USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: Obama's infrastructure fixes: VISIONARY LEADERSHIP AT WORK!!!

Ogonna OMO,

Your economics almost se mi le se! The bottomline is that Debt Investment strategy in targeted Critical Sectors is the MOST PRAGMATIC approach to jump-stand and grow an economy because it fosters innovations, new discoveries and breakthroughs, robust research and development activities, active entrepreneurship, massive employment opportunities, increases production and export, enhanes cash flow and augments income base; from these numerous activities, if there is effective managemennt, adequate commitment and  sufficent focus, Profitability shows up in Black Ink on the Treasury balance sheet. The most recent in America was the Dot.com/Silicon Valley euphoria of the early to late 1990s.

For ANY SERIOUS NATION pursuing economic growth and global leadership through production and services, the necessary infrastructural support MUST be put in place. Most other economic activities emanate from or depend on these infrastructures. The vast majority of SERIOUS nations know this reality (except Nigeria of course that does not realize that without regular electricity and pipeborne water, she will continue to spin on her wheels). Just watch what happens in USA from 2011-2012. Daalu and take care. JUI (still believes he's an Economics Guru!)

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From: O.M.O. [mailto:ogonna@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wed 08-Sep-10 7:18 PM
To: Igietseme, Joseph (CDC/OID/NCPDCID)
Cc: All Nigerians In Diaspora; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com; TalkNigeria@yahoogroups.com; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; NIDOA@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: NIDOA | Obama's infrastructure fixes: VISIONARY LEADERSHIP AT WORK!!!

Dr. JUI,

We've be saying this all along--- the Felix Rohatyn crowd controlling 'wall street' monies has been on a 40 yr anti-FDR mass infrastructure re-building much needed in the USA.

But here is the 'koko' -- the crux of the issue is MONEY right? how does a govt. trillions of dollars in debt float the much needed Credit to fund such essential long-term projects without sinking itself further into debt? Some say PPP-- public private patnership-- ? But we know where that leads to--- the sharks come in a demand their pound of flesh if ROI -- return on investments is not quick enough-- the public pays the hefty price--- what then is the function of public utility and the role of government in general welfare if it's not affordable? My crowd, advocates what the writer hints as Infrastructure development banks but runs short of the 'back-bone' policy to support such an institution-- currency re-organization coupled with regulation of the current bank system. Nothing short of a return to the fixed-exchange rate system of agreements between the 'power houses of nations' from the Atlantic to the pacific with China, India, Russia and USA backing such could support such mass infrastructure projects on a long- run. Even at such, the idea of National Banking ( which ironically Sanusi had embarked on in Nigeria)  separating the  activities of commercial banking from other  tiers of banking systems would be an essential precursor to such reorganization--- hence the government could separate their involvement into credit funding of banks along strict lines of financial and infrastructure activities of a nation. Only then can the people muster the 'political will' to incest their future in such a sade haven. That remains the real fight raging on the political scene.

Ogonna.  

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 8, 2010, at 3:54 PM, "Igietseme, Joseph (CDC/OID/NCPDCID)" <jbi8@cdc.gov> wrote:

 

Obama's bridge, train and road fix

President Obama is proposing an "infrastructure bank" that might take the pork out of road building. By Steve Hargreaves, Senior writerSeptember 8, 2010: 2:53 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Government transportation spending is full of costly boondoggles.

President Obama is proposing a way out of that. As part of a wider spending program he detailed Wednesday that includes tax breaks for businesses and $50 billion in infrastructure spending, the president is floating the idea of an "infrastructure bank."

An infrastructure bank is designed to leverage public money with private funds, creating much more bang for the taxpayer buck. It's also designed to take politics out of infrastructure spending by moving the decision making away from Congress to an independent panel. Think of it as a way to avoid more bridges to nowhere.

The idea garners support from transportation experts of all ideological stripes.

"For every dollar you spend, you get substantially more investment," said Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress who specializes in energy and infrastructure. "It's really a smart way to do it."

While the bank faces strong opposition on Capitol Hill, here's how it might work:

Obama offered little in the way of details on how the bank would be funded or structured. But Emil Frankel, a former transportation expert in the administration of George W. Bush and now director of transportation policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said it could be started with an initial investment of maybe $2 to $4 billion.

That money would be used to guarantee loans for private capital on projects the private sector is interested in funding. That would include any infrastructure with a revenue stream like toll bridges and highways, Internet cables, or high speed rail.

Frankel said loan guarantees allow private firms to access capital at low interest rates. They generally result in garnering about 10 times the investment for each dollar of government money - so $4 billion in guarantees would generate $40 billion in spending.

The money is certainly needed.

Engineering groups have long criticized the country for neglecting its infrastructure. The nation now has a backlog of some $2.2 trillion in projects that need funding, according to the latest report from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

0:00 /2:32Obama's $300 billion New Deal

"If we rely solely on public money right now, we're really in trouble," said Hendricks. "We're nowhere near to closing that gap."

Another benefit to the bank is that it takes infrastructure decisions out of the sometimes pork-soaked hands of politicians and puts them in those of transportation experts.

"We need a source of funding for major projects that's not dependent on partisan politics," said Ken Orski, publisher of the infrastructure newsletter Innovation NewsBriefs and a former transportation official in the Nixon and Ford administrations. "This is a good idea."

But that very concept may be a source of the bank's undoing.

In addition to the usual concerns over too much spending in a time of massive deficits, the bank faces considerable opposition from Congress members concerned about their loss of power.

"Congress would lose their ability to fund major infrastructure projects," said Orski, who added that there are big concerns about "delegating major investment decisions to unelected bureaucrats." 

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