Economy | Syracuse Journal of Law & Civic Engagement

Recently, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand spoke at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University as part of the State of Democracy Lecture series.

Here is a description of the talk:
Gillibrand’s talk, “The American Opportunity Agenda,” addressed proposals to help more middle-class women workers gain financial security by modernizing America’s outdated workplace policies.

Gillibrand was first sworn in as U.S. senator from New York in January 2009. Prior to her service in the Senate, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing 10 counties in upstate New York’s 20th congressional district. She serves on the Senate agriculture, armed services, and aging committees.

Lisa Dolak and Fareed Zakaria on the Need For Infrastructure Investment

After returning to Syracuse from a weekend at home, I decided to catch up with Ivory Tower, which I had DVR’ed. Moderated by Barbara Fought (Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University), this edition of Ivory Tower featured a powerhouse panel including: Tim Byrnes (Colgate University), Bob Greene (Cazenovia College), Bob Spitizer (SUNY Cortland), Kristi Andersen (Maxwell School of Syracuse University) and Lisa Dolak (Syracuse University College of Law).

The panel discussed President Obama’s State of the Union Address and its most promising proposals. During this discussion, Professor Lisa Dolak described the President’s call to invest in infrastructure as a “win-win” (9:45) She explained that investing in infrastructure would not only fix our crumbling roads and bridges but would also put millions of Americans back to work.

Fareed Zakaria agrees and goes a step further. According to Zakaria, investing in infrastructure would “win-win-win.” In addition to the benefits Prof. Dolak describes, Zakaria points out that infrastructure spending is fiscally responsible. This is so for two reasons. First, fixing our infrastructure is an investment that needs to be made whether sooner or later. However, if we wait to fix our our roads and bridges the costs will be greater since there will be further, more serious deterioration. Second, investing in infrastructure would boost growth and thereby decrease the debt and deficit.