Our Crumbling Economy Needs The National Infrastructure Bank

The US economy is crumbling before our eyes. Inflation, banks failing, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, and deteriorating infrastructure are all signs of troubling times. And the worst may be yet to come. Bailouts and band aids don’t work. We can’t do the same thing repeatedly, and expect a different outcome.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, and Signature may be the canaries in the coal mine. Hundreds of other banks are likely insolvent. Our fragile economy is built on financial speculation and the whims of billionaires. It exploits the majority to build wealth for a few.

The only durable solution is to build a strong, productive economy that works for all of us. The wealth of this nation is what we actually produce. The result is a growing standard of living for the entire population and an expanding physical output. It’s how the nation was built. We need to build infrastructure and industry, and invest in people.

Congressional passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021 was a good first step, but it wasn’t enough. It is a short term, five-year “fix”, but falls short compared to the need. Congress must invest ten times that amount!

There is an immediate remedy at hand. We must establish a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), as outlined in HR 3339 in the

117th Congress. This law would create a public bank with a dedicated mission to finance the infrastructure needs of the nation. The last such institution, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, was used by President Franklin Roosevelt to finance massive infrastructure and industrial expansion, off the budget of the Congress. Many New Deal projects in New York and elsewhere were the result of this institution.

Over the next ten years the NIB will invest five trillion dollars for small and large infrastructure projects alike. These will include: roads, bridges, upgraded electrical grids, replacing all lead service lines, affordable housing, high speed and passenger rail, and universal broadband. There’s enough money for Red States and Blue States. A win-win!

A new bill is being readied for introduction into the 118th Congress. The NIB will require no new federal spending or federal taxes! It will be capitalized by existing Treasury debt, in a debt for equity swap. The NIB will finance all needed projects. Economists estimate it will increase GDP by 5% per year, and productivity by over 3% per year. We have not seen this rate of growth for fifty years!

The NIB investment in infrastructure will be coupled with workforce development. Millions of people will build and sustain the projects. The bank will pay prevailing wages, mandate Buy America purchases for all construction inputs, and ensure substantial minority and disadvantaged business participation. The Buy America provisions will increase manufacturing in the U.S. and New York and stimulate the addition of millions of new additional jobs. The bank will create upwards of 20 million new high-wage jobs including at least 1.6 million new jobs in New York State.

With this type of bold investment, the working middle class will be able to build and invest into their future, into their communities, and new businesses. Ironically, investment into infrastructure and industry is anti-inflationary. It is also the only program which can reverse the oncoming recession of the Federal Reserve. The Fed wants to lay off millions of Americans; the National Infrastructure Bank will hire tens of millions of people at high wages. We can have an economy that works for all people. We can build a society that serves the needs of the nation, not the wobbly Too-Big-ToFail Banks and their big corporate allies. Please join the campaign.

—Submitted by Joe Sackman, New York Progressive Action Network

Jason Richberg, 15th Legislative District Alphecca Muttardy, International Monetary Fund DC