What you are about to read is the proposal of an economic stimulus package for the United States that makes sense, is easy to understand and benefits all levels of American society. Please do not have a heart attack.

This proposal is called the Infrastructure Refreshment Project and involves two primary components:

  • Federal subsidized commuter transport infrastructure
    • Put out to bid to potential contractors
    • Each candidate evaluated on dependence (or lack of) on petroleum products, flexibility, feasibility, cost to consumer, cost to government, environmental impacts, and ability to interface with the commercial freight infrastructure
  • Federal subsidized commercial freight infrastructure
    • Put out to bid to potential contractors
    • Each candidate evaluated on dependence (or lack of) on petroleum products, flexibility, feasibility, cost to consumer, cost to government, environmental impacts, and ability to easily interface with the commuter transport infrastructure

Bullet Train

How will this provide the much-needed economic stimulus?

The idea is to invest tax dollars on a revolutionary revitalization of the country’s infrastructure by migrating commuters and businesses from the aging roadways that are enormously expensive to maintain and implement needed upgrades to curb congestion and prevent disaster. The challenge of creating an entirely new method of transportation that is easily accessible to citizens’ homes and jobs while mitigating the impact of fuel by-products on the environment will provide incentives for businesses to be a part of a newly created market. This new market will generate new jobs and increase the payrolls of businesses reacting to newly created demand. Corporations stand to benefit from the government business, thus leading to higher profits. This ultimately benefits wealthier Americans by way of their investments. Corporations will also benefit from the lower cost commercial freight infrastructure that will replace the most commonly used method at present: trucks. The middle class stands to benefit from lower transportation costs and a cleaner environment. The metamorphosed infrastructure of the country will lead to eliminating the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, which is the key to reducing the trade deficit. Importation of foreign petroleum produces a significantly negative impact to the net import/export component of the U.S.’ Gross Domestic Product.

bridge-collapse.jpg

The Federal Government (not including States’ expenditures) spent an estimated $69.5 billion on transportation in 2005. This is clearly not all for the road system, but to put it in perspective the largest contributor to funding for road maintenance and construction is the Highway Trust Fund, which contributed $33.6 billion on roads alone in 2006. This illustrates the point that there is approximately $40 billion per year in Federal roadway funding on top of what the States, local governments, and toll roads contribute. The Federal funding for transportation should be increased dramatically, but also shifted from roads to alternative transportation, i.e. the Infrastructure Refreshment Project. The current estimates for the stimulus package currently being flushed out is anywhere from $140 to $150 billion. Acknowledgement: the proposal offered by George W. Bush is aimed at short-term assistance and the Infrastructure Refreshment Project is longer term strengthening. However, while GDP is only being projected at growing 0.6% in the last three months of 2007, it is still positive and will not likely experience any devastatingly negative near-term threats. A longer term solution is what the country is in dire need of because its citizens lack a common vision, but will once again unite under the banner of realizing the birth of an entirely new infrastructure in America.

Government spending will increase; corporate profits, payrolls and investments will expand; the lower unemployment rate coupled with more cash in citizens’ pockets results in consumer spending growing; and the trade deficit will be drastically reduced at a minimum, while possibly turned into a surplus if the infrastructure technology is innovative enough to be successfully exported. This equates to a positive impact on all four components of Gross Domestic Product and a progression towards a cleaner, healthier future for America. And you were happy with your $600 rebate check coming in four to five months…

Bullet Train Picture: BusinessWeek

Minnesota Bridge Picture: fp00n

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