Minority Contractors Want an Infrastructure Bank

April 27, 2020—The National Association of Minority Contractors has joined the movement for the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB). In a statement issued April 24, the group urged Congress to establish a bank capitalized by existing Treasury debt, which would generate $4 trillion credit dedicated to rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and creating millions of jobs.

A video describing how such a bank would work can be found here.

The National Association has been in existence since 1969.  It describes itself as the “leading representative of minority contractors in the nation,” as well as a strong advocate for “minority trade workers and undocumented veterans in the construction industry.”

This NIB idea has been endorsed by other national organizations, including the National Congress of Black Women, the National Association of Counties, and the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers. Resolutions in support of the concept have been introduced in 17 state legislatures, as well as many county and city councils.

Despite some rhetoric coming recently from President Trump about the idea of investing in a major infrastructure drive as a response to the current health/infrastructure crisis, neither Congress nor the White House have shown any signs of moving in that direction.  The hang-up is not only political; it is also the lack of any understanding of the methods of FDR, Abraham Lincoln, John Quincy Adams, and Alexander Hamilton in using Federal credit to build a productive economy.

As FDR’s New Deal and World War II economic mobilization demonstrated, the application of Federal credit to building an upgraded infrastructure, based on the most advanced technology available, is the key to boosting not only employment, but the productivity of the economy as a whole. FDR used the Reconstruction Finance Corporation; today, the instrument of choice is a National Infrastructure Bank.