Around laborday this year, the president of the United Staes of America, made this statement in his speech regading the new Stimulus to aid the down riding economy
“It sets up an Infrastructure Bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments.”
Infrastructure Bank? Smartest investments?
.
For a historical perspective, we need to look back to August 2007 during the Bush administration when S.1926 was introduced (National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007) by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
The failed bill provided for an independent government entity (think FDIC, for instance) with a five-member board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
In 2009, the Obama Administration promoted similar legislation introduced into the House as H.R.2521 by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to,
"facilitate efficient investments and financing of infrastructure projects and new job creation through the establishment of a National Infrastructure Development Bank, and for other purposes."
The Administration was so certain that this would pass (it has not) that the 2010 budget included appropriations for a National Infrastructure Bank. (See Investing for Success, Brookings Institution, p.11)
Dodd himself called S.1926 a,
“unique and powerful public-private partnership” that would offer a “fresh solution to the challenge of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.”
It was originally to be funded by a $60 billion bond issue which would be then leveraged with private capital. Obama’s new twist is to forget the bond and just give $50 billion of taxpayer money directly to kick - start the NIB.
A public-private partnership in this context is reminiscent of the World Bank's Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure program (PPPI) whose objective,
"is to provide capacity building to help client governments create the proper environment to develop successful and sustainable PPPs, as well as to provide technical assistance to client countries in issues related to PPP program design, development, and implementation."
However, the World Bank explains their agenda more fully:
"The program initially focuses on core infrastructure sectors - energy, water, transport, and telecommunications - and will progressively cover the main social sectors such as education, health and housing."
This may suggest the intended meaning of "other purposes" mentioned above in H.R.2421. Obama made no mention of NIB revenue bonds that would be used to pay back loans with by tolls, fees, etc.
Most importantly, all infrastructure spending/lending/appropriations would circumvent Congress forever more. In fact, the whole affair would be off-agency, meaning that the accounting for it would not show up in the national budget, but would potentially create a huge contingent liability for taxpayers down the road.
So, who were the policy wonks behind the NIB and S.1926 in 2007? (You know it wasn’t Dodd or Hagel!)
Fortunately, the press release on Dodd’s own website gives full credit:
“Last year, Senators Dodd and Hagel signed on to a set of ‘Guiding Principles for Strengthening America’s Infrastructure’ developed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Public Infrastructure,” said CSIS President and CEO John Hamre.
“These principles were established to recommend changes to rebuild America’s decaying infrastructure. CSIS is proud to have helped stimulate this important initiative.
The current CSIS board is stacked with notorious Trilateral Commission members like,
Zbigniew Brzezinski
William Brock
Harold Brown
Richard Armitage
Carla Hills (architect of NAFTA)
Henry Kissinger
Joseph Nye
James Schlesinger
Brent Scowcroft
www.bibliotecapleyades.com
“It sets up an Infrastructure Bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments.”
Infrastructure Bank? Smartest investments?
.
For a historical perspective, we need to look back to August 2007 during the Bush administration when S.1926 was introduced (National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007) by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
The failed bill provided for an independent government entity (think FDIC, for instance) with a five-member board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
In 2009, the Obama Administration promoted similar legislation introduced into the House as H.R.2521 by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to,
"facilitate efficient investments and financing of infrastructure projects and new job creation through the establishment of a National Infrastructure Development Bank, and for other purposes."
The Administration was so certain that this would pass (it has not) that the 2010 budget included appropriations for a National Infrastructure Bank. (See Investing for Success, Brookings Institution, p.11)
Dodd himself called S.1926 a,
“unique and powerful public-private partnership” that would offer a “fresh solution to the challenge of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.”
It was originally to be funded by a $60 billion bond issue which would be then leveraged with private capital. Obama’s new twist is to forget the bond and just give $50 billion of taxpayer money directly to kick - start the NIB.
A public-private partnership in this context is reminiscent of the World Bank's Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure program (PPPI) whose objective,
"is to provide capacity building to help client governments create the proper environment to develop successful and sustainable PPPs, as well as to provide technical assistance to client countries in issues related to PPP program design, development, and implementation."
However, the World Bank explains their agenda more fully:
"The program initially focuses on core infrastructure sectors - energy, water, transport, and telecommunications - and will progressively cover the main social sectors such as education, health and housing."
This may suggest the intended meaning of "other purposes" mentioned above in H.R.2421. Obama made no mention of NIB revenue bonds that would be used to pay back loans with by tolls, fees, etc.
Most importantly, all infrastructure spending/lending/appropriations would circumvent Congress forever more. In fact, the whole affair would be off-agency, meaning that the accounting for it would not show up in the national budget, but would potentially create a huge contingent liability for taxpayers down the road.
So, who were the policy wonks behind the NIB and S.1926 in 2007? (You know it wasn’t Dodd or Hagel!)
Fortunately, the press release on Dodd’s own website gives full credit:
“Last year, Senators Dodd and Hagel signed on to a set of ‘Guiding Principles for Strengthening America’s Infrastructure’ developed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Public Infrastructure,” said CSIS President and CEO John Hamre.
“These principles were established to recommend changes to rebuild America’s decaying infrastructure. CSIS is proud to have helped stimulate this important initiative.
The current CSIS board is stacked with notorious Trilateral Commission members like,
Zbigniew Brzezinski
William Brock
Harold Brown
Richard Armitage
Carla Hills (architect of NAFTA)
Henry Kissinger
Joseph Nye
James Schlesinger
Brent Scowcroft
www.bibliotecapleyades.com