An intriguing set of ideas for funding US infrastructure comes from a Washington, DC think tank with a venture capital bent. They have seized on an idea, utilising the “Covered Bonds” that are coming to the US capital markets (courtesy of the mortgage imbroglio). A group at this organisation, the New America Foundation, points towards the longstanding European use of these bonds to fund various public works projects, including infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Neither presumptive candidate has said anything about ports, per se. However, Senator Obama has expressed views that have brought jitters to advocates of free trade, suggesting that perhaps the North American Free Trade Agreement be put under review.<\/p>\n
Conversely, the Democrats are also more likely than the Republicans (the party of John McCain) to advocate Federal government spending on infrastructure. Indeed, two versions of potential legislation that would create an infrastructure bank, or possibly an quasi-Government infrastructure corporation, are kicking around the US Congress. And, New York’s Mayor, along with Pennsylvania’s Governor, recently joined with Minnesota’s Governor (a potential vice presidential candidate on the McCain ticket) in calling for increased US infrastructure investment.<\/p>\n
So far, neither side has made their potential budget numbers add up, and both sides have failed to explain how increased spending can be reconciled with a balanced ledger.<\/p>\n
The New American Foundation, in supporting the infrastructure funding legislation currently under consideration, offers: “If we are to remain competitive, we must invest in capital assets like roads, ports, bridges, mass transit, water systems, and broadband infrastructure.” But, it acknowledges that: “If the nation’s infrastructure needs are apparent, so too are the limits on available funds in federal, state, and local government coffers.<\/p>\n
“In this presidential election year, we can see these limits clearly, as the nation’s spending priorities are magnified by electoral politics.”<\/p>\n
It is unlikely that Senator Obama, if elected, would succeed in turning back the engines of trade growth. But, whichever side wins, they must create smooth pathways for infrastructure investment. That includes US.ports, but also the tracks and roads that move cargo in and out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The election season is in full swing; with the official nominating conventions, the presumptive candidates will become their parties true nominees. While analysts believe that it will be a Democratic year, ie Barrack Obama could win, political campaigns have a habit of twisting, turning and surprising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-7030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-new-yorker"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7032,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030\/revisions\/7032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7030"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=7030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}