Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Infrastructure week: organs of the human brain, created by the human hand

Infrastructure week: organs of the human brain, created by the human hand Who owns general social knowledge? Who owns the general intellect? Alf Hornborg pointed out that without the fuel to run it, a tractor is simply a piece of sculpture. It is not even a sculpture, though, if there is no one to design it […]

Infrastructure gamesmanship puts wealthy ahead of jobs, good bridges, and country

By Linda Beale Infrastructure gamesmanship puts wealthy ahead of jobs, good bridges, and country For those who are paying attention to the House and Senate these days, it seems like a frustrating exercise.  Mostly it is one of watching the “do-nothing” Republicans find excuses for never requiring millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share […]

Water

Ten great cities dying of thirst in Wallstreet 24/7 points to a problem already serious in some cases, and during the 2007/2008 drought made readily apparent – our lack of will to address water infrastructure problems and replacement, and our use of water that is outstripping sources. This report by Ceres and Water Asset Management […]

A Sentence Worthy of the WSJ Editorial Page

We can only hope that the special Infrastructure supplement in today’s edition of The Pink One was written and/or edited by a PwC, not an FT, employee.  Otherwise, how are we to explain Michael Peel’s curious declaration in “Unweaving a Tangled Web” that: …[there is a] continued prevalence of corruption around the complex, lucrative, and […]

Industrial policy is not just green technology or an electric car…

The New Yorker gives us a small look into policy in china other than the currency peg: The Problem Statement U.S. manufacturing’s competitive status is increasingly challenged by other economies. Established industrialized nations such as Japan, Germany, Korea and Taiwan are developing state-of-the-art technologies, which range across all areas of manufacturing from electronics to discrete […]

CGI Yesterday: Interlude

I don’t have my notes all together from yesterday, but Lance Mannion hits most of the second half of the day with this, this, this, and this post. Especially check out the last one. One panelist’s description yesterday of putting glasses on a child yesterday was as if it were directly out of the opening […]

Ready, Steady — Go?

The U.S. Conference of Mayors presents a (by no means all-inclusive) list of shovel-ready projects, including $11 billion in Public Transit(over $600 million in demand from Charlotte alone, which recently passed NYC in drive-time to work and has seen its drivers vote with their train passes) and over $30B in Energy projects. Search through it. […]

Is Larry Summers an Infrastructure Spending Skeptic?

by Tom Bozzo whose Facebook status currently reads, “Tom is feeling an unaccustomed sense of not-shame, at least pending some action on the economics, energy/environment, and transportation fronts.” Meanwhile, over at FDL, they find Rep. Peter DeFazio saying: I think [Obama]’s ill-advised by Larry Summers.[*] Larry Summers hates infrastructure. And some of these other economists […]

Oberstar on ‘Use it or Lose It’ Stimulus Provisions

Tom Bozzo Via TrafficWorld: According to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, 50 percent of funds provided to states will be required to be obligated within 90 days. Within 180 days of enactment, states must submit a program of projects outlining how the remaining 50 percent of the projects will be obligated within one year […]