First Scenario
In Smithville, Nebraska, (not a real place) on the Missouri River, there is the problem of an old bridge. It handles heavy traffic daily, but engineers have found that is cannot last much longer. The bridge needs to be replaced. It is vital that there is a replacement, because the livelihoods of the entire town, bringing goods in and out of Smithville, depends on that bridge.
The town has petitioned that Nebraska state government to provide the funds to replace it. The problem is, because of the constant deficits, the state government can no longer afford to provide funding for projects such as this; and don’t even think of going to Washington. That plea will be buried under paperwork, and the federal government won’t even think about replacing it. They are too preoccupied with other projects on the list, so their plea came too late. The town of Smithville is desperate for a new bridge, but there is no funding. The old bridge is still in use, but is an accident waiting to happen.
Meanwhile, a millionaire’s son’s father has just died, thereby inheriting a huge sum of two hundred million dollars. The son has live a secluded and sheltered life, does not know the townspeople of Smithville all that well, and has become sort of a recluse. His grandfather ran an airline, but that was bought up by a completing company when his father ran it, so the family was left with the money. Problem for the son is, he has a college degree in the Liberal Arts, is intelligent, but inexperienced, and he doesn’t know what to do with the money. He is tempted to move out to California and live a lifestyle of parties and women, but somehow, he knows that it would destroy him.
He sees that the town needs a new bridge, and he starts to think. If the state or federal government can’t pay for it, perhaps he could move in?! He goes down to city hall for a talk with the mayor and the city council…
Second Scenario
The place is New York City. A railroad starting from New York, extending out across the country is in shambles. The track supports mostly freight; food and goods flowing into New York from the rest of the country. Not only is the track in tough shape, but there are bridges that haven’t been replaced for almost a century. The railroad is needed and it still used, by accidents do happen somewhere along the way, and the bridges are in danger of collapse.
Again, the neither the state nor federal government can afford to rebuild, especially a project as massive as this.
New York is full of millionaires; not only businessmen, but actors, theater owners, retirees, all sorts. Suppose they are called to city hall to contribute, and get money out of their offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.
These are two examples of what can be done if the one percent is willing to help rebuild what the United States desperately needs, a new infrastructure.
There is the surplus wealth, wealth that these people would never spend, or even touch, not money that is reinvested in business to make it grow.
The U.S., supposedly, has over $1.1 trillion in offshore accounts, money that the owners sneak out of the country into these tax havens to prevent paying taxes on it. Meanwhile, the money accrue very little interest, literally around 0.01%. It just sits in a vault, doing nothing, helping nothing or no one, not even those who own it. If it is invested by the banks, the money helps the country that it is in, not the U.S.
What the one percenters can do is to take this money and start projects that would help American society. This does not mean giving out money to anyone who has his hand out. If one gives money to street beggars, there is a good chance that they would use it to be alcohol or drugs, or spend it foolishly on some other pleasure.
Investing the projects means helping society as a whole, or, as illustrated in the first scenario, helping the local society in which one lives, such as building a new bridge to replace one that is falling apart, or help pave new roads, replace and upgrade a sewer system, a water distribution system (pipes, water filtration and purification plants), or the upgrading of a plant processing of solid wastes.
One might ask, why should he? First, I would like to state that I am one of those people who believes that nobody owes anybody anything. One must know that the world does not owe him a living, even if that person has had a hard life. If one makes a billion dollars, honorably, it is his money and that person is free to do what he wants with it.
However, if one does have excess wealth that he is never going to use, I do feel that that person should at least help the society in his own locality; i.e. Charity begins at home. The reason being is because that society, in a way, has supported him, in providing a good place to live in the form of a safe environment, with good local police and fire departments, a good infrastructure (roads and bridges) which that person used in order to move his goods, and a good social position within his community. That said, I feel that the prosperous individual, when his community is in great need of something and cannot be provided by the local, state, or federal government, that person should step in and help to provide that need with his excess wealth. Should he do so, like build a bridge, repair roads, repair and upgrade a water and sewer system, that person will be in better standing with his community.
In the process of building, a lot of jobs will be created, even if only on a temporary basis.
For the son from the fictitious town of Smithville, paying for a new bridge when the government can’t afford to will no doubt bring him a lot of attention from the town, in a good way. He would be invited to parties and functions, get interviewed in the local newspaper, and may even be asked to give a speech or two. His reputation will then spread statewide, perhaps even receive national attention.
The son would have the privilege of naming that bridge. He could name it after himself, a member of his family, his town, the street the bridge is on, or whatever.
The son would be in good standing, and possibly invest more of his money in other municipal projects that the town badly needs, such as fixing the town’s streets, or upgrading the water distribution system, for examples.
His one problem would be his affordability on fixing the entire town, a burden he should not have to have if it requires on spending beyond his ability to pay. He should either have a big moneymaking venture, or make investments so that more money would be coming in, so as to be able to provide for the town’s needs. Obviously, his paying for the replacement of a new bridge and/or roads and water systems would be a temporary basis. From that point on, the town itself would have to maintain these systems.
One pitfall in all this; whoever would be the benefactor would have to be on the lookout for scoundrels pulling scams on that person to take his money. The benefactor has to be in the right place, perhaps going to City Hall, where he can see city officials to oversee his investments.
New York may run a little different since it is a city. Here, as in any city, many wealthy men and women will have to pool their resources, each individual or group of individuals deciding to choose on project. I put an example of railroad bridges, and there are railroad bridges that badly need to be replaced in the New York - New Jersey area, but this is just a fraction of what needs to be upgraded.
There are streets with potholes and other signs of deterioration, the subway systems, the sewer systems, the water supply, the electric grid (money can be made here), and just about everything else one can imagine in municipal systems.
If there are enough wealthy people in New York, and I’m sure there are, the needed projects can be listed with each individual choosing one for them to help upgrade. Divide the work, share the load, anyway you want to state it. Jobs will be created, although only temporarily, but those hired without skills will have on the job training, acquiring experience for employment in similar jobs in the future.
I have covered a small town and a big city. There are companies with facilities accessible by roads that are deteriorating. Here, the company/corporation/factory may have to take on the task and improving these roads, and their connections, themselves, for easier access; shipping goods in and out of their locations.
The hardest part are the highways, be they states, U.S., or Interstate, along with long distance railroads. This can be a problem because fixing even a mile of some of these highways can amount to over a million dollars.
On a state by state basis, it is estimated by the FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) that for the repairs and maintenance of highways and roads, the average need for each state is $844 million a year. This is average; each state varies in difference costs. For the entire U.S., this means a total of $43.03 billion is needed annually, to repair, then maintain our badly damaged roads and highways.
Obviously, there is not enough private money available to complete fix our highways, even if every wealthy person contributed all their surplus money in order to accomplish this task.
Should we concentrate on one state at a time, there may be private money to fix the highways, bridges, and railways completely in some individual states. Like anything else, the responsibility to maintain these highways, as with the rest of the infrastructure, falls with the local, state, and federal governments.
In other states, private money can partially pay for the upgrading of this roads and highways. From here on, the remaining cost will have to be left up to the taxpayer/government to raise the money, through higher gasoline taxes, for example. Other ways include cutting wasteful spending and through the traditional tax funding by the respective governments.
The big catalyst here would be different philanthropists starting out in donating what money they can, starting with local roads, bridges and railways. Once that is initiated, governments can start to fill in, at a cost much lower than originally anticipated had it not been for the help of the contributing wealthy.
It is the philanthropists that can ignite the movement to repair our infrastructure, and create jobs for the millions of otherwise unemployed people.
Alastair Browne
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