One important aspect about economics that modern day economists and journalists don’t understand, is that the value of infrastructure is not primarily its ability to derive a monetary return; rather, it is infrastructure’s role as a key factor in the development process of any modern economy, helping raise the productivity of the whole economy of a nation. The “return on investment” lies not in the fees forced upon users of the infrastructure utilities, but from the revenues of a productive industry and agriculture that uses these utilities.
Why China’s ‘Debtbook Diplomacy’ is a Hoax
A Note To Readers
Our introductory quotation above, I hope, makes clear that the issue of infrastructure is not one of “making a profit,” but one of creating the foundation for a fundamental upshift of the productive power of an economy. The study the is quote from is the subject of our Feature this week and is the last item of this report. Again, like last week, it is a slow-news week for items on the subject of these reports. And here is what you will find below: This Week's Report The U.S. Drought Monitor this week shows that about one-half of the state is now in some degree of drought. And perhaps surprising is that the monitor shows the state of Oregon in a more severe drought than is California. With no new major fires breaking out this past week, the focus of activity is the Delta fire that closed down 45 miles of I-5 for five days. The Oroville Dam Update this week has just one new video to show. Then the “water wars of California,” for want of a better description of the continuing battle over who will win and who, or what, will lose as the already inadequate water flow in the state is fought over. Either next week or the week after this report will focus on really what must be done over the next decade or so to actually fix this problem. Just one item under this topic this week: Some excerpts from an interview with Congressman Jeff Denham. I find what he has to say interesting because he indicates he at least is thinking bigger than just the Central Valley he represents. As I have stressed previously, the ignoring of the Colorado River by most water officials in California can in the next couple of years provide a very unwelcome surprise as rationing of its water can make a large dent in the water supply of the state. With more than 40 million people in the southwest dependent upon the waters of the Colorado River, including millions in California, and a very large part of the vegetable production, especially winter vegetables, of the nation dependent upon the Colorado, much more attention is warranted to the coming crisis of the river. September 15 is the ten year anniversary of the beginning of the collapse of the financial system in 2008, setting off the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Did Wall Street learn a lesson from that disaster? Well yes, at least one, one that ensures a new crisis, one that is building up rapidly now will blow it all out once again: Their friends in the Congress and the White House will bail them out and none of the criminals will ever be charged. Instead, as the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) states, it is time for a serious promotion of restoring the Glass-Steagal banking law. The final item is our Feature, excerpts from the study, Why China’s ‘Debtbook Diplomacy’ is a Hoax. The excerpted sections focus on the role of infrastructure in an economy and how to finance real economic development.
