “fixing the country’s infrastructure would be a major priority project...When you talk about building, you better talk about Trump.”  He hasn’t put forth an official policy, but he described it as a trillion dollar rebuilding plan and claims it would create 13 million jobs.  He likens it to FDR’s New Deal which is responsible for creating the Public Works Administration which was responsible for major infrastructure investment beginning in the 1930’s.