It's the Infrastructure Stupid

From Fareed Zakaria in his Time blog posting from November 7, 2012 - - How to Rebuild Trust - and Infrastructure:

"In the long run, you cannot have robust growth without strong infrastructure.  The U.S. has historically been world class in this regard.  Only a decade ago we were ranked fifth in overall infrastructure by the World Economic Forum; today we have dropped to 25th.  The American Society of Civil Engineers calculates that we have a $2 trillion backlog of repairs that must be done over the next five years to stay competitive.

Hurricane Sandy should give us a sense of urgency about these projects.  Our crumbling levees, roads, subways and bridges are not just barriers to growth; they are dangers to our lives.  We are simply not prepared for a world in which there will be sharp increases in hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and perhaps even earthquakes.  We could use concern about these threats to build a new and more resilient system, including most vitally a new energy and information grid, so that we are protected from nature, resilient is hardship and poised for growth."