Our intrepid Iowan -explorer and Senator, Chris Dodd spoke in Stamford about infrastructure. Yep, my fave topics, roads, trains, bridges and the the stuff that makes them happen. The good part: He wants the federal government to start focusing on infrastructure. He says he gets it that all these local politicians spend much of the time fighting over crumbs. This is what we call identifying the problem, which gets us halfway there, on the road of good governance. Alas, Senator Dodd took a detour through a seedy truck stop somewhere along the line.

Dodd proposes a  bill that would set up an independent national bank for such projects. A bank? Is Dodd so enmeshed with the Washington DC lobbyist set that he is failing to see that banks are not exactly the most trusted source of lending these days? Subprime road loans coming to your neighbourhood?

If nothing else, Dodd and Chuck Hagel should go back to the history books and see how natinoal infrastrucutre projects were accomplished in years past. Setting up a brand new bureaucratic way to do it doesn’t seem all that hopeful.

source: Advocate,  Dodd touts transit-funding bill in Stamford, By Chris Gosier, March 25 2008