“The new ‘Moon-Mars’ directive by President Donald Trump, committing the nation to an accelerated return to space, is the necessary spirit for the space-age mobilization required to respond to the severe flooding and food production emergency now playing out in the Missouri-Upper Mississippi River Basins. That spirit will enable us to deal with the vast damage, and also act to create a new, modern platform for higher productivity in the Midwest and nationally. From immediate flood relief, to a full build-out of needed water management, new rail lines, nuclear power, and other infrastructure in the center of the continent, and population growth, not depopulation, in these rural counties—this is the right disaster response.”
From: “Midwest Flooding Is National Emergency: Space-Age Mobilization Required”
A Note To Readers
The fundamental question that neither the President nor any members of Congress has an answer for is how trillions of dollars of the necessary infrastructure-building that “everyone” says is required is to be funded. Thus, even if Nancy Pelosi does meet with the President, as she said she will, next week to discuss an infrastructure bill both can agree on, not much is likely to actually get done.
That funding question is addressed in the last two sections of this week’s report: “Credit for Infrastructure,” and the feature this week: “Infrastructure Means a Total Economy Policy.” The principle must be: Infrastructure is not an “add-on,” but the fundamental foundation of a healthy economy. It is from that later item that the quote at the beginning of this report originates.
Also in This Week’s Report
Percy Shelly’s poem Ode to the West Wind, concludes: “O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” Winter has come and gone and Spring is upon us. So the weather has changed.
The good news is that the abundant Colorado River snowpack will definitely delay the need for rationing of the waters of the river and reservoirs.
The California “Water Wars” continue with almost pointless maneuvering by everyone involved. What occurs with this or that action, law suit, regulation, makes little difference in supplying the people of the state far into the future with water. This week the governor squares off against President Trump, and the farmers complain about the allocation from the Central Valley Project.
Returning to a topic that has been neglected for several months, an array of articles on desalination begins with the proposed Huntington Beach plant that will be a match for the Carlsbad plant, built by Poseidon Water, and has been pumping out fresh water now since 2015. Then several articles on technical issues provide a view that known problems, like cost and saline disposal, have solutions. Also, the state of California is funding some projects.
“Credit For Infrastructure” presents how to generate credit for building infrastructure, based on the historical precedents of President Abraham Lincoln’s “Greenback” policy and the use of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation by President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s.
The final section is our Feature, which is an extended excerpt from the article in the Executive Intelligence Review for April 26, “Midwest Flooding Is National Emergency: Space-Age Mobilization Required.” While reporting on the Midwest flooding that is devastating half-a-dozen states right now, what could have been done and must be done now is the focus. The Continental water management policy of the North American Water and Power Alliance from the 1960s is also highlighted.
