If the nation is to be rebuilt and its infrastructure renewed, if the country is to emerge from the present economic crisis and reclaim its position of unqualified strength and leadership in world affairs, then it must be guided by the vision, determination and investments that originally helped create a secure and prosperous America.
The spectacle of Brazil's business capital's being paralyzed by a single, previously announced strike prompted a new round of anger at the government's failure to invest in infrastructure and renewed concerns over possible breakdowns in road, airport and communications systems when Brazil hosts the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.
In just two years, net public investment almost halved from £48.5bn in 2009/10 to £28bn in 2011/12, and despite recent budget hype about renewing the infrastructure, the smallprint of the red book reveals that this net investment total will stay on the floor, averaging only £25.8bn per year during the first half of the next parliament.
Resurrecting research in the country's private sector, renewing the infrastructure of research institutions, and training a new generation of scientists are the main aims of the strategy.
By means of this process and under state law, cities had been able to renew infrastructure and promote economic development.
However, the jobs gained from a renewed infrastructure push are unlikely to be either numerous or immediately available.
While incomes have improved, the failure to complete reforms has left Russia overly dependent on oil and gas exports to support the budget and renew infrastructure.
Africapitalism calls for regulatory reforms where necessary, more opportunity for investments in industry and infrastructure, and a renewed focus on entrepreneurship.
He has pledged a $500bn£400bnbn) programme of infrastructure spending to renew the roads, tunnels and bridges built in the 1950s and has promised to increase defence spending.
Once the Treasury published the spending review documents, it also became clear that like most of the chancellor's other recent "infrastructure boosts", the renewed emphasis on capital spending was more about presentation than hard cash.
