It caused an epiphany regarding infrastructure projects — roads, harbors, airports, etc. Today’s long lag between the conception and execution of infrastructure projects is one reason they are dubious as countercyclical economic stimulants and as jobs programs for the unemployed. Both presidential candidates endorsed huge increases in infrastructure spending, so we are about to relearn that bipartisanship, whatever its many merits, usually means a recklessly open spending spigot. As is the inclination to direct infrastructure spending to stagnant regions, where it is unlikely to stimulate growth, rather than to regions where economic dynamism is putting pressure on, and being dampened by, inadequate infrastructure. Americans hoped that commerce, ignited by infrastructure, would weld the nation’s sections, defusing the danger of disunion.

Source: Washington Post November 26, 2016 00:22 UTC