As an Armenian, engrained within me is a culture centered on a dedication to family, faith and future generations. Given that Armenians have been a tiny population for centuries, the importance of self-sacrifice for future generations has always been an essential element of our lives and survival as a people. When that dedication to future generations and pride in what our grandparents built and gave us, meets much of current public policy and business aggression focused on the short-term, it is easy to be disappointed in how we’ve allowed the importance of investing to drift away from us.
During the Depression our grandparents built things that provided a foundation for more productive lives for generations to come. Today, despite failing infrastructure, a climate crisis, and struggling public school systems, our government and we as a people, have largely been focused on spending rather than investing. Sadly, our leaders, over the last four years, and to some extent this year, have chosen to stimulate the economy largely by throwing money at us, rather than pulling us forward through long-term investments. Add to that, marketers and banks barraging us with invitations to “spend now and pay later”, and we’ve devolved into a nation hyper-stimulated to consume. Sadly, investing in the long-term seems to have often drifted into a passing thought and some distant part of our history.
While we needed to quickly close several widening holes in the safety-net under people, the time has come for us to pull people forward with work we can gain skills and pride executing. Our grandparents took up the challenges that beset them by building highways, bridges, dams, hospitals and schools that we have been the beneficiaries of for the last eighty years.
Fortunately, the Biden Administration has proposed a substantial infrastructure plan that will focus on investing in people, infrastructure, technology and our environment. While I don’t fully agree with every element of the plan, nor the exact distribution of investments, on the whole, passage and execution of a plan similar in size and scope to Biden’s is essential to the future of our country. Some of my fellow Republicans are already balking at marginally increasing the corporate tax rate, closing tax loopholes and increasing taxes on the wealthy, but this is what is needed to sustain our country and narrow gross inequities within our tax system.
As we consider and lobby our elected leaders on where to investment, I suggest building a more egalitarian society be a top priority. This includes, investing substantially more in public schools, particularly primary grades and skilled trades training. We cannot grow into a more prosperous and just society if we fail to enable and encourage our youngsters to fulfill the great potential within themselves.
In terms of infrastructure, over the last few decades, our leaders have allowed our highway system and dams to fall into disrepair. Civil engineers now classify 47,000 bridges “structurally deficient” and 2,300 dams as being in “poor or unsatisfactory” condition. Weak politicians, over the last 28 years, chose to let our bridges rot rather than be honest with the American people about the need to raise the gas tax even a few pennies to keep up with bridge repairs.
With respect to protecting the environment, one very beneficial thing we could immediately start doing is capping all abandoned oil and gas wells. In 2018 3.2 million abandoned wells were left leaking roughly 281,000 tons/year of methane. With methane 84 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2, that’s a lot of global warming emissions. To protect the environment for future generations, we need to hire skilled trades people to cap those wells, and lawyers to go after the previous owners. In addition, we have a wealth of opportunities to replace existing fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy systems.
The programs listed above are just a few elements of how we can and ought to put people back to work, build dignity and rebuild our nation into a place we can all have greater pride in. Rather than perpetuating a culture of consumption, why not, both individually and collectively, endeavor to invest, “build back better” and lift the trajectory of future generations?