Public Investment

Public Investment

Public spending and investment has played a critical role in the development of America's physical infrastructure and our explosive economic growth. Government investment in railways, roads, bridges, schools, parks and social programs has contributed greatly to the American economy during the last two centuries.

Cry Wolf Quotes

The danger is from those who believe that government should be the source of all economic hope for the individual. The danger is from those who believe that government planning is a better device than the free marketplace for distribution of goods and distribution of the nation’s wealth.

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Speech of Richard Kautz, Chairman of NAM, Wichita Luncheon, Papers of the National Association of Manufacturers.

This bill could affect the business of every executive in this room. It could affect the entire national economy and the private lives of every American citizen.

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Speech of Richard Kautz, Chairman of NAM, Wichita Luncheon, Papers of the National Association of Manufacturers.

S. 1795 could extend the authority of government into a takeover of the functions of the marketplace. What the American public wants to buy, and at what price, would no longer be the guideline for American business. Instead, the manufacturer and the businessman would have to look first to Washington, rather than to the consumer.

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Speech of Richard Kautz, Chairman of NAM, Wichita Luncheon, Papers of the National Association of Manufacturers.

I assure you, Senator Javits and others are dead serious in this frontal assault against our free enterprise system. Make no mistake about it, we are talking survival.

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Speech of Richard Kautz, Chairman of NAM, Wichita Luncheon, Papers of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Backgrounders & Briefs

Reviving a Public Spending Agenda

By Lawrence B. Glickman, Department of History, University of South Carolina

An overview of historical debates over, and the importance of, public investment.

Public Infrastructure Policy Brief

By Jason Scott Smith, University of New Mexico

History is replete with evidence from the Great Depression that public investment in infrastructure did indeed generate employment and stimulate economic growth. 

Resources

Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is a progressive think tank that concentrates on social and economic policy, both domestic and international.