Municipal Bonds Need to Be Made a Part Of President's Program to'Rebuild' Nation

A prototype exists for leveraging federal seed money into billions of state dollars for infrastructure development. This prototype may leverage $8.4 billion in federal money into as much as $83.5 billion in loans to localities for water pollution control over the next 15 years. You help cast the bre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Bond buyer (New York, N.Y. 1982) Vol. 303; no. 29090
Main Author Lebenthal, James A
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, N.Y SourceMedia 16.02.1993
Subjects
Borrowing
Clinton, Bill
Economic development
Economic summit conferences
Infrastructure
Municipal bonds
Water pollution
Water quality
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Summary:A prototype exists for leveraging federal seed money into billions of state dollars for infrastructure development. This prototype may leverage $8.4 billion in federal money into as much as $83.5 billion in loans to localities for water pollution control over the next 15 years. You help cast the bread upon the waters every time you purchase a revenue bond backed by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp.'s water pollution state revolving fund. Let the states pick projects within designated infrastructure categories and finance them with tax-free municipal bonds collateralized by revolving fund assets. Let the states be the ones to "Rebuild America." The states can lay sewers, dig roads, move commuters, rebuild neighborhoods, bore tunnels, and span rivers in the tax-free bond market cheaper than the federal government. Also, the states can handle and adapt to the needs of the localities more carefully than Uncle Sam can. And they have the tools. Their revolving funds already are up and running. The municipal bond component of the state revolving fund is flourishing, and the tax incentive for investing in municipal bonds is there. And America's in the mood. Judging from how often the word "infrastructure" is used on television these days, the country is ready to bend steel and pour concrete for genuinely needed public works.
ISSN:0732-0469