Anshuman+&+Ravi

== toc = = =**1AC**= Advantage 1 is the Economy

** Scenario 1 is stimulus **

 * Economy is still in a crisis --- bolstering infrastructure investment is critical **


 * Rohatyn & Slater, 12 ** --- special adviser to the chairman and CEO of Lazard, AND **former US transportation secretary (2/20/2012, Felix Rohatyn and Rodney Slater, “America needs its own infrastructure bank,” [], JMP)**


 * America needs to invest in infrastructure. __ Despite ... ____ repayment would allow the bank to be self-financing __**

AND, America’s transportation infrastructure is in serious decay --- worse has yet to come

Economist, 11 ** (4/28/2011, “Life in the slow lane; Americans are gloomy about their economy’s ability to produce. Are they right to be? We look at two areas of concern, transport infrastructure and innovation,” [], JMP) **


 * __ America, despite its wealth and strength,... __ Regional planning could help to avoid problems like this. **

Infrastructure spending is comparatively the best form of economic stimulus—NIB is the most efficient mechanism

Tyson et al. 10 ** -* Professor @ the Haas School of Business of UC-Berkeley, PhD in Economics @ MIT, former Chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, served as the Director of the National Economic Council, **Phillips, former President of Oracle, MBA @ Hampton University, member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, ***Wolf, CEO and Chairman of UBS Americas, member of the Economic Recovery Advisor Board, BS in Economics @ Wharton [Laura, Charles, Robert, The Wall Street Journal, “The U.S. Needs and Infrastructure Bank,” January 15, 2010, [], DKP]**


 * __ Our nation'sinvestment in its physical infrastructure... __ continued funding based on its performance and investment returns **

Fiscal discipline leads to a depression---deficit spending revamps economic growth Krugman 6/3
 * Nobel Laureate for Economics, PhD from MIT (Paul, “This Republican Economy”, The New York Times Opinion Pages, 6/3, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/paulkrugman/index.html)//DH **

What should be done about the economy?...and it doesn’t work.

NIB solves—overcomes status quo funding failures and enables large-scale projects McConaghy & Kessler, 11 ** --- * Director of the Third Way Economic Program, AND **Vice President for Policy at Third Way (January 2011, Ryan McConaghy and Jim Kessler, “A National Infrastructure Bank,” [], JMP)

America’s economic future will hinge on how fast and well we move people, goods, power... **__ make enduring infrastructure investments __**

** Scenario 2 is jobs **
** NIB infrastructure creates jobs and stimulates growth. ** ** Trumbull 11 - ** Staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor (Mark, “Is Gary Johnson right about shovel-ready jobs? 5 infrastructure challenges,”  September 23, 2011, The Christian Science Monitor, Lexis)//SPS

Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson scored a rhetorical winner...Use other creative funding mechanisms, from congestion pricing on busy roads to letting states charge tolls on federal highways that need repair.


 * AND, job creation is the biggest internal link to the economy—outweighs cutting the deficit **


 * Tyson 11 ** -Professor @ the Haas School of Business of UC-Berkeley, PhD in Economics @ MIT, BA Summa Cum Laude in Economics @ Smith College, former Chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, served as the Director of the National Economic Council [Laura, The Washington Post, “What it will take for President Obama and big business to bring back American jobs,” 9/18/2011, [], DKP]

__ The immediate crisis confronting the U.S. economy ... __ tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in the next few years.


 * NIB at the federal level is key—investment is guided by cost-benefit analysis, provides certainty that attracts investors, and avoids the political agendas and funds long term projects like the railways and modernizing ATC **


 * Tyson 11 ** -Professor @ the Haas School of Business of UC-Berkeley, PhD in Economics @ MIT, BA Summa Cum Laude in Economics @ Smith College, former Chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, served as the Director of the National Economic Council [Laura, The New York Times Blogs, “The Virtues of Investing in Transportation,” 6/3/2011, [], DKP]

__ a time of budget austerity, the allocation ofscarce federal dollars... ____ larger returns on scarce investment dollars __


 * Plan __immediately__ boosts employment and growth—prevents economic decline **
 * Zakaria, 11 ** -PhD in Political Science @ Harvard (6/13/2011, Fareed, “Zakaria: U.S. needs an infrastructure bank,” [], JMP)

President Obama has proposed a number of specific policies...That moment of bipartisanship might actually be the biggest payoff of all.


 * Economic Collapse causes Global Nuclear War --- Growth solves every impact **
 * Merlini 11 ** [March 3, *Cesare Merlini––Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe @ Brookings Institute, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Italian Institute for International Affairs in Rome (IAI), “Survival A Post-Secular World?”, [], DOA 4/24/12, RI]

Two neatly opposed __ scenarios for the future of the worldorder illustrate ... ____ not radical differences from nation to nation __ .11


 * Slow growth makes the US uncooperative and desperate – leads to hegemonic wars **
 * Goldstein 7 ** - Professor of Global Politics and International Relations @ University of Pennsylvania, Avery Goldstein, “Power transitions, institutions, and China's rise in East Asia: Theoretical expectations and evidence,” [|Journal of Strategic Studies], Volume [|30] , Issue [|4 & 5] August 2007, pages 639 – 682

Two closely related, though distinct, theoretical arguments focus explicitly on the consequences ... **__ to the possible crossover __**__. __ 19 pg. 647-650


 * Growth eliminates the only rational incentives for war **
 * Gartzke 11 ** – associate Professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego PhD from Iowa and B.A. from UCSF Erik, "SECURITY IN AN INSECURE WORLD" [|www.cato-unbound.org/2011/02/09/erik-gartzke/security-in-an-insecure-world/]

Almost as informative as the decline in warfare ... __ war becomes a durable anachronism. __

Advantage 2 is Competitiveness

 * A national infrastructure bank is necessary to maintain economic competitiveness **


 * Puentes 11 ** (Robert, Senior Fellow at the Brookings institution “Infrastructure Investment and U.S. Competitiveness”http://www.cfr.org/united-states/infrastructure-investment-us-competitiveness/p24585)

Most experts agree the __ United States must address... ____ invest here in the United States. __


 * AND, transportation infrastructure is a vital internal link to economic leadership **
 * AGC, 11 ** (5/19/2011, The Associated General Contractors of America, “THE CASE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE & REFORM: Why and How the Federal Government Should Continue to Fund Vital Infrastructure in the New Age of Public Austerity,” [], JMP)

It also is important to note that the federal programs for... financing help to operators so they can meet those standards.


 * NIB sends a signal that the US is committed to rebuilding **


 * Tyson 11 ** -Professor @ the Haas School of Business of UC-Berkeley, PhD in Economics @ MIT, BA Summa Cum Laude in Economics @ Smith College, former Chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, served as the Director of the National Economic Council [Laura, Harvard Business Review, “A Better Stimulus Plan for the U.S. Economy,” 2011, [], DKP]

Although stimulus spending is a politically contentious issue, __ America is... ____ has come to make it happen. __

** AND, it reduces the trade deficit ** ** Skidelsky and Martin 11 ** -*Emeritus Professor of Economics @ the University of Warwick, Fellow of the British Academy, Chairmen of the Governors of Brighton College, **PhD in Economics @ Oxford, Senior Investment Analyst @ Thames River Capital, Writes for the Institute for New Economic Thinking [Robert, “For a National Investment Bank,” 3/30/2011, [], DKP]**


 * __ Rebalancing the economy toward exports... ____ their benefits to the broader economy. __**

Economic primacy prevents all conflict escalation Freidberg & Schonfeld, 8 ** --- *Professor of Politics and IR at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, AND **senior editor of Commentary and a visiting scholar at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton (10/21/2008, Aaron and Gabriel, “The Dangers of a Diminished America”, Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)

__ With the global financial system in serious trouble... __ and the stiff price tag of continued American leadership.


 * Competitiveness prevents great power nuclear war. **

Khalilzad, ’11 [Zalmay Khalilzad was the United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations during the presidency of George W. Bush and the director of policy planning at the Defense Department from 1990 to 1992, “ The Economy and National Security”, 2-8-11, []]

__ We face this domestic challenge while other... ____ crisis __ that we face today.

Owen 11 John M. Owen Prof essor of Politics at University of Virginia PhD from Harvard "DON’T DISCOUNT HEGEMONY" Feb 11 www.cato-unbound.org/2011/02/11/john-owen/dont-discount-hegemony/ Andrew Mack and his colleagues...liberal democracy remains strong.
 * Heg is awesome **

Plan

 * Plan: The United States federal government should substantially increase its merit-based national infrastructure bank transportation infrastructure investment. **

Solvency

 * NIB stimulus is key to revitalize the economy – its key to competitiveness **

Rendell and Smith, 11 - * former governor of Pennsylvania, chair of Building America's Future Educational Fund AND Scott, mayor of Mesa, vice chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, MBA in accounting and JD from ASU co-chair Building America's Future Educational Fund, ( “Transportation Spending Is the Right Stimulus” 8-11, [])//AH

During this time of economic uncertainty and record federal deficits...And if it is, there will be no stopping us. Let's get to work.

** The NIB’s competitive, inter-modal, multijurisdictional approach is key—only federal action solves **

** Istrate and Puentes 9 ** (Istrate, Emilia, senior research analyst and associate fellow with the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative specializing in transportation financing, and Puentes, Robert, Senior Fellow and Director of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative, December 2009, “Investing for Success Examining a Federal Capital Budget and a National Infrastructure Bank”, Brookings Institute)FS

A properly designed NIB...leveraging private co-investment. 110

** An NIB would cause an immediate investment of billions- private investors are on their toes. **

** Hayley 11 ** MA Candidate at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (Andrea, “BUILD Act Holds Promise of Rebuilding America

Bipartisan Senate proposal taps private investment”, 6-10-11, Epoch Times http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/build-act-holds-promise-of-rebuilding-america-57495.html) RaPa

WASHINGTON— A new bipartisan Senate bill... realizing the unintentional pun. “It’s hardly a road.”


 * Only federal action solves---SIBs prove **


 * HALLEMAN ‘11 ** - Business graduate with analytical and program management experience across a range of transportation and infrastructure issues; Head of Communications & Media Relations at International Road Federation (Brendan, “Establishing a National Infrastructure Bank - examining precedents and potential”, October 2011, [])

The merits of establishing a....taking applications citing “state budget issues ”.

** A federal investment into a loan guarantees bridges bureaucratic and budget gaps between the states and is the best approach for a NIB **

** McConaghy and Perez 11 ** Ryan McConaghy, Director of the Economic Program, and Jessica Perez, Economic Program Policy Advisor (Ryan, Jessica, “Five Reasons Why BUILD is Better”, The Schwartz Initiative on American Economic Policy, June 2011, []) RaPa

Across the country, job-creating infrastructure projects... it needs to win the future without such innovative approaches.