Goldman Sachs CEO Calls for Bigger US Infrastructure Push
Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., urged the United States to spend more on infrastructure to keep from falling further behind other industrialized nations, joining similar calls from JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon.
“Arrived in China, as always impressed by condition of airport, roads, cell service, etc.,” Blankfein said in a tweet June 5. “U.S. needs to invest in infrastructure to keep up!”
Arrived in China, as always impressed by condition of airport, roads, cell service, etc. US needs to invest in infrastructure to keep up!
— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) June 6, 2017
Blankfein’s message — his third-ever tweet — echoed remarks from Dimon, who said the neglect damages economic growth. “I just came from Hong Kong — I mean, it’s embarrassing,” Dimon said in a Bloomberg Television interview June 5 in Beijing. “America, the can-do nation, should get back to building and constructing.”
President Donald Trump has proposed leveraging $200 billion to generate a total of about $1 trillion from states, cities and private investors to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure. Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs executive who now leads Trump’s National Economic Council, has said the strategy can deliver substantial gains without new taxes.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated about $2 trillion in new funds are needed to do the job properly. Congressional Democrats have said they won’t support any plan that relies on tax breaks for wealthy investors, arguing that much more direct spending by Washington is needed.
