Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

[Sapiens]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

if i'm not mistaken, bechtel is private.

THINK BIG. Really big. Else, I seem to be wasting my time here.

[FRED]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

THINK BIG. Really big. Else, I seem to be wasting my time here.

I'm thinking public/private enterprises, direct use of public funds, government participation on boards, just like in China and Russia.

Did you know 32 or the largest 33 companies in China are majority owned by the government? Works for them.

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Perhaps the word 'tragic' in the thread title is inappropriate, as this topic's posts seem more focused upon investment implications?

It might be more appropriately entitled :

<< Investment themes of interest emerging subsequent to the Minnesota bridge collapse >> ?

"Tragic" is fine and appropriate. It takes events of serious consequence to get serious attention of those who might, just might, be moved to take remedial action.

Is it possible I detect some high moral tone in your suggestion?

I think EJ needs to interview some Bible slapper and see if he cannot offer some moral guidance about how iTulipers would best play in the investment world.

[metalman]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Let's hope no one puts a link to this post on a FREEper friendly site.

Whenever I've written (on any forum other than this one) that USers might be better served in every way by spending money at home instead paying private armies of mercenaries or instead of buying bombs and machineguns and helicopter gunships I get angrily, insultingly shouted down .

they are ideologues. this site appears to be about how the world really works and what, because of that, is probably going to happen. fanatics always get these things wrong. they don't last long here. they mostly get bored & frustrated when no on rises to the occasion to do semantic battle with them, they drift off. unless they get unruly and fred throws them out.

[DemonD]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

I'm thinking public/private enterprises, direct use of public funds, government participation on boards, just like in China and Russia.

Did you know 32 or the largest 33 companies in China are majority owned by the government? Works for them.

As opposed to 32 of the largest 33 companies in the US owning the government?

back on topic:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02376862.htm

some highlights:

" Rep. James Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, blamed President George W. Bush's administration for shortchanging road and bridge repair in a highway funding bill two years ago.

Bush, he said, "failed to support a robust investment in surface transportation," adding the president insisted on only $2 billion a year for bridge reconstruction when lawmakers were pushing for $3 billion a year."

"The problem of aging infrastructure is not new. A 2002 report by the Department of Transportation said about 30 percent of the nation's highway bridges were structurally or functionally deficient."



"But Harries said infrastructure failures happen more frequently than most people notice, pointing to the collapse of a concrete bridge box girder near Pittsburgh in 2005 and the recent explosion of a steam pipe in Manhattan. Part of the problem is finding maintenance funds."


Another view, the recently passed water infrastructure bill has some good things but $5bln in pork:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/2250050.cms

I really hate politicians.

[bill]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

A few months ago I posted a EY Infrastructure 2007 Report http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...11398#poststop. I highly recommend you read it page to page.

The Report:http://www.ey.com/Global/assets.nsf/..._ULIReport.pdf

[quigleydoor]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Bill, this EY report looks like a great resource. Thanks!

FT's Lex column had a note on U.S. infrastructure today: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/15451bec-437...0779fd2ac.html

They list some obstacles in getting new electricity infrastructure online. They argue that owners of existing infrastructure will benefit from the bottlenecks. But their returns could be held back by the credit squeeze messing up their leverage.

[metalman]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Bill, this EY report looks like a great resource. Thanks!

FT's Lex column had a note on U.S. infrastructure today: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/15451bec-437...0779fd2ac.html

They list some obstacles in getting new electricity infrastructure online. They argue that owners of existing infrastructure will benefit from the bottlenecks. But their returns could be held back by the credit squeeze messing up their leverage.

this credit squeeze if gonna make every long bet tough. i'm focusing on the best things to short.

wonder why gold has been holding up relatively well while everything else is tanking?

[bill]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Bill, this EY report looks like a great resource. Thanks!

FT's Lex column had a note on U.S. infrastructure today: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/15451bec-437...0779fd2ac.html

They list some obstacles in getting new electricity infrastructure online. They argue that owners of existing infrastructure will benefit from the bottlenecks. But their returns could be held back by the credit squeeze messing up their leverage.

I would of guessed a few months ago our first infrastructure collapse would be electric transmission distribution grid related, not a bridge collapse. Its just a matter of time before we see a break down in our electric grid if something is not soon done about it. If they can successfully capture co2 http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications...rojects_P.html it may take some pressure off of coal and gas but in my opinion its not a long term solution.

I believe a immediate solution would be to implement programs like IBM http://www-03.ibm.com/industries/uti...l?g_type=pspot and GridPoint http://www.gridpoint.com/.

Investors for infrastructure want ownership not paper, solution PPP.

[rabot10]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Hey if they are just making the money up with a journal entry, why not spend it on something that will at the least helps the people that they are stealing it from – I think they should spend more on alternate energy just print it and build the dam things before the rest of the world realizes that it is play money. What do U think? :cool:

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

I would of guest a few months ago our first infrastructure collapse would be electric transmission distribution grid related,

Well if you guest that, why don't you move next store to me and buy my chester drawers?

[Slimprofits]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Time Mag talks to Oberstar about infrastructure spending

The top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, where he has represented Minnesota for 34 years, Oberstar says not only is the system primed for such an infusion but he believes the roughly $65 billion in infrastructure stimulus requested by President-elect Barack Obama will create at least a million jobs by June. (Read "How to Spend a Trillion Dollars.")

The funds will be split among nine areas for which Oberstar is responsible: highways and bridges, transit, rail, aviation, environmental infrastructure, Army Corps of Engineers, brownfields, federal buildings, and Coast Guard and maritime administration. All the money will go to projects that are shovel-ready — meaning they've completed their environmental-impact studies, the engineering and design plans have been approved and certified, and in the case of roads, the rights of way have been acquired. The projects are all outside the regular transportation process. Most transportation infrastructure is financed through a formula — usually an 80%-20% split between the federal and state governments. "It'd be very tempting for a state transportation department to say, 'Well, we were going to build road XYZ with 80-20 funds, but now that we've got federal funding, we'll just do it with 100% federal funds,'" Oberstar says. "No. The projects that we're proposing to fund with 100% grant money have to be in addition to that so that they're a real stimulus."

And for all those who claim that the messy bureaucracy usually involved in the quadrennial transportation legislation would hardly be an effective spark for a deeply troubled economy, Oberstar insists this time is different. All projects will be required to have broken ground and to report back to Congress on their progress within 60 days of the bill's enactment. They must report again in an additional 90 days and once again 60 days after that. All these reports will be combed over by the Obama Administration and Congress and will be made public online. "I've never seen anything like this," Oberstar marvels. To ensure that the system will be effective, Oberstar has recruited the Government Accountability Office, Congress's watchdog, and the Transportation Department's inspector general to oversee the process and give feedback along the way. "[We] said, 'This is what we'd like. What are your suggestions for improvements? How do you recommend rigorous standards in law and oversight in the process?'" Oberstar says.

[..]

As part of the infrastructure push, Obama has asked for at least $2.5 billion to help transform federally owned civilian spaces — some 367 million sq. ft. that generate a $5 million annual electric bill — into green buildings. The subject is close to Oberstar's heart; he's been trying to get a photovoltaic roof installed atop the Energy Department since 1977. "We could cut that electricity bill 40% with photovoltaic facilities," he says. There are also funds for green transit, like buses that run on natural and propane gases, hybrid systems or batteries, and money to build a more efficient system of loading and unloading shipping cargo directly onto train tracks, as is already done on the Yucat�n Peninsula in Mexico and in Mobile, Ala.

Last night we had a customer in the bar enjoying his last night in California before heading off to Boise, Idaho for LEEDS certification training. This refurbishing business is going to be huge.

[bill]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Reston, VA – The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) today released its 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, a comprehensive assessment of the nation’s infrastructure across 16 sectors. Updated once every four years, this year’s Report Card found that America’s cumulative GPA for infrastructure rose slightly to a D+ from a D in 2009. The Report Card estimates total investment needs at $3.6 trillion by 2020 across all 16 sectors, leaving a funding shortfall of $1.6 trillion based on current funding levels.

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

[lektrode]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Reston, VA – The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) today released its 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure,

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

wonder if and what it'll take, to get someones attention 'in town' on this one.

we keep hearing about some mythical 'pivot to jobs' an all...

guess if it dont require BS degrees - or degrees in BS - they dont know what fo do...

[dcarrigg]

Re: Tragic symbol of need to build US infrastructure

Seems to me the investment class is too busy figuring out a way to make money off sending tweets from zero-emission electric hypertubes in space to worry about bread and butter these days. After all, who needs bread when you've got plenty of cake?