Award-Winning Author and Historian Dr. Harvey Kaye, and DNC Poverty Council Chair Susie Shannon, were joined by County Commissioners for a National Zoom Town Hall entitled, “The National Infrastructure Bank and the Legacy of FDR’s New Deal Today,” July 28, 2025.
 
While financial markets and the crypto scam head into nosebleed valuation territory, the real economy continues to deteriorate. The recent tragedy in the Hill Country in Texas punctuated this. Over 135 people have perished so far, due to the deliberate malfeasance by state and federal officials in building the infrastructure to end persistent flooding. Passage of the misnamed Big Beautiful Bill will compound the misery, as millions will lose their health care and supplemental food assistance. The schizophrenic tariff policy has caused business investment to stagnate or decline. Austerity is lethal.
 
The nation is crying out for a bold, radical policy to build our industry and infrastructure. The legacy of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal must be revived. The impact of the FDR recovery program drove a dramatic buildup of infrastructure and industrial expansion until the early 1970s. We’ve been going downhill ever since.
 
The Coalition for a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) has been at the forefront of the opposition to austerity. Support for the $5 trillion bank continues to grow. Recent developments include:

• On July 15, Robert Kuttner, a highly respected journalist and professor, published an article in the influential {The American Prospect} calling for an enhanced federal role in public projects, including infrastructure. In the article, Kuttner urges support for the NIB. 
• On July 14, the non-partisan National Association of Counties (NACo) passed a resolution at its annual convention, unanimously urging Congress to create the NIB. NACo is the major county organization in the United States. 2,350 counties are members representing 80% of the US population. 
• On June 14, the North Carolina Democratic Party became the latest Democratic institution to endorse the NIB
• On June 7, the National Federation of Democratic Women, a mainstay of the national party, endorsed the NIB

 Watch this essential video for a solution to the current economic crisis. Speakers at the July 28 Zoom event include:
 

Professor Harvey J. Kaye, Author and professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Susie Shannon, Chair, DNC Poverty Council, Los Angeles
Christine Reuther, Esq., Member of the Delaware County Council in suburban Philadelphia
Brian Sullivan, Treasurer, Snohomish County, WA   
Alphecca Muttardy, former Senior Economist, International Monetary Fund, Fairfax, VA
Randolph Voller, former Mayor and former Chair, North Carolina Democratic Party, Pittsboro