44 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Jim Truesdell James Truesdell is President of Brauer Supply Company, a distributor of specialty fasteners, insulation, air filtration, and air conditioning with headquarters in St. Louis. Mr. Truesdell is adjunct professor at Saint Louis University and Webster University. An attorney and frequently published writer, he is the author of “Total Quality Management: Reports From the Front Lines”. INFRASTRUCTURE REBOOT CAN’T WAIT! President Trump has prided himself on fulfilling his campaign promises. One of those he held forth on in great detail was his call for modernization of the nation’s infrastructure. A smoothly functioning system of roads and bridges, water and sewer management, freight and rail ports, and an up-to-date electrical grid is crucial to a country’s health and economic well being. Our current infrastructure was largely put in place many decades ago and is falling behind many emerging countries who have been building them anew. This inadequacy is compounded by the size and complexity of our society which puts incredible strain on this critical underpinning. Unlike many of the President’s proposals, the call for spending on infrastructure seemingly has broad partisan support. Conservative business people understand the need for adequate and modern support underlying our vital services. Liberal advocates of consumers and working people envision the project as creating jobs and opportunities as well as meeting the health, safety, and convenience needs of the consumer. This should be a “no brainer”. Yet progress has been slow. It’s time to move this project to the front burner and enact a comprehensive solution. Despite his resolute approach to many issues, the President did not bring forth an infrastructure plan until some eighteen months into his administration. His proposal called for investing .5 trillion to improve infrastructure with a target of 0 billion in direct federal spending with the remainder to come from incentivized CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLE private investment. The federal permitting process would have red tape cut so that it could be accomplished within two years. Particular emphasis would be on rebuilding rural infrastructures which have been wearing out badly and then on improving the training of our workforce to handle both the quantity and complexity of new systems. The plan seemed short on specifics, however, and things seemed to get bogged down in the Congress. Congressional leaders appeared to be putting the passage of a large scale infrastructure package on the shelf temporarily as they awaited the midterm elections. Strategy focused more on smaller bills with specific reauthorizations of spending on issues such as water resources and aviation projects. Unfortunately, if the approach is piece meal we are likely to have a disjointed and patchwork plan which will only serve to compound the already existing problems of inconsistency and cost overlays with many key components left out. To get things jump started, a coalition has been formed with diverse stakeholder. Membership in this group ranges from trade associations to labor unions and from manufacturing to finance and construction. Over 120 different parties have so far come together in the “Infrastructure Working Coalition” to urge Congress to pass a large-scale comprehensive package to revitalize the country’s infrastructure and drive economic growth. While there is indeed bipartisan support for infrastructure revitalization, the two political parties do differ in their preferred approaches.W CONTINUED ON PAGE 146
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MID-WEST FASTENER ASSOCIATION TABLE
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