The Coalition for a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) sponsored a special “Infrastructure Week” Webinar on May 18, 2023. This tour de force event, entitled, “Imagine the Future: How the $5 Trillion National Infrastructure Bank Will Create a 21^st Century USA,” featured Dr. Alexander Metcalf, President, of Transportation Economics and Management Company (TEMS); Dr. Nomi Prins, Ph.D., author, former Managing Director Goldman Sachs; Lou Spencer, Assistant Business Manager UA Local Plumbers and Gasfitters; and Stanley Forczek, former Director of Finance Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. 

This timely event occurred on the 90^th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Act on May 18, 1933. FDR’s TVA miracle was one of the largest regional infrastructure projects in all of American history and was financed by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). Infrastructure projects like the TVA are possible today.

Each webinar presenter centered their unique infrastructure project on the need for the $5 Trillion National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), as outlined in Congressional Bill HR3339. This legislation will make it possible to finance all of the old and brand-new infrastructure projects that our country so desperately needs.

The different PowerPoints demonstrated what America’s future could look like with a new NIB. Imagine, high-speed trains crisscrossing the nation at 200 mph, new airports and gleaming mass transit systems, large-scale water projects, whole new drinking and sewer systems, in addition to millions of new affordable housing units.

This, and much more, is all at our fingertips if Congress creates the $5 trillion NIB. And, they have no need to worry, because the NIB requires no new federal taxes, spending, or debt! It is a self-sustaining bank with the capacity to finance everything.

We can fix it all, not just the 10% covered by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) of 2021. Why not? Shouldn't all Americans have access to the best quality infrastructure?

There is no need for us to stare into the frightening abyss of recession, stubborn inflation, and ongoing banking crises when the solution is right before our eyes.

Let’s think and act like Americans again. We can build our way out of this crisis and erect a shining new infrastructure system second to none. We did it before and we can do it again.

Speakers:

Alphecca Muttardy, former Senior Economist, International Monetary Fund, Fairfax VA

Dr. Nomi Prins, Ph.D., author, former Managing Director Goldman Sachs, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Alexander Metcalf, Ph.D., President, Transportation Economics and Management Company (TEMS), Frederick, MD

Stanley Forczek, former Director of Finance Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, Williamstown NJ 

James ”Lou” Spencer, Assistant Business Manager UA Local 5 Plumbers and Gasfitters, Caret, VA

Don Siefkes, MIT-trained Chemical Engineer, San Leandro, CA

Julie Olsen, MBA; Chair Alaska Democratic Party Progressive Caucus, Anchorage AK 

Moderator: Craig Swartz, former City Councilman, Upper Sandusky, OH

(WATCH VIDEO)