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December 2, 2008 4:31:19 AM CST


infrastructure

infrastructure news stories

14 Stories

(Newser) - Barack Obama says he will move quickly once in office to enact an ambitious, two-year plan to save or create 2.5 million jobs, Bloomberg reports. Obama announced his plan in his weekly radio address, where he also warned that “we risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further.” About 1.2 million jobs have already been lost this year, and the trend could continue. More »

ANALYSIS

 US Infrastructure 
 Is a 'Bridge to 
 Almost Nowhere' 

Infrastructure spending is critical, but not on bridges to nowhere

(Newser) - Recently the House passed an $18 billion infrastructure bill, and Barack Obama has indicated that he'll ask for billions more in spending to create jobs while improving the nation's roads and bridges. But as New York Times columnist David Leonhardt writes, insufficient investment is only part of the problem. At the moment federal projects aren't linked to any goals, such as reducing congestion or pollution; instead we're building "Bridges to (Almost) Nowhere." More »

 Public Works Eyed 
 as Economic Jumpstart 

Economists increasingly look to infrastructure spending for job creation

(Newser) - Once dismissed as too slow to address America’s quick slide into crisis, New Deal-esque public works projects are becoming increasingly attractive as long-term economic troubles look likely to set in, the Los Angeles Times reports. Infrastructure spending will likely be a major component of the upcoming Obama-backed, multibillion-dollar stimulus package Democrats will propose to Congress. More »

More about:  Financial Crisis economic stimulus infrastructure New Deal jobs

OPINION

Brooks: Want Real Economic Stimulus? Fix the Roads

A National Mobility Project would create jobs, leaving lasting impact: Brooks

(Newser) - Panic is afoot, so of course, Congress is bearing down on another stimulus package, though the last one seems to have missed the mark. These “politically designed, ad hoc” measures “amount to an economic sugar rush,” David Brooks writes in the New York Times . If he’s wise, the next president will eschew checks for one essential project: rebuilding America’s transit infrastructure. More »

More about:  Financial Crisis alternative energy stimulus package highways infrastructure

OPINION

Green Economy Will Be Obama's First Big Challenge

No easy task to convince Congress to sacrifice its own self-interest

(Newser) - What’s on the front burner for a hypothetical Obama administration? Most of Washington seems to be jockeying for spots in the Cabinet, but Joe Klein of Time points out that Barack Obama (or John McCain) will be the first president since FDR to inherit neither peace nor prosperity. Obama’s top priority, “a government-propelled transition to an alternative-energy economy,” addresses both. More »

More about:  Barack Obama Election 2008 John McCain infrastructure green-collar jobs

 American Airports: 
 Shiny, New, and Empty 

Decades-long projects completed as industry turns down

(Newser) - In the boom years of the last decade, cities across America broke ground on major airport expansions, from additional runways to new terminals. Now those projects are being completed—just as air travel has slowed and hundreds of planes are being grounded. Flights may be less congested, writes the New York Times , but travelers are paying for the new capacity through even higher fares. More »

More about:  economy airline air travel airport infrastructure

States Fret as Road Salt Grows Scarce, Pricey

Last year's winter depleted reserves

(Newser) - Road salt is stressing state and municipal budgets as shortages drive prices up well past what local governments have paid in the past, USA Today reports. A harsh winter last year left many states with no salt reserves to carry over, meaning they have to fully restock at inflated prices. New Hampshire is paying $10 million for salt that cost $8 million last year. More »

More about:  Ohio New Hampshire ice state governments infrastructure winter salt state spending road budget city government local politics budgets

OPINION

Petraeus' Iraq Strategy
Is Ill-Suited to Afghanistan

Counterinsurgency expert may need to learn a few new tricks to quell Taliban rebellion

(Newser) - Gen. David Petraeus faces an uphill battle in replicating the successes of the Iraq surge in Afghanistan, Michael Evans writes in the Times of London, “because the economic, social and political conditions are so different.” Afghanistan doesn’t have nearly the natural, fertile resources, and neither the US nor NATO allies can provide much in the way of troop reinforcements. More »

More about:  Iraq Afghanistan Taliban Middle East War on Terror David Petraeus surge opium infrastructure

Foreign Companies Cash In on Stable Iraq

Baghdad aggressively courts international investment

(Newser) - With security and stability on the rise, Iraq’s government is turning its attention, and its generous budget, toward reconstruction. That’s led to some big opportunities for Western businesses, which are scrambling to get a cut of the country’s $25 billion reconstruction budget. Iraq, which lacks the resources to rebuild on its own, is just as eager to make deals, reports Der Spiegel. More »

More about:  Iraq Iraq government Iraq contractors infrastructure foreign investment Iraq reconstruction

OPINION

Here Comes
Era of Activist Government

It's necessary, and McCain is better suited for the job: Brooks

(Newser) - With daunting issues demanding immediate action—energy, the markets, and crumbling infrastructure to name but a few—the US is about to enter a phase of "government activism," writes David Brooks in the New York Times . Bad news for John McCain, right? Maybe not. As past periods of great change show, it is more often the conservatives leading the way in such eras . More »

More about:  John McCain health care politics energy financial markets conservatives infrastructure change Teddy Roosevelt

 Levees Crumbling,
 Midwest Struggles
 to Stem Tide 

Aging infrastructure is barely coping with severe weather

(Newser) - The worst flooding in 15 years has exposed some serious vulnerabilities in the Midwest's aging infrastructure, the Chicago Tribune reports. Levees, bridges, and dams, some a century old, are barely coping with severe storms—while some are collapsing completely. Dikes and levees broke in several states last week after torrential rains, destroying homes and flooding farmland. More »

More about:  Iowa Illinois flood flooding Indiana Wisconsin severe weather Midwest bridge levees infrastructure

An Oil Giant, Alaska Faces Gas Crisis

Poor infrastructure, focus on oil exploration behind costly supply issues

(Newser) - Alaska—home of America's largest energy reserves—is facing a major energy crunch. The problem is a lack of infrastructure to get natural gas where it needs to be, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "It's the goofiest thing in the world, to be sitting on top of some of the biggest energy reserves in the world and have these challenges," one official says. More »

More about:  gas prices Alaska oil energy alternative energy oil drilling oil supply natural gas infrastructure

US Hurricane Aid
Snarled in Red Tape

$3.5B to replace schools and firehouses languishing in accounts

(Newser) - Billions of dollars in FEMA aid earmarked for rebuilding infrastructure pulverized by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes have yet to be spent on thousands of important projects such as replacing schools and firehouses, USA Today reports. Out of $4.5 billion in aid to Louisiana and Mississippi, only $1 billion has been spent. Much of the rest is sitting in state accounts until local authorities can get through tangles of local and federal red tape. More »

More about:  Hurricane Katrina Louisiana aid FEMA Katrina aftermath Gulf Coast infrastructure

Why Small Government
Has Collapsed

Prospect writer says Dems can drown movement in bathtub

(Newser) - Democrats have never been so well positioned to sell big-government liberalism—as the other side looks pathetically out of step with Americans’ desires to expand health care and bolster infrastructure, says the American Prospect ’s Paul Waldman. After the Minnesota bridge collapse, the public is ready for the party that says “we’re all in it together” rather than “we’re all on our own.” More »

More about:  Hillary Clinton George W. Bush Democrats health care health insurance Americans infrastructure SCHIP Andrew Sullivan

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