By Angela Vullo Aug. 24, 2019–On Sunday night, August 18, MSNBC completed a four-part docuseries called “American Swamp,” which included a segment on infrastructure entitled “Bill to Nowhere.” The segment detailed both the crisis condition of our national infrastructure and the gridlock in Washington which has failed to address this […]
By Nancy Spannaus Aug. 7, 2019—On August 7, 1789 Congress approved legislation for the first public infrastructure project in the just-born United States—our lighthouses! The legislation created the U.S. Light House Establishment, and it mandated that state lighthouses be turned over to the Federal government, which was charged with managing […]
By Nancy Spannaus July 24, 2019—Conditions are overripe, so to speak, for the adoption of a $4 trillion dollar National Infrastructure Bank, whose updated text I reprint below. Indeed, any delay will only worsen the consequences of an inevitable collapse of an aspect of our crumbling basic infrastructure, our bloated-to-bursting […]
July 6, 2019—As of July 1, 12 states raised their gasoline taxes, in a concerted effort to get the revenue to deal with their collapsing bridges and highways. The actions follow a pattern from recent years, over which time the Federal share of contributions to building and maintaining the nation’s […]
By Nancy Spannaus March 18, 2019—Recent announcements by the Trump Administration on critical infrastructure projects, amount to nothing less than sabotage. Without effective Congressional action to ensure Federal government funding of major capital investments in infrastructure like that now under threat, there is no hope for a sustainable economic recovery […]
By Nancy Spannaus March 9, 2019—The March 6 House Ways and Means Committee hearing on transportation infrastructure put the crucial problem which is blocking vitally-needed action on this topic, squarely on the table: the lack of understanding of the Hamiltonian principle of credit. From Representative Peter DeFazio, Chairman of the […]
By Nancy Spannaus March 1, 2019—The latest report on the U.S. infrastructure disaster by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is a straightforward call for Congress and the President to act now. The “Build to Win” document begins by stating that “in an alarming state of disrepair and in urgent […]
By Angela Vullo Feb. 7, 2019–How is it possible that, with 71% of the earth’s surface covered with water, we have a shortage of fresh drinking water on the planet? Might one of the reasons be that, in addition to criminal underdevelopment of the developing nations, some U.S. water infrastructure […]
Feb. 2, 2019—Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Or), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will convene his first hearing on the nation’s infrastructure needs on Thursday, Feb. 7. According to the announcement on the Committee’s site, the hearing is entitled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s […]
History Does Not Come in Black and White By Nancy Spannaus Oct. 11, 2019—The first issue of the revived Bulletin of Loudoun County History is a “must-read” for those seriously committed to achieving racial harmony in the United States. Three of the articles in the yearly journal focus on the […]
By Nancy Spannaus Oct. 13, 2019—If one is to take the actions of the Federal Reserve since Sept. 17 into account, the United States banking system (and perhaps the global one) has already entered into a new systemic crisis. The Fed is issuing tens of billions of dollars a day […]
FDR’s Environmentalism: Improve Nature for Mankind
By Nancy Spannaus (Sept. 24, 2019–Yes, we need to improve nature! I am reprinting this article because I believe it is crucial to resurrect the thinking of the author of the original New Deal, in order to address the array of crises being faced by this nation, and the world. […]