America has some big-ticket infrastructure projects that need to be resolved, and with global interest rates now lower than ever Wall Street is urging governments to invest. But local policymakers are still hesitant to borrow and invest.
New government-bond issues have fallen to levels unheard of in the past two decades, and when adjusted for inflation the $140B issued by municipal borrowers last year is 53% lower than in 2006, the Wall Street Journal reports. And the Commerce Department says local governments are investing less than they have since the early 1980s.
Wall Street executives are stepping in and calling for government investments in infrastructure, but according to Moody’s Investors Service analyst Dan Seymour, the public isn’t ready for the tax hike that would entail. "Even as state and local governments are looking at lower bond yields, they are facing a public that is reluctant to pay more taxes,” he says. [WSJ]
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