The infrastructure bill is significant and if the money is wisely spent on its intended goals (i.e. not allowing friends and associates of companies suck money out of it without results) it will change a few things. I'm not going to get into all of the details about what I like and don't like about the bill. I will leave much of that to the people who want to prove its the best thing since sliced bread while others think its just stale moldy bread 🍞. I read some of the comments under the article below and its astounding how divided we really are.
We do know we have problems as far as our national competitiveness and part of those problems are in our infrastructure. The government can fund it, the states can fund it, the townships can fund it and the private interests can fund it.....but no one stepped forward.....so it was up to Congress. Yet somewhere along the line we are going to need to do some upgrading if we want to be a 1st world nation (No government, business, or other entity will last long in a competitive global environment without some level of reinvestment).
Let me say that China is putting a lot of money into their infrastructure. We haven't yet engaged that level of upgrading and we are slipping in our competitive position. We may currently have some advantages but those won't be around forever (likely 10 years ish) and then we are big trouble as a nation with lots of debt, large, and less revenue coming in (Remember what happened to all other major large countries that didn't maintain their competitiveness. None of them are around in the same form they were when they were great. I think we can SWOTCH our way out of the same fate!). Once you cross a certain precipice in finance you are going to lose economic momentum without new resources/opportunities that return capital.
So the infrastructure bill is likely to help...however....it may not be enough without thinking about how to focus that money on improving export structure, business development, manufacturing reemergence and draw investments back to our business communities. Whether you agree or disagree we still will need to strengthen our business development and draw in international/national investors to build things in the U.S. to raise our tax revenue, lifestyles, and opportunities. Dollars and cents are part of our success.
We don't want this to be a limp effort. Whether your Republican or Democrat the bill has now been passed so now we might want to work together to do what we can to ensure the money is used wisely (meaning its spent on infrastructure in a lean and critical way) and not a free for all with poor oversite or management (Those darn contracts...this is why I would watch them, who gets them and who they are connected to and their actual capacity. This money isn't a game because my kids will need to pay for it and wasting it is a risk for everyone. Its make it or break it and the social networks between politicians and business should at this moment be thrown out the window. Vendors/contractors must do their job and do it well!). Its a big bill....al bet a necessary one (in this form or another) and this is where people can help ensure no one is siphoning off the resources without producing tangible outputs. This isn't "business as usual" because its a pivot point in our national competitiveness (or just a big bill with little impact and lots of debt. That is up to everyone to kick start something new....and reclaim the American entrepreneurial spirit).
A very nice article by David Eggert in Click on Detroit that gives a solid breakdown on its impact on Michigan......
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