The Economist (March 22)
“Global spending on basic infrastructure—transport, power, water and communications—currently amounts to $2.7 trillion a year when it ought to be $3.7 trillion. The gap is almost as big as South Korea’s GDP. And it is likely to grow fast.” To close the gap, governments need to step forward, and new ways need to be found to coax private capital investment in infrastructure.
Tags: Communications, Gap, GDP, Government, Infrastructure, Investment, Power, Private capital, South Korea, Spending, Transport, Water
Financial Times (November 3)
“Some kinds of public investment bring very high returns for the rest of the economy–such as spending on basic scientific research or fixing infrastructure bottlenecks–and they are under grave threat from today’s swingeing spending cuts in the US.” Austerity is reigning in public sector capital investment, which “has dropped to just 3.6 per cent of US output compared with a postwar average of 5 per cent.”
Tags: Austerity, Bottlenecks, Capital investment, Cuts, Economy, Infrastructure, Output, Postwar, Public sector, Returns, Scientific research, Spending, U.S.
Forbes (September 8)
“As for Olympic infrastructure, the Japanese are famously good at meeting deadlines, which should come in handy when state-of-the-art new facilities need to be built. Another factor is Tokyo’s mass transit system, which in many ways is the world’s most sophisticated – indeed far more sophisticated than it was in the 1980s, when it was already well ahead of most Western cities.”
Tags: Deadlines, Facilities, Infrastructure, Japan, Mass transit, Olympics, Sophisticated, Tokyo
Washington Post (May 20, 2013)
“For all the wonders of the digital revolution, there is a turbulent and largely hidden underside of theft and disruption that grows by the day; the losses are often not counted in stacks of $20 bills but rather in millions of dollars of intellectual property stolen or compromised. Computer networks are vital to American capitalism and society but remain surprisingly vulnerable to hijack and hijinks.” More worryingly, the electric grid and much of the public infrastructure is also vulnerable. The U.S. needs to “erect better defenses” against cyberattack.
Tags: Computer networks, Cyberattack, Digital revolution, Disruption, Electric grid, Infrastructure, Intellectual property, Losses, U.S.
Washington Post (April 15, 2013)
“The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces a financial death spiral. Burdened by excess infrastructure, outmoded regulations and high labor costs — not to mention facing digital-age obsolescence — USPS posted an operating loss of $15.9 billion in fiscal 2012 and is on course to lose an estimated $7.9 billion in fiscal 2013.”
Tags: Digital age, Infrastructure, Labor, Operating loss, Regulations, U.S., USPS
New York Times (January 8, 2012)
Americans are warned that their country could follow Japan and face lost decades. This is a myth. Japan is not a fallen giant. Indeed it has quietly been strengthening its competitiveness. “Japan should be held up as a model, not an admonition. If a nation can summon the will to pull together, it can turn even the most unpromising circumstances to advantage. Here Japan’s constant upgrading of its infrastructure is surely an inspiration. It is a strategy that often requires cooperation across a wide political front.”
Tags: Cooperation, Infrastructure, Japan, Lost decades, U.S.
