Jobs program

~ susie

I’m glad they’re doing this, but disgusted that the federal government didn’t take the lead:

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. said it would announce on Wednesday that it intends to work with pension fund managers to ensure that at least $10 billion in union pension money is made available in the next five years to finance infrastructure projects.

Richard L. Trumka, president of the labor federation, will present the plan at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago as part of organized labor’s effort to get the federal government, banks and money managers to do more to issue bonds or create other mechanisms to finance infrastructure projects.

A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials said they planned to work with Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions in the hope of coming up with hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit large commercial buildings. Many building owners are hesitating to do such retrofits because they are highly leveraged and do not have the cash to make the investments. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. hopes its $10 billion will provide an incentive for banks and hedge funds to develop financing vehicles to make such projects happen.

Published by susie

5 thoughts on “Jobs program”

  1. Bit of a tangent but – I did it again. This morning in my early morning blogscroll I clicked on The Bump. Later today when I have time I think I’ll scroll through the backpages as I can’t help but feel she is trying to tell us something.

  2. Herbert Hoover would have been proud to see private charity stepping in instead of government.

  3. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. pension funds has a program of making loans to housing developments, to help keep them affordable. The non-profit Co-op development where I live was initially sponsored by a union. Two years ago, we received a $10 Million mortgage from the AFL-CIO fund; combined with state and city sponsored low-interest mortgages, we put in new windows, upgraded our power plant, renovated the elevators in all 7 buildings and did a bunch of smaller things. We will be remaining non-profit for another 25 years or so. This is a good thing.

  4. And they should put in toll booths wherever they build and charge an incredibly large surcharge to our Corporate Owners (and Government) for the privilege of using their infrastructure.

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