Of course, not all money is equal
Reuters is reporting, citing a White House official, that Trump's proposed budget includes $200 billion for infrastructure spending over 10 years.
That's a big number but it isn't much. $20 billion a year isn't going to move the needle at all. Trump was talking about rebuilding airports, highways, bridges and a certain wall on the Southern border.
To put it in perspective, the annual US defense budget is around $600 billion. Trump proposed to increase it by $54 billion in 2018.
For even more perspective, Canada's GDP is one-tenth of the US and it started on a 10-year, $125 billion infrastructure plan last year.
The flipside is that you can get creative with $20 billion per year. That doesn't only mean $20 billion of building. If you leverage that as loan guarantees or public-private partnerships, you can build far more.
So while the headlines are disappointing, we will wait on the details.
