When Will the Next Bridge Fall Down
It’s been more than 10 years since the realities of our decaying infrastructure came to pass when the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, sending vehicles crashing into the river below. Not much has changed.
Earlier this week at his State of the Union address, President Trump shared a preliminary framework to “rebuild our crumbling infrastructure” and bolster the country’s security. The infrastructure discussion is something we’ve been waiting on for some time, as has the Association of American Civil Engineers and their infrastructure report card. Lest you might have forgotten, the grade has been a consistent D+ for some time.
We at Tematica are always on the prowl for proof points — or as we like to call them, confirming thematic datapoints — and this week Statista shared this infographic, which frankly is horrifying:
You will find more statistics at Statista
In the coming days and weeks, Washington will cobble together a bill to target in Trump’s words “at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment we need.” The key will be how this rebuilding is paid for given the national debt and tax reform implications on the deficit near-term. The solution is looking increasingly like Federal spending will be partnered with State and local spending as well as public-private partnerships. The bottom line is this – the details will be forthcoming and as those firm up we’ll have greater clarity on when we’re likely to see jobs being created, equipment roll, and shovels hit the ground.
Helping speed the process, Trump called for streamlining the permitting and approval process to get “it down to no more than two years, and perhaps even one.” Team Trump has been busy slashing unnecessary regulations that have hamstrung businesses, and hopefully we will see more of this with the pending infrastructure bill.
For our Tematica Investing subscribers, we’ll be spending a considerable amount of time watching the infrastructure bill like a hawk over the coming weeks. To paraphrase Orsen Welles in his famous Paul Masson wine commercial, we will add no stock before it’s thematic time. Fortunately, we’ve already compiled a strong list of contenders that should ride some strong thematic tailwinds in the coming years as shovels hit the ground, and we’ll be sharing those insights with subscribers as they unfold.
