Morning Brief: Streetcar Revival Earns Mixed Reviews

Urban planners and federal grants are increasingly encouraging cities to embrace streetcars (WSJ). Proponents look to Portland’s experience and see an opportunity to attract young people and revive neighborhoods, while detractors see high costs and little benefit for systems that do not reach beyond the city. “I would love a rail system that actually gets people to work, not just to buy a sandwich,” offered the director of Cincinnati’s Homeless Coalition.

The first Renewing America Progress Report and Infographic Scorecard provides a critical assessment of federal transportation policy, including a description of major policy initiatives and important steps policymakers must take to revitalize critical infrastructure.

Bring Back Build America Bonds

In Bloomberg View, CFR’s Peter Orszag argued for the reinstatement of Build America Bonds (BAB). BABs help fund infrastructure investment and provide a direct subsidy to state and local governments that is not dependent on the marginal tax rate of the purchaser--in contrast to most municipal bonds. BABs also can attract a broader swath of investors and drive down interest rates on traditional municipal bonds.

Infrastructure. Read more on how upgrading the nation’s aging network of roads, bridges, airports, railways, and water systems is essential to maintaining U.S. competitiveness.

Silicon Valley’s Dreamers May Yield to Well-Connected

The recent success of Square, a mobile payment startup, may herald a shift in Silicon Valley (NYT). Analysts say Square’s innovation model is similar to Thomas Edison’s: identify areas ripe for innovation, build a new solution based largely upon existing technology and leverage access to resources and networks. This paradigm shifts opportunity from the innovator working in a garage to the established player; as the author puts it: “Silicon Valley will become less about the dreamers and more about the marketers, the connected and the everyday.”

CFR’s Edward Alden says that policies that focus solely on ensuring that big innovations come from within U.S. borders may be misguided because so much innovation is global. The U.S. economy can benefit from innovations developed elsewhere, he says.

Innovation. Read more on how the U.S. capacity to innovate could play a chief role in economic growth.

Debt and Deficits

Virginia Expects to Pay State Bonuses

Virginia Governor McDonnell is expected to announce that the state’s growing revenues and falling costs will allow it to pay around $80 million in employment bonuses (AP). “Tens of millions” of dollars in savings are expected from Medicaid, and over $100 million may have been saved overall. Unlike the experience of many other states, individual income tax and sales tax receipts have remained strong.

Debt and deficits. Read more from experts on the challenges in reducing U.S. debt.

The Morning Brief is compiled by Renewing America contributor Steven J. Markovich.