Senator Bernie Sanders recently said he will announce legislation for a $1 trillion investment, over five years, to modernize the country's physical infrastructure and create 13 million jobs.
In 2013, the American Civil Society of Engineers gave the U.S. a D+ grade on its infrastructure, estimating that $3.6 trillion in investment was necessary to fix the nation's highways, dams, rail and aviation systems, and more.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced new steps, as part of the Build America Investment Initiative, to improve ports, roads, bridges, broadband networks, drinking water and sewer systems, and other projects.
But Obama's proposals show that "progressives will be on their own in the battle to boost public investment in our public assets," progressive analyst Isaiah Poole wrote last week.
This nation needs to invest in self-improvement, before more tragedies like the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, MN take more lives. In addition, our electrical grid is highly vulnerable to both natural disasters and malicious hacking.
