Work that states need to do but the banks won’t fund

Nov 17, 2008

Why can’t New York City get money for school repairs? Why can’t Baltimore City extend its transit system? Why can’t Billings, Montana repair its hospital? Why can’t Georgia upgrade its sewage treatment plants?

They’ve all been shut out of the capital markets because the big banks are hoarding their money. It doesn’t matter if the states have been selling their bonds before. It doesn’t even matter if the states’ credit rating are tip-top. The banks that got the big government bailouts – supposedly so they would start lending again – aren’t lending. And this is shutting down the whole economy.

Thousands of capital projects need doing everywhere and millions of people are looking for work. The Association of State Highway Transportation Officials estimates 3000 projects across the country are ready to start the minute the states can find the funding.

700 billion poured into such projects could create jobs and inject life into an economy which is dying.