The September 29 NIB Zoom Hall set the stage for the current infrastructure and economic breakdown facing the country. The forum, addressed by leading economists and elected officials, challenged the current financial policy of Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

NIB senior economist Alphecca Muttardy set a serious tone for the meeting in her opening remarks, “Not only is our infrastructure crumbling around the country, our economy, and maybe even our financial system is crumbling as well.” Muttardy laid out the workings of the National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), demonstrating that this is the only antidote to the proposed Powell/Summers recession.

The next speaker was Cornell Law and Finance Professor Robert Hockett, who complemented Muttardy’s remarks, but from a wider lens. Hockett detailed how the country has gotten to the point of rampant inflation, due to decline of production over decades, going back to the 1980’s and 1990’s. This has resulted in the supply chain vulnerability that we face today. Hockett said that the “chickens are coming home to roost,” at a time when our infrastructure has been rated in the “Ds” by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE.) He stated that the only way to deal with the infrastructure problem, in addition to inflation, is to increase production before the country goes into a “deflationary spiral.”

The Professor also praised his personal hero, “Alex Hamilton.” Hamilton’s intention was to ensure that the Unites States would be an “independent country and not a failed state.” Professor Hockett challenged the viewers to “take charge of our own economic diversification and our own national productive capacity.” He said this is “existentially important, in addition, to economically important to anybody who wants to remain an American who lives in a country that can be called the United States of America.”

Dr. Lawrence Chimerine, former CEO Chase Econometrics and the WEFA Group, castigated Fed Chair Powell and cohort Summers’ policy, by asking and answering the question: “What should the Fed be doing right now?” Chimerine pulled no punches, “A clear signal to the Fed is that what you are doing is unnecessary and likely to cause a recession, and a very nasty one, if you continue to raise rates rapidly in the months ahead….it is time to pause right now.” 

Walt McRee, Chair Emeritus and Senior Advisor for the Public Banking Institute, made the case for the NIB. McRee set up the problem by saying that the “systemic infrastructure problem” has been caused “by private capital controllers.” McRee continued, “The NIB holds the necessary keys to get out of this infrastructure blockage.” He said, “Banking is a utility. It belongs in public hands, and the NIB sets a table for that.”

A lively Question and Answer session followed the formal remarks. 

Please watch the riveting dialogue and spread the word. (Click here for video.)