Tag: infrastructure spending: Page 4

Jobs Bill = [some] jobs

Infrastructure spending = jobs. Why is this simple equation not fully understood in Washington? Maybe it is understood but not accepted. Sometimes its possible to see Congress as a group of people standing out in the rain arguing about the best way to raise the umbrella. The jobs bill will create jobs, even its critics concede […]

March 29, 2010

Study identifies most congested cities

In today’s USA Today. Los Angeles, New York and Chicago take top billing. No surprises there. But there are a few you might not expect. Birmingham, Alabama at number 32, beats several cities with larger populations, as does Baton Rouge at number 35.

February 25, 2010

Argentina boosts infrastructure spending

Here in the U.S., we just seem to talk about it. It’s Argentina’s biggest public works plan in memory.

January 15, 2010

Stimulus spending: “A trickle instead of a torrent”

That’s how AGC chief economist Ken Simonson characterized the stimulus bill’s infrastructure spending thus far in his report on nonresidential construction today. From June to July public nonresidential construction slipped 0.8 percent. Private nonresidential construction fell 1.2 percent following a 2.2 percent decline the month before. This marks the fifth straight monthly decline in private nonres. Simonson […]

January 15, 2010

Construction Equipment

Transportation bill back in play?

Facing unrelentingly bad employment news the White House and Congress seem to be floating some trial balloons about the possibility of a second stimulus bill favorable to transportation infrastructure, according to Bloomberg’s news service. Key quote: “If there was to be another round of stimulus, additional infrastructure would be at the top of the list,” […]

January 11, 2010

Oregon pumps up the spending

A transportation bill, already passed by the Oregon House and Senate and enthusiastically endorsed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, is a signature away from being passed. If signed, the bill is expected to generate $300 million a year for infrastructure spending. New taxes would be implemented in two phases. Higher vehicle registration and title fees would […]

January 11, 2010

Considering a net-zero gas tax

One thing I hate to see conservatives do is to agitate against gas taxes. As taxes go it’s a fair one. Almost all the money goes to highway construction and maintenance, it’s the lowest gas tax in the civilized world, and it hasn’t been adjusted for inflation in more than a decade. Yet John McCain […]

January 11, 2010

Infrastructure funding proposals gain strength: bonds not bailouts, accountability and local control

Ah-nold wants you to know he’s pumped about the future of infrastructure spending. Governor’s Schwarzenegger along with Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, New YorkCity Mayor Michael Bloomberg and pollster Frank Luntz held a press conference yesterday to announce the results of poll commissioned by Building America’s Future. The poll found 81 percent of Americans […]

January 10, 2010

To finance infrastructure feds should sell land, bonds

As it’s currently conceived the federal government’s proposal to rebuild infrastructure and stimulate the economy is going to be financed by debt spending, which creates the danger of massive inflation, lets foreign countries own an even bigger chunk of our finances and sticks your children and grandchildren with the bill. There are two better solutions for […]

January 7, 2010

A definition of “shovel ready”

Thanks to the stimulus bill, the term “shovel ready” has entered the national lexicon. But the closer you look at what this means, the less satisfactory the answer. It’s amazing how the political class takes a poorly defined buzzword and turns it into the make-or-break clause in a $90 billion spending bill.

January 6, 2010

Stimulus bill treasure map

The Associated Press has put together a county-by-county map of where the infrastructure stimulus funds are being spent. As you scroll your cursor over the map you get dollar amounts, a description of the major projects in that county and, at least in Texas, the bid letting date.

January 6, 2010

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