Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s
announcement yesterday of a six-year, $476 billion surface
transportation reauthorization bill, as part of his 2013 budget,
is the latest demonstration of a longstanding presidential
propensity for transportation projects.
The U.S. owes its emergence as a great power to magnificent
investments in infrastructure. The emerging giant of today,
China, is following that example. Many imagine that we must
again build big to stay on top. But success in middle-age -- for
people and nations -- requires wisdom and cunning more than
pumped-up brawn. America’s infrastructure needs intelligent
reform, not floods of extra financing or quixotic dreams of new
moon adventures or high-speed railways to nowhere.
