Posted on by Art Powell

Following a weekend of driving a highway in British Columbia one has to believe this article in The Economist which claims it will cost $57 trillion to build and maintain the infrastructure the world needs between now and 2030. And the road (Part of the Trans Canada highway between Sicamous and Golden) really wasn’t that bad.

The Economist writer is concerned with who will provide the finances for the needed work. I think financial people are generally very good at creating money when there is a need. The real problem is: will there be enough energy and mineral resources at a reasonable cost? There will be lots of resources but we have already used up the most easily accessible and those that are left will take a lot of energy to access. Energy for infrastructure will be competing with all the other things we want to have and do.

One of the issues will be priorities. Most of us, most of the time act and think in our own short-term interests as opposed to the long-term interests of our communities and even own long-term interests. We may know that a bridge is past its prime but so long as it remains intact it will be a long-term project and sacrificed for other things that are short-term. When the bridge was first built it was a short-term need.

Most of the current infrastructure was built during our golden years of prosperity and people were optimistic. Most of us are now aware there are problems in the economy even if we don’t know why. There will be people who will risk their savings on long-term investments for a good potential return but I suspect a lot of people will be hesitant to take the risk.

The current infrastructure projects mentioned in the article are along way from the total of $57 trillion which will be needed. We might be wise to stock up on duct tape.

Speaking of Bridges, the pictures are of one of my favorites: The Kicking Horse Pedestrian Bridge in Golden, B.C. A link.

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Filed under: banks, money, Economics | Tagged: Economics, infrastructure, Kicking Horse Pedestrian Bridge, Trans Canada Highway |