Now is the time to rebuild America's infrastructure
Seems like only yesterday conservative nabobs of negativity predicted America鈥檚 ballooning budget deficit would generate soaring inflation and crippling costs of additional federal borrowing.
Remember Standard & Poor鈥檚 downgrade of the United States? Recall the intense worry about investors鈥� confidence in government bonds 鈥� America鈥檚 IOUs?
Hmmm.
Last week ten-year yields on U.S. Treasuries closed at 1.83 percent.
In other words, they were wrong.
In fact, it鈥檚 cheaper than ever for the United States to borrow. That鈥檚 because global investors desperately want the safety of dollars. Almost everywhere else on the globe is riskier. Europe is in a debt crisis, many developing nations are gripped by fears the contagion will spread to them, Japan remains in critical condition, China鈥檚 growth is slowing.
Put this together with two other facts:
Unemployment in America remains sky-high. 14 million Americans are out of work and 25 million are looking for full-time jobs.
The nation鈥檚 infrastructure is crumbling. Our roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, subways, gas pipelines, ports, airports, and school buildings are desperately in need of repair. Deferred maintenance is taking a huge toll.
Now connect the dots. Anyone with half a brain will see this is the ideal time to borrow money from the rest of the world to put Americans to work rebuilding the nation鈥檚 infrastructure.
Problem is, too many in Washington have less than half a brain.
