wearmanyhats

According to an article in 2007 by John Schoen, a senior producer at MSNBC.com, 83% of all US bridges are inspected every two years, and out of those, 12% are in bad need of repair.  In the same article, Schoen cites that another government agency lists 2000 bridges that critically need attention.  The Washington Times was even more specific, citing the American Society of Engineer’s estimates of over $70,000 bridges in need of repair with a price tag of over $9.4 billion dollars a year over 20 years!  $200 billion plus just for the bridges!

Enter a recession, and a bunch of politicians who know that now is the chance to jump at getting top talent to fix the nation’s road infrastructure.  Obama’s stimulus package is aimed at getting these bridges and roads up to par with the realities of traffic.   The scope is huge and the necessity is evident.  All of us use bridges, after all, unless we live under a rock in our house.

The timing couldn’t be better, and sensible politicians are seeing that.  Contractors everywhere are feeling the squeeze.  New construction is limited to the wealthy, loans for everything are rare, and people have cut back on spending.   With people who know how to drive heavy equipment, pour concrete, and engineer new bridges just looking for work, the government has picked a great time to fix a glaring problem.  Now top talent can be recruited for the job, folks who know how to run a business, engineers with excellent experience, and workers who are top employees.

This stimulus package has been compared to Roosevelt’s WPA projects.  However, perhaps it would be more appropriate to compare this to Eisenhower’s commitment to the interstate highway system of the 1950’s.  For one thing, Roosevelt wisely committed a certain amount of money to employing artists, and one project captured the histories of people from the 1800’s.  The results of that project alone has been priceless.  So far, there is nothing in Obama’s discussions that indicate anything along the nature of artistic projects.  In a way, that’s a shame.  Beautifying those bridges could be done at the same time the reconstruction occurs.  And if you’ve ever seen some beautified bridge projects, you will know what I mean.

The critics are bringing up good points already.  Who is going to oversee this project?  Who will be sure that the mafia won’t be there with its hand out?  Is this going to be another fiasco like favors were to Haliburton during the Iraq War?  They point to the stripping of the Social Security system by various administrations over the years until now the system has been left in shambles.  Will that ineptness happen again?

Possibly.  However the timing for the advent of these project is stellar.  Obama has starry eyed, idealistic followers being swept into the office, thus providing a better chance for good oversight.  People just want to do the right things now.  There aren’t any cronies for Obama yet, and that gives us a fighting chance to keep these projects honest.  Let’s face it, sooner or later the money has to spent, the bridges repaired.  Now is probably the best time.

Investors, watch who gets the contracts.  These companies will be the ones whose stock will benefit.  The market drops have made these companies a bargain.  We should all be watching them carefully.

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