White Paper in Support of the Nation Building Here at Home Act of 2012

Abstract

This white paper provides argumentation and data in support of the Nation Building Here at Home Act of 2012, an infrastructure investment statute introduced in the 112th Congress, 2d Session by Congressman Brian Higgins, 27th District of New York. It shows that the investment program instituted by the Act will significantly boost domestic employment, economic growth, and federal revenue, and in so doing will be partly self-financing. Moreover, in view of presently idle capacity, low borrowing costs, and the cost acceleration attributes of much of the crumbling infrastructure that the bill addresses, the program offers significant opportunity cost savings in respect of projects about which all agree that the question is not whether, but when they are to be undertaken. Add to this the sizable life, limb, and efficiency gains brought to the private sector by the planned public infrastructure-modernization, and the case for the statute is plain. Appendices include the statute itself and the macroeconomic numbers on which the case for it is partly based.