Editor: Draco Copper | Tactical Investor
Trump infrastructure plan; Is it viable?
Critics State Plan will lead to higher state and local taxes
And an increased reliance on user fees, such as tolls, water and sewer fees, transit fares and airline ticket taxes.
Senior White House officials who briefed reporters over the weekend say the plan is aimed at fixing the current system of funding infrastructure that they say is broken in two ways.
The first is that the country has been under-investing in infrastructure, leading a state of growing disrepair. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation a grade of D+ for the condition of transit, highway, bridge, rail, water and other infrastructure, and says the country is in need of an investment of $2 trillion more than is currently budgeted.
The second way the White House says the system is broken is in the lengthy federal permitting process, which officials say can take five to 10 years or longer, driving up costs. Full Story
Trump infrastructure plan is not viable according to some critics
The NY Times had this to say About Trumps Infrastructure Plan:
The increased infrastructure spending would be offset by unspecified budget cuts. Officials would not detail where those cuts would come from, or how the proposal would effectively leverage at least $6.50 in additional infrastructure spending for every dollar spent by the federal government, a ratio many infrastructure experts consider far-fetched … Administration officials say an increase in federal funds would unleash a wave of spending from cities, states and the private sector, the result of unspecified incentives in the plan. But many local and state officials have expressed concern in recent days that the administration’s faith in that potential effect is misplaced.
America’s Infrastructure is collapsing
Our country’s infrastructure is in urgent need of investment. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that more than $2 trillion in new funds are needed by 2025 to safeguard the functioning of our roads, bridges, mass transit, airports, and water systems. And, in theory, there should be room for bipartisan consensus on this issue: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a core Republican constituency, has called for financing nearly $400 billion in new infrastructure spending with a higher gasoline tax, new funds for worker training and development, and reforms streamlining the permitting process. Democrats have voiced support for proposals broadly similar to the Chambers. And the president has given every indication that he would be happy to support a “big government” approach to the infrastructure problem. Full Story
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