Michael Porter of Harvard Business School on Infrastructure

"This is not a business cycle.  This is structural, long-term decline."  Those were the scary words from the Harvard Business School's Michael E. Porter, testifying on Capitol Hill. 

As USA Today's Paul Davidson reported, Porter was concerned that "recent deficit-cutting, for instance, has discouraged more infrastructure investment."

Journalist Davidson added, 

But Porter said there's consensus among lawmakers on most of his proposals. A bill by Rep. John Delaney, D-Md. ,would provide loans or guarantees to state or local governments to finance certain infrastructure projects. The loans would be funded by $50 billion in bonds, which U.S. firms would be prodded to purchase by allowing them, in turn, to repatriate a certain amount of overseas earnings tax-free. The measure has 18 Democratic and 18 Republican co-sponsors.

Such bond-financing is an interesting idea.  Indeed, there are lots of interesting ideas for resuscitating the infrastructure sector floating around--we should try some.

Because what's important to understand are the stakes as Porter sees them: "This is not a business cycle. This is structural, long-term decline."

We might make one last point: Porter is a well-known figure in business circles, focusing on how the US can be more internationally competitive.  But as such, he is generally relegated to the side when it comes to discussion of US national economics--even though Porter has a BA from Princeton and an MBA and Ph D from Harvard.  In other words, "competitiveness" is seen as somehow different from "economics." 

Indeed, he is dubbed here, like almost always, as a "competitiveness  expert."  Note to DC, and to America: Experts who actually know how things work--how economies grow, how jobs are created--are, in fact, way more valuable than ideologues and theoreticians.