Deficit spending is the best thing for the current economy and the future (see details)

1)A) Infrastructure is something that is required to have a modern economy. We need transportation, power lines, water, and energy in order for the economy to perform. Now and in the future infrastructure will need to be build and replaced regardless. B)The first question is how much infrastructure will we need in the next 0-20 years or so. The EPA estimates that we will need to spend 300 billion dollars on water infrastructure it the next 25 years. http://thinkprogress.org... Yearly the USA spends around 140 billion on just highway infrastructure (2.8 trillion over 20 years). http://cboblog.cbo.gov... Another infrastructure upgrade we will need is an upgraded electric grid,that will cost around 450 billion. http://www.reuters.com... Other infrastructure that we will need is more power plants which is estimated that in the next 20 years we will need to invest at least 1.5 trillion in order to provide the economy enough electricity. http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org... C)So just adding those together over the next 20 years or so we will need to spend at least 5 trillion dollars on infrastructure. I will now list the reasons why it would be beneficial for the economy and society for the government to borrow a lot of money now to pay for all this infrastructure. 2)It will save us money in the long run, by reducing congestion, increasing energy efficacy, and increasing the use of cleaner energy. The sooner we update this infrastructure the sooner we start saving money A)Example 1: Investing 450 billion to update the electric grid would save 2 trillion over 20 years. It does this by decreases the amount of wasted energy and improving energy efficiency. http://www.reuters.com... B)Americas currently outdated transportation, water, and building efficiency infrastructure costs the country 200 billion a year (2trillion over 20 years). The costs include car, airplane congestion, wasted water from leaky pipes, and outdated homes/buildings that are not insulated or have poor energy efficiency appliances/fixtures. http://capitalgainsandgames.com... C)Updating and mandating building codes that promote energy/water efficiency would save consumers a net of 400billion dollars over 20 years. http://www.environmentnorthcarolina.org... D)Infrastructure upgrades that update power plants so that they emit less harmful chemicals and pollution would save billions b decreasing health cost associated with the pollution. The cost to benefits ratio of upgrading those plants gets as high as 1-22. Meaning these investments will save at least 640 billion dollars over 20 years. http://thinkprogress.org... E)So in total just those 4 examples will save over 5 trillion dollars over 20 years, and remember this is investments that we must make some time or another, and the sooner we make them the sooner we start saving. 3)A) Better safety. Remember that bridge that collapsed in the Midwest that killed a bunch of people? That occurred because we don't spend enough on infrastructure. One report estimates that around 12% of America's bridges are structurally deficient and potentially dangerous. Updating our infrastructure will make traveling safer for everyone. http://transportationnation.org... 4)Most infrastructure spending creates more economic benefits then it costs. A)For example train infrastructure reduces congestion, pollution and commute times, saving more money than it costs to build those trains. Two separate studies find that every dollar spent on train infrastructure creates around 1.5-2.5 dollars in economic benefits. http://elpc.org... http://www.hsrupdates.com... B)When you take into account the health and environmental costs of coal/oil you find that clean energy costs twice as less. This is because emissions from coal/oil increase your chance to have cancer, heart and lung disease, autism, and many other diseases. Two separate studies find the same results. This means that the sooner we invest in energy infrastructure that we will need the sooner you stop getting sick and start saving money. http://thinkprogress.org... http://thinkprogress.org... C) Also when you account for all the people who die because of this pollution it enters the hundreds of thousand. Over 20 years 300,000 people will die just from coal pollution. http://www.ecomall.com... 5)Now the second question is why is it beneficial for the government to upgrade all the infrastructure we will need in the current recession. There are several reasons: A)Currently there is over 9% unemployment, meaning 9% of the labor force is sitting idle. Every day millions of hours of labor is wasted that can never come back. If the government built up our infrastructure now it would result in the saving of millions upon millions of hours of work that would otherwise go wasted. B)The capital utilization rate is very low (around 70%) To explain what this means ill use an example. If the capital utilization rate for farms was 65% it would mean that 35% of farms that could produce crops were not producing them. This means that a lot of factories, farms and mines are sitting idle; infrastructure spending would result in the use of resources that would otherwise sit and do nothing. http://www.statcan.gc.ca... C)Inflation is very low and for parts of 2008-2011 there has been deflation. Enough government spending could easily get us out of the deflation/low inflation that we are in further improving the economy. http://www.bls.gov... Every day a bunch of land, factories, and resources sit idle and go to waste; we could put these to use if the government just employed a bunch of people to build things that we need to build while simultaneously saving thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. D)Some interest rates on US debt are as low as they've ever been some are even negative. This means that essentially the government is paid (once adjusted for inflation/other factors) to borrow money in the short turn. This means that building infrastructure now will be cheaper than if we do it in the future. Building it now will also be cheaper because with so many unemployed people wages are pressed down. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com... E)Many studies have found that being unemployed is bad for ones health; government spending that employs people to build things we need to build that will make it so everyone especially the unemployed will have better health and be happier. http://www.nytimes.com... http://voices.washingtonpost.com... http://www.bmj.com... Conclusion: Government deficit spending now to build infrastructure that we will need will eventually results in saving hundreds of thousands of lives, saving trillions of dollars, putting to use labor and resources that would otherwise be wasted, end high unemployment, make people healthier/happier, all while costing less than if we do it in the future.