Every time you turn on the television or radio you hear the word economy, infrastructure, unemployment etc.. You hear countries that lack infrastructure or countries whose infrastructure is crumbling. You hear lay off of 1000s of workers. Prices of raw materials like copper, steel and aluminum dropping. Energy prices going down etc..
But it is always followed by more doom and gloom than the silver lining. There is no better time than now for the governments around the world to say "yes, we are going to take charge and borrow money and fund infrastructure projects". Because:
1) credit is cheap, investors would be more than glad to buy government bonds when their stock investments are going negative by the second.
2) plenty of construction labor, equipment and companies are idle at this time. They would be more than glad to bid on a government project which is guaranteed to pay than for a company that might file bankruptcy tomorrow night. There will be great competition and government could choose the company with best quality and fastest track record for the lowest price.
3) raw materials are cheaper, oil price is lower and dollar is stronger so more bang for the buck. Together this is a strong concoction that could be a shot in the arm for any government project.
4) recent high prices oil price and economic downturn together have reduced traffic on the roads. Which means best time to do road repair, expansion and improvement projects. Which also means opened opportunity for public transportation to have another shot (since trams were systematically done away with, by Detroit automakers). It has opened up a chance to develop high speed train corridors like SFO/LA, PDX/Vancouver-BC, DC/Montreal etc, NY/chicago etc.
5) recent high oil prices have also raised awareness and a need for US energy independence. Which also opens need for building power lines to connect places where there is abundant and uninterrupted supply of solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and hydro powers with high demand centers.
6) Fence along the border to reduce illegal immigration, drug trafficking and prevent another terrorist via porous southern borders.
I sincerely pray that politicians regain some sense and do something sensible and responsible once their lives at this time of crisis.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment