Dave Isenberg found this article about crumbling U.S> infrastructure by Bob Herbert in the NYTimes that quotes Felix Rohatyn “the investment banker who helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s”:

Since the beginning of the republic,” he said, “transportation, infrastructure and education have played a central role in advancing the American economy, whether it was the canals in upstate New York, or the railroads that linked our heartland to our industrial centers; whether it was the opening of education to average Americans by land grant colleges and the G.I. bill, making education basic to American life; or whether it was the interstate highway system that ultimately connected all regions of the nation.

“This did not happen by chance, but was the result of major investments financed by the federal and state governments over the last century and a half. … We need to make similar investments now.”

—Our Crumbling Foundation, By BOB HERBERT, New York Times, April 5, 2007 (transcription)

Obviously we’re not just talking bridges and dams here: U.S. Internet infrastructure is just as bad.

Is letting infrastructure crumble while other countries such as China, India, Japan, and Korea busily invest for the future good risk management? I think not.

-jsq