Back to Work - Bill Clinton [56]
Let’s look at the benefits investments in these areas could bring.
7. Build a twenty-first-century infrastructure. Millions of jobs could, and should, be created to maximize America’s opportunities for economic growth and a better quality of life in the twenty-first century. If you look at where the world is going and how fast it’s getting there, we clearly need much faster broadband connections; a smart electrical grid; more efficient ports and airports; and an upgrade of our old investments in roads, bridges, rails, and water and sewage systems. The stimulus allocated some money to begin those efforts, but not enough, and it’s largely been spent. The antigovernment members of Congress and their supporters in the country say we can’t afford to do these things. I think they sometimes forget that the “American exceptionalism” they embrace with words was built by visionary deeds. During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps employed more than eight million people building projects that still benefit us today.
A good place to start is the infrastructure-bank legislation supported by the president in his jobs speech. It’s co-sponsored in the Senate by John Kerry, Democrat from Massachusetts, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican from Texas, and in the House by Rosa DeLauro, Democrat from Connecticut. The bill envisions building a twenty-first-century infrastructure with public-private partnerships. It could take investments from both the private sector and foreign governments flush with cash and looking for a safe place to put it. This is a good idea that has been discussed for years. Many other countries build or operate public projects with private investment. As long as there are high standards for performance and safety, we should too. Of course, the federal government has to put up some money. We could start with $10 billion or $20 billion, funded by the extra income flowing to the Treasury from the Federal Reserve’s profits on the investments it made to avert a full-scale depression. Or we could kick in the revenues corporations will pay if we allow them to repatriate income earned in other countries for reasons other than job generation. In either case, ordinary Americans would see some positive benefits from the bailout money and corporate cash surpluses. And the returns on investment are huge: it’s estimated that $10 billion in infrastructure investment could generate an economic gain of $600 billion over ten years.
We might be able to raise even more money by letting all Americans get in on the act. Americans are saving more, but most aren’t earning money on what they hold, because interest rates are low and the stock market is volatile. I’d like to see the president seek renewed legislative authority for Build America Bonds, to be sold in amounts from $100 to $1 million. The proceeds would be deposited in the infrastructure bank, with the bonds maturing ten years after they’re bought. That would put them outside the so-called budget window, and by the time they’re due, the huge returns on modern infrastructure will generate more than enough revenue to pay them off.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve could also invest in the infrastructure bank or Build America Bonds to finance it. As we know, the Fed earns, even in normal times, a lot of money on its investments, mostly in Treasury issues, then turns the income over to the government. I don’t know if the Fed has legal authority to invest in an infrastructure bank that would pay back the investment plus interest, but if it is legal to do so, I think it’s a good idea.
8. Speed up the process for approving and completing infrastructure projects. The recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami did an enormous amount of damage, including tearing a hole forty feet deep in a sizable section of a large highway. The Japanese repaired it in just six days. Construction workers have been rebuilding a small bridge over a railroad track in Chappaqua,