A Novel Approach To Infrastructure April 30, 2019April 25, 2019 Glenn Price: “Our infrastructure is a scandal. This proposal is exquisite in its simplicity.” From the indispensable New York Times: Taxpayers Shouldn’t Have to Pay for New Roads A tiny slice of equity from public companies could fund America’s desperate need for better infrastructure. By Leonard S. Schleifer April 23, 2019 Just a few miles from my office sits the Mario Cuomo Bridge, crossing a critical expanse of the Hudson River. The new bridge, which required a $4 billion investment, is a major improvement over the previous Tappan Zee and a safer, more pleasant journey for motorists. And it’s a boon for high-growth regional companies like mine: It supports the efficient movement of supplies and finished products, makes for a happier commute for our employees and can make a difference in recruiting key talent. Despite this project and other long-overdue investments, such as the La Guardia Airport renovation, New York is still in dire need of repair. A recent study found that one third of New York’s major highways are in poor or fair condition, and that over the next 20 years, the state will need to spend $36 billion to upgrade and maintain our wastewater system. Nationwide, we have an infrastructure investment gap over the next two decades of approximately $5 trillion, according to the American Society for Civil Engineers. This is a significant public health issue. Nearly 21 million Americans live in areas where community water systems fail to meet quality water standards, and some roadways are an imminent public safety hazard. It’s a serious economic handicap, too. American companies could lose $340 billion in sales through 2023 because of poor infrastructure, according to the American Public Transportation Association. President Trump and members of Congress from both parties have raised the alarm. Lawmakers have floated the idea of an “infrastructure bank” to support investments. Despite widespread public support, the major stumbling block has been how to fund such an effort. Increasing personal or corporate income taxes or imposing “wealth taxes” on individuals has no chance of securing bipartisan support. With so much at stake, it is time to consider a novel source of funding: Public corporations should step up and lead the way.. The solution is simple: Tap into businesses that stand to benefit from infrastructure improvements — and by extension their wealthy investors. I suggest that for each of the next three years, every American public company be required to issue 1 percent of its equity in the form of new stock to a newly formed infrastructure “bank.” Given that American public companies have a collective market capitalization of about $30 trillion, this would raise about $1 trillion in three years. The corporate stock contributions would be based on the number of shares a company has outstanding, not whether it makes a profit. The $1 trillion in stock would form the capital of an infrastructure bank, which could in turn provide grants or loans to support worthy infrastructure projects. Although detailed mechanisms for issuing the stock and managing the portfolio would need to be defined, this plan should be more straightforward than an income tax. Various models for an infrastructure bank already exist. It could operate much like a bank, making loans that must be repaid with interest, or it could be something like a university endowment or a foundation that might even liquidate itself once its infrastructure mission is accomplished. Whatever the operating model, it should be apolitical, so a bipartisan group of experts should oversee the disbursement of funds. Although some companies and their shareholders will surely grumble, this would hardly be a burden, given that 1 percent represents a typical daily fluctuation in many companies’ stock prices. And last year American public companies shelled out about $800 billion just to buy back their own stock. That might turn out to be a good investment for some companies, but investing in infrastructure is a sure win. The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that gross domestic product would increase up to $13 billion a year for every $100 billion in infrastructure investment. This small equity dilution of companies takes the financial responsibility for infrastructure off the backs of most American taxpayers. Instead, it would put the burden onto wealthy Americans and foreigners. Today, 84 percent of all stock held by Americans belongs to the wealthiest 10 percent of households, and foreign investors account for 35 percent of investment in American stocks. But the benefits of infrastructure improvements would cascade to all Americans, and hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created by large-scale infrastructure projects. Moreover, the benefit can help put money back in the pockets of many Americans. Poor infrastructure costs the average American family an estimated $3,400 a year because of higher gasoline consumption, increased wear and tear on vehicles, and costs related to power outages. Of course, the federal government should make infrastructure investing a priority. But corporations must also do their part. I look forward to the day when most Americans can point with pride to the new bridges, roadways, water systems and trains in their neighborhoods, which will ensure that our country remains a leader in innovation and economic growth. ☞ Leonard S. Schleifer is the chief executive of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and a former chairman of New York’s Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council. The prior Republican president misled us to spend trillions in Iraq; the current Republican president misled us to borrow trillions to fund tax cuts for the rich.* In between, we had a Democrat who called a joint session of Congress to call for a bill — blocked by the Republicans — that would have put millions of Americans to work at good jobs revitalizing our infrastructure. It’s time to wrest leadership from today’s hard-right, Trump-enabling Republicans. (Oh, to have Eisenhower back! Or Teddy Roosevelt! Or Abe Lincoln!!! Or even, in many respects, Richard Nixon, Jerry Ford, or Bush 41.) Click here. *Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% mostly helped wealthy corporate owners and top executives who saw the value of their stock zoom. Even most corporations didn’t think it was necessary to cut that deep.
Inside A TED Talk. And Not Just ANY TED Talk, Either. April 29, 2019April 24, 2019 Last week’s theme was Russia’s success subverting our democracy. But before that, I posted a column that read in full (was I running to catch the last trayful of shrimp?): Carole Cadwalladr – Facebook’s role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy. Don’t miss this one. Mike Martin: “[In light of that post], I thought you’d be interested in this: My TED Talk: How I took on the tech titans in their lair.” ☞ Indeed! Not only does Ms. Cadwalladr offer a sense of what it’s like to give a TED talk, she gives you a sense of what it was like to give this one. To call out people like Google’s Sergey Brin (who was in the audience) and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey (who spoke the next day) and Mark Zuckerberg (whose Facebook is one of TED’s sponsors). . . . I did tell them that they had facilitated multiple crimes in the EU referendum. That as things stood, I didn’t think it was possible to have free and fair elections ever again. That liberal democracy was broken. And they had broke it. It was only later that I began to realise quite what TED had done: how, in this setting, with this crowd, it had committed the equivalent of inviting the fox into the henhouse. And I was the fox. Or as one attendee put it: “You came into their temple,” he said. “And shat on their altar.” I did. Not least, I discovered, because I named them. Because nobody had told me not to. And so I called them out, in a room that included their peers, mentors, employees, friends and investors. . . . I use Facebook all the time. As a user, I’m a fan. And Google? I would be lost without it. I expect someday to have it implanted in my brain (finally to be a know-it-all). What Carole Cadwalladr’s TED talk made stark was the downside to all of this . . . and how far short the founders are falling in making it right. Read her piece!
A Powerful Case Against Impeachment April 26, 2019April 24, 2019 It’s hard, if you actually read the Mueller report — and are not Giuliani or Barr (or Sarah Sanders, who heard from “countless” FBI agents, which is to say “not one,” how happy they were Comey was fired) — not to want Trump out immediately. For example . . . Allen W.: “I downloaded the report and, despite my skepticism, found much was not redacted. I’m an Independent. I put a few hours into reading it but will never read it all because it sickens me. My Republican friends must at least read as much as I have; but more important, they must be shocked and do something about him!” Yes! Impeach the sociopath! (That’s not an epithet; it’s a diagnosis.) Still, I would have to think long and hard before dismissing this argument, by former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart . . . There’s A Bigger Prize Than Impeachment . . . which I commend for your consideration. (Thanks, Pete.) I cede the balance of my time to the documentary and “60 Minutes” segment I offered yesterday, knowing that you had a busy week and may not have gotten around to them. Please try. We’re under attack. Have a great weekend!
Russia’s Judo Master April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 Who knew, after we won the Cold War, it would be all about Russia? Mueller confirmed the “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference in our democracy — a sneak attack, I argued earlier this week, that could ultimately prove to have hurt us worse than Pearl Harbor. Yesterday, I offered this documentary detailing “Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart.” Moscow is winning. (“In Vladimir Putin’s greatest triumph, Americans are using Russia’s playbook against one another without the faintest clue.”) As “60 Minutes” made clear this past Sunday, Putin leads the Russian cyber-mob. And not just in Nebraska . . . though as you’ll see, some of the story started there. Do most Americans know we are under attack? Putin — a black belt in the art of defeating a much larger opponent — hopes we won’t wake up to this. Who has time to watch a 45-minute documentary or a “60 Minutes” segment? Game of Thrones is back! Mitt Romney turned out to be right about Russia. The sociopath whom the Russians helped install as our president praises Putin publicly and meets with him privately, welcomes his people into the Oval Office and excuses his killing of journalists. So many 2016 Trump voters are terrific people. I have to hope that some of them watch “60 Minutes” . . . and might watch the above-linked documentary . . . and come to realize — like those fans of the #1-rated restaurant in London that was actually serving store-bought frozen dinners — they’ve been had.* *In the words of the prior Republican president, “Fool me once . . .“
Not A Hoax April 24, 2019April 23, 2019 The only world leader that Trump admires, meets with in secret, and will never criticize is Putin, head of the Russian cyber-crime syndicate. (As revealed on “60 Minutes” this past Sunday). Here is a three-part (short!) documentary arguing . . . Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today, from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies. Meet the KGB spies who conceived this virus and the American truth squads who tried — and are still trying — to fight it. Countries from Pakistan to Brazil are now debating reality, and in Vladimir Putin’s greatest triumph, Americans are using Russia’s playbook against one another without the faintest clue. EPISODE 1 MEET THE KGB SPIES WHO INVENTED FAKE NEWS We reveal how one of the biggest fake news stories ever concocted — the 1984 AIDS-is-a-biological-weapon hoax — went viral in the pre-internet era. Meet the KGB operatives who invented it and the “truth squad” that quashed it. For a bit. EPISODE 2 THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS OF FAKE NEWS The Pizzagate playbook: same tactics, new technologies. How the seven rules of Soviet disinformation are being used to create today’s fake news stories. EPISODE 3 THE WORLDWIDE WAR ON TRUTH Governments from Pakistan to Mexico to Washington are woefully unequipped to combat disinformation warfare. Eastern European countries living in Russia’s shadow can teach us how to start fighting back, but only if our politicians decide to stop profiting from these tactics and fight them instead. Forty-five minutes in all. Share with those who somehow think Trump has the vision and motivation to protect our democracy? Or that he even cares about it?
Two Views Of Trump April 23, 2019April 22, 2019 These folks believe he’s God’s gift. It’s worth watching, not least because when the camera pans out, you see it’s not a small audience. These folks voted for him, but — blessedly — fall into the “fool me once” camp. I hope their ranks swell. In light of the “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference in our democracy — a sneak attack that could ultimately prove to have caused more lasting damage than the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941 — do we want a president who disputes and ignores the attack? Who praises Putin publicly and meets with him privately? Who welcomes his people into the Oval Office? Who excuses Putin’s killing of journalists and sees our own Intelligence Community — not Putin — as his enemy? The gay Ivy League pal I told you about last week — and of course Carl, who sends me an email every day to show me I’m wrong — still say yes.
Billy Is Such A Tool April 20, 2019April 21, 2019 Bill Barr was three years behind me at Horace Mann. He must have missed the motto: Magna Est Veritas Et Praevalet. Contrary to his view that Trump is vindicated by the Mueller investigation — with which, Barr says, the President fully cooperated (a blatant, exhaustively documented lie) — The Mueller Report Should Shock Our Conscience. That’s not the wailing of some left-wing rag, it’s the headline of the country’s leading conservative journal. I’ve finished reading the entire Mueller report, and I must confess that even as a longtime, quite open critic of Donald Trump, I was surprised at the sheer scope, scale, and brazenness of the lies, falsehoods, and misdirections detailed by the Special Counsel’s Office. We’ve become accustomed to Trump making up his own facts on matters great and small, but to see the extent to which his virus infected his entire political operation is sobering. And the idea that anyone is treating this report as “win” for Trump, given the sheer extent of deceptions exposed (among other things), demonstrates that the bar for his conduct has sunk so low that anything other than outright criminality is too often brushed aside as relatively meaningless. . . . . . . The lies are simply too much to bear. No Republican should tolerate such dishonesty. What concerns the Attorney General are not these lies, or the ongoing Russian attack. He’s concerned that the Trump campaign was “spied on,” perhaps improperly. He wants to investigate that. Were we back in high school, it might have been appropriate to say, “you’re such a little tool, Billy” and then shove him in a locker. Fifty-five years later, he is a large and literal tool: of a pathological liar and sociopath. (And thus, by extension, of Vladimir Putin.) . . . The Russian government interfered with the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion . . . So begins the 448-page report that too few Democrats and Independents and almost no Republicans will read. And that our Russian-mob-connected commander-in-chief . . . well, he believes the denials of his friend, the journalist-murdering kleptocrat autocrat Vladimir Putin. Paul Kroger: “Forget: ‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters’ How about: ‘I could let an enemy of our country help me get elected, lie about it, make others lie about it, and obstruct an investigation into it and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
In Search Of Common Ground April 18, 2019April 17, 2019 All that will matter today — and for a while — is what’s in the Mueller report. I’m taking the rest of the week off to join you in reading it. In case you’re up early with nothing to do until the report is released, I offer this . . . Reading Mitch McConnell undid 213 years of Senate history in 33 minutes, one realizes how important it is to wrest the gavel from his hands next year. Republicans will still be over-represented — Idaho will still have as many senators as California — but consider: “McConnell has a history of doing things for short-term tactical gains, regardless of the cost. He did more than anybody else to open the floodgates to unlimited dark money in politics, famously declared his top priority was for President Barack Obama ‘to be a one-term president‘ and killed the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 by refusing to act on it. Between 2009 and 2013, McConnell’s Republicans blocked 79 Obama nominees with filibusters, compared with 68 in the country’s entire previous history.” Boy, do we ever need to redraw Congressional districts so that moderate, centrist candidates can win. Centrists compromise. Centrists respect heart-felt extreme views . . . but look for common ground . . . and cooperate to find constructive ways forward. Centrists have a drink after work, regardless of party . . . and enjoy drinks with those further left and right, as well. It’s great to elect some passionate folks on the far right and left. They help define the argument. They represent legitimate views. But our legislatures and politics have become far too polarized. Only Putin is happy about that. He has thousands of agents working to make it worse. I’ve long argued that “it’s not equivalent.” That both parties are not equally to blame. Read that argument here. Until recently, moderate Republicans were the only ones being removed from office by hard-line primary challengers — or fearing that they might be. Now — though it’s still not as bad and I hope never will be — the same thing has begun to happen on the Democratic side. Join the fight against gerrymandering?
Holy Cow April 17, 2019April 16, 2019 From Monday: Carole Cadwalladr – Facebook’s role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy. Don’t miss this one.
Be Audacious Tonight — 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific April 16, 2019April 13, 2019 But first: might you want this app, called Jumbo, to increase your privacy? Or to sanitize some of your social media history now that you’re out looking for a job? Check it out. And now . . . Last year, TED launched what it called The Audacious Project — . . . a new initiative housed at TED to ignite big, bold ideas for tackling the world’s most pressing challenges. The impact so far has been beyond our wildest dreams: from the thousands of people in the US awaiting trials from home instead of jail because of The Bail Project’s growth to the 800,000 smallscale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa enjoying better harvests thanks to One Acre Fund’s increased capacity, these ideas are making a real, tangible difference in millions of lives. The Audacious Project is an annual event. And you won’t believe the incredible ideas in store for you this year. Discover these 8 new ideas as they’re revealed live from the TED2019 stage, in a special session of the conference livestreamed to the world. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, April 16 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT and watch through AudaciousProject.org — or join the conversation on Twitter @TEDTalks. Join us, and be a part of these incredible visions. Let’s change the way we change the world! I’ll be watching with you.