Who Will Pay for the Huge Costs of Holding Back Rising Seas?
Combatting rising seas is a big ticket item, and one beyond the meane even of prosperous cities.
Read more...Category Archives: Infrastructure
Why We Need Publicly Owned Energy for a Green New Deal
Moving to zero carbon output requires a decentralized, publicly-owned energy system.
Read more...Reclaiming the Commons Through State Ownership? Maybe Not
Transnational state capital can be just as harmful as its private counterparts. Local, democratic and sustainable alternatives offer better protection.
Read more...Hit by Epic Construction Downturn, Mexico Faces Reality: New President Tries to Get Folks to Play by the Rules, and Everything Stalls
A sharp fall in construction has helped push Mexico to the verge of recession. The construction industry blames AMLO’s anti-corruption push.
Read more...Trump Promised Massive Infrastructure Projects—Instead We’ve Gotten Nothing
Even budget hawks ought to embrace infrastructure spending, since those projects typically produce $3 of tax revenues for every $1 spent when there’s a backlog, as we clearly have in the US. So what is Trump’s excuse?
Read more...Philadelphia Explosion One in String of ‘Near Miss’ Accidents at Refineries Using Deadly Chemical
Accounts emerging from workers and others on site paint a troubling picture of how close to disaster Philadelphia may have come.
Read more...Private Equity and “Institutional” Investor Owned U.K. Utility Engaged in Massive Fraud, Regulatory Evasions, Worker Coercion, Caused “Catastrophic” Environmental Damage
Abuses like raw sewage on beaches and faking regulatory filings make a U.K. water utility a new low in privatization scandals.
Read more...Victory Gardens in the World Wars (and in the Neoliberal Era)
A random walk through Victory Garden posters, with commentary, and a recommendation that the government mobilize to recreate them.
Read more...Public-Private Partnerships Fad Fails
After the failure and abuses of privatization became apparent, public-private partnerships have since been promoted to mobilize private finance for the public purpose. PPPs have socialized costs and losses while ensuring private financial gains.
Read more...Climate Research Must Change to Help Communities Plan for the Future
Climate scientist Robert Koop argues for national investment in universities analogous to that of long-standing cooperative extension programs but applied to scientific climate risk management.
Read more...The New Deal, the Green New Deal, and Flood Control
Review of the Midwest flooding, history of the New Deal and flood control, and the Green New Deal and flood control.
Read more...Clean Water: UNICEF Shows More Children Die from Diarrhea than Direct Violence in Conflict Zones
Unicef reports diarrhea causes more childhood deaths in conflict zones than outright violence. Bangladesh’s recent history shows even the poorest countries can reduce fatalities from diarrheal disease.
Read more...Climate Change: Hurricanes to Deliver a Bigger Punch to Coasts
Tropical cyclone Idai may be a harbinger of further catastrophic coastal storms; climate change projections suggest the number of intense hurricanes will rise.
Read more...China’s Belt and Road Initiative vs Washington Consensus
An update by Jomo Kwame Sundaram on how China and the US are faring in their use of trade and development policy to foster growth and project power.
Read more...Bezos Admits His Fortune Is Due to Public Infrastructure….Even as He Fought Paying a Homeless Tax in Seattle, Shakes Down Cities for Subsidies
Bezos admits he and other squillionaires didn’t do the “heavy lifting” of building the infrastructure on which tech enterprises depend….yet tries to depict a space venture as a greenfield project. Help me.
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