I would love to see a return to investing in and updating some of the physical infrastructure that has degraded over time.
In the USA there are a huge amounts of bridges that need updating/repairing, dams needing repair (or removal), roads needing repair, dilapidated school buildings needing updating (as well as energy efficiency updates), etc. There seems like TONS of work to be done to refresh our aging physical infrastructure.
How about putting back together giant structures that are falling apart? Our infrastructure is rotting away --- that Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007 was a bit of a wake-up call. There's no shortage of stuff in the United States that needs to get fixed.
The state of infrastructure, both physical and technical, in this country is quite sorry.
There would be plenty of well paid union and trades jobs to be had if we could pony up the funds to rehab, repair, and replace the crumbling bridges, roads, pipelines, sewers, etc across the country.
But building / updating bridges, roads, rail networks, dams, lead water pipes etc. would have the side effect of being useful to the economy once built / updated.
The infrastructure in this country is in an absolutely dilapidated state. Roads are potholed, bridges are collapsing, water and sewage pipes date back to the Civil War, Internet connectivity is expensive and slow. There's more than enough work to keep a whole lot of people busy for a generation, if we're willing to pay for it.
Generally, deteriorating civil engineering structures is a huge looming crisis for the U.S.
Sprawling suburbs dependent on perpetual growth to fund repairs to their streets & utilities, small economically-contracting towns dependent on highways and bridges that are falling apart, 15,000 "high hazard" dams to maintain: we are going to have to either give up on some of it, or pay for decades of missing upkeep.
One thing worth noting in this is that, at least in the US, a lot of the "infrastructure spending" that has been talked about recently is, in fact, maintenance.
We have roads, bridges, and buildings that were built decades ago, then the funds that should have gone for their maintenance spent on tax cuts instead, so they're limping along with stopgap solutions.
I live in germany and the infrastructure is rotting away. The bridge Schiersteiner Brücke is only the latest and biggest example. You only have to look into your local newspaper to find other examples.
Do you not consider repairs/upgrades to existing/outdated infrastructure to be infrastructure spending? Getting lead out of service pipes and wider access to broad band sounds like something tangible to me.
In the USA there are a huge amounts of bridges that need updating/repairing, dams needing repair (or removal), roads needing repair, dilapidated school buildings needing updating (as well as energy efficiency updates), etc. There seems like TONS of work to be done to refresh our aging physical infrastructure.
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