We talk a lot about infrastructure. Let me remind you what the state of americas infrastructure is. If you had a grade, it would be d , im talking about roads, bridges, communications more. Collectively nothing more than a d . This report card was put out by the American Society of civil engineers. They may have a dog in the hunt. Not only are we not doing enough to modernize public infrastructure, we are barely maintaining what we have now. President obama spent years calling for a publicprivate Infrastructure Bank that could jumpstart financing on big projects. The idea would be to attract billions investment from the private sector to Fund Infrastructure fixes and upgrades. In return investors would receive guarantees from the federal government that could serve to attract more private investors into public projects. That cd has gone in respect. And its going nowhere now that he has a republican dominated congress run on a platform of Less Government spending and less spending in general. That is short sited. Increasing the National Budget by 1 of americas Gross Domestic Product could result in a 270 billion increase in economic output in that three year period according to standard and poors. Every door on infrastructure yields a 1. 70 bost to Economic Activity creating 730,000 newons in the Labour Market in 2015 in construction and a bunch of other field. All the extra activity would ripple across the country and fuel growth. But we have to spend some money to get there. That is a hard sell for many. Joining me is an author of the report. A chief economist for the United States for standard pors rating service, and says highlighting the beneficial effects of spending is important because americas infrastructure is in support of this. You dont have a dog in this fight. I dont even have a dog. If we spend a trillion on Infrastructure Projects its good for still engineers. The fact is others are able to corroborate the state of americas public infrastructure. Its terrible. This is the wealthiest country in the world. We have bridges that fall we dont have good enough roadways or the broadband infrastructure that south korea has, or high speed chains. You could start anywhere. You are right. One of the things to take into part. Theres roads, highways and if you look historically think about the international highways the interstate highway system in the United States. It cost in the 1960s about a little less than 5 billion in real terms. How many do you thick that gave us in terms of productivity activity and Economic Activity. I think it paid for ourselves. I think of these things we should think of these things not just as improvements but competitiveness. Cities are looking to prosper the ability to move ideas and information. It occurs to me. This used to be a republican or a fiscally conservative idea app idea of bringing private enterprise into the fold. It is Republicans Holding us back. There you probably have i think the relationship between the democrats and republicans go back further than infrastructure, this may be one thing to argue about. They dont agree on anything. Good point. So the economic argument this idea. Tell me how we get to the 1. 70 in benefit for a dollar spent. The idea that you are investing in things that increase business. If you have a highspeed train, people will use it business will be done trade will be established and businesses coming from other places. A couple of points to make this terms of the 1. 70. You have the shortterm gains and demands. It creates jobs gains of 1 more on infrastructure in the United States. That meanings the people have pay checks. They are spent, creating more business in the United States and more on Economic Activity and uncle sam gets tax revenue from that. Longterm benefits in terms of increased productivity going with the better infrastructure system. Its not just with roads, but congestion in cities slowing down business. The other factor is in terms of health, schools, it means longterm productivity. If its done well smartly, it means longterm growth. Lets talk about the ways in which you do it. There are many ways to decide again. You go back to rose. Plipty of products can be funded. It can be purely government projects. They can be private partnerships. Its unusual that this day we hold for publicprivate partnerships work. A little government money leverages private money. What issing it is basically investments in infrastructure in terms of payments whether you have bonds, build america or bonds that are for infrastructure. They are the most well paid less likely due to fall than a Corporate Bond in some instances. The risk return is not good. Hard to understand why it doesnt happen. One factor that is not kuffed is the pipe line. How do you get investors to invest when theres no pipeline. Thats where wed like more activity. So we are this is a im curious as to what made you study this. Is it because it was a good intellectual pursuit to do so. Its not like the new congress is waiting for infrastructures, to move ahead. I wish they would. For no other reason that Interest Rates are low. The money that the government spends is cheaper than in normal times. You mentioned the United States. We have a d thats an upgrade we were a d before. We improved. Its bad. Then you look at the u. K. For example, their Multiplier Effect is 2. 5. They get 2. 50. They are a well developed economy. Does that happen as you move up the infrastructure ladder . No it depends what you have. According to the World Economic forum, the infrastructure is lacking. In terms of improvement, impact on productivity could help the u. K. We dont see it in the u. S. Its across the board. Developing countries benefit more for 1 invested. A pleasure to have you here. The u. S. Chief economist at standard poors. The huge slide in oil is inflicting pain on venezuela. The countrys president is pleading with saudi arabia to do something. But up next you hear why some are saying its too late and the oil will fall in 2015. We are back in 2 minutes. You are watching real money. We got a wee little break on friday but oil prices have been falling for months theres indications that it will keep going down. Supply is outstripping demand fuelled by Shale Oil Boom and this has oil for producers from america all the way to the middle east close to panic. None more so than venezuela. By far the one country that is hurt the most by falling oil prices. President madura has been touring o. P. E. C. Capitals to lobby plead, in fact in the relief of production cuts that will push prices up. For more on the sorry state of the industry here is david ari ofto. This in many way assist why what happens in venezuelan is important. Oil venezuela has among the largest reserves in the world. Because it doesnt have enough domestic refineries an Unlikely Partnership developed between the United States and the south american nation which relies on crude exports and gasoline imports to keep the economy humming. Venezuela is the thirdlargest supplier of crude oil to the United States. Years ago, even under hugo chavez when talking about the president being the devil or rhetorical possess, the bottom line is the United States is the closest market for venezuela oil. And the u. S. Is thirsty for oil. Despite a boom the u. S. Imports about 44 of oil needs. Roughly 800,000 barrels a day comes from venezuela. Some venezuelanan Officials Say the country should pump more oil revenue back into its own sector by investing in refineries. Translation the government neglected infrastructure leaving our National Oil Company in a difficult situation. They seem to have abandoned the investment that we need to keep growing. Reporter those critical of the government have been silenced. State intelligence arrested a mayor on conspiracy charges in march. It was during that time the protesters took to the streets in several venezuelanan cities frustrating by a teetering economy and rampant inflation. For years the government tried to placate those concerns by subsidizing the price of gas. This is one of the few places where, believe it or not, the bottle of water costs more than gasoline. The government keeps it that way, especially to prop up the economy, especially in poor neighbourhoods. This pack of gum costs more than filling up this entire s. U. V. Supporters argue that subsidies eased Financial Burdens on the nations poor, and led to a thriving black market and shortages, as venezuelan takes on debt to keep the programs afloat. Refineries started to replace crude with oil from the oil sands, as prices plummet, it may be a perfect storm for the venezuelan authorities, concerned about more scenes like these as economic woes give way to political unrest venezuela is especially vulnerable to the drop in global demand. The economy relying on oil for 95 of export revenue. Oil exports have been dropping. Food the today the United States which is venezuelans biggest customer imports as much fuel as it did a decade soing. Steve lavigne writes about the rise and fall of oil markets and says theres no bigger loser than venezuela. But says other o. P. E. C. Members better equipped to deal with the shocks like saudi arabia are waking up to the perils. The main problem for venezuelan is that in addition to being so reliant on the export of oil, it has poorly run an economy for years. The its incredible what it has done to the oil industry and, you know the subsidies. Its just in real trouble. You saw this today. You saw people in the streets. The police had to clear people out of stores. President madura is in trouble. Snow. By the way the oil industry is more efficient. Its plummeted. This is because the thing about oil fields theres a presumption that once you start drilling, you let the taps open and it scoops coming. You have to work on it drill, and what president madura has done and president chavez before him, is flow off the oil revenue, and not reinvest it in the fields. You mentioned that saudi arabia and the rich Oil Countries that afford the low price of oil, they sell so much of it and they have no money. They are waking up to the perils of the problem. What do you mean by that . When saudi arabia understood that a surge of u. S. Supply was coming on to the market which it did halfway through last year and on top of that libyan oil was coming on to the market we thought we better keep our oil onto the market. They didnt want it to capture their customers. Oil was over 100 a barrel, 106 sometimes, last june 1, 15 maybe it would go down to 90. They never imagined it would go to brent oil, the bench mark went down to 47. Another imagined it would go down so low. For them for the saudis with 750 billion in reserves, this is scary territory. Madura remember venezuelan is part of o. P. E. C. Its a member state. Why are they not getting a better response. Are there not other nations that get a lot of revenue from the oil and cant afford this as well . Venezuela, not only is it a member its the founding member. It was the in cityingation of the instigator of the formation of all the members know it and they remember venezuela fondly for that. They got some reception. The chinese promised investment. Qatari said theyd help. Everywhere is in the same boat. Venezuela borrowed 50 billion, they know 20. When you look at the debt market madura promises vows hes not going to default. The market is viewing the probability of disault in venezuelan at 96 . This is why. Nobody wants to stop producing oil. Seven at low spaces also a lot in store im. I guess it speaks to the less jobbing effectiveness of o. P. E. C. Over time. They were the bulk of oil production. You have russia norway canada mexico and the United States. Despite all of these wells shuttered in the United States well still produce oil in 2015 than we did in 2014. The thing that is happening we are seeing a lot of news the number of trilling rigs is produced and seen as a measure of drop in u. S. Production. Thats not the case. It matters which rigs are removed from the market and what is removed are rigs on the margins. So the ones that are trilling in the swede spots, they are continuing, and the forecasts still are that the u. S. Is going to increase production by 300,000 to 600,000 barrels a day. Therell be a surplus on the market, and only by the end of the year are you going to start to see the growth in u. S. Oil pulled back. We still have a what you had overnight was interesting. Investment banks, wall street last night and this morning scrambling to recalibrate, putting out new reports, estimates of where prices will go by the end of the year. You said it in of the beginning of this clip. Theres a panic among o. P. E. C. Nations. There is a panic on wall street. What is coming this year. Good to talk to you. Thank you for being was. Steve lavigne is the washington correspondent. Something of an expert that goes on in the war on oil. Coming up a coveted Civil Servant job in new york city garbage man. Its like hitting the lottery because of how hard times are now. Tough work and even tougher to get it. Back in 2 minutes. Hundreds of days in detention. Al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. Thousands calling for their freedom. Its a clear violation of their human rights. We have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. Journalism is not a crime. I am ordinarily not one for trash talk but lets talk trash specifically the job of collecting 11,000 tonnes of garbage that new yorkers create each day. Believe it or not, becoming a garbage man is a coveted job in the city. More than 93,000 applied to cart away garbage in the big apple. Mary sthoe reveals why. Im joseph a new york sanitation workers. Its not easy to get a job. To get a job in this day and age is scarce. Its not easy in new york city. Reporter this may be one of the toughest jobs to get in new york city. This past year more than 90,000 submitted applications to become sanitation workers. The department hires 500 new workers a year. Translating to an acceptance of 0. 54 , a little over half a per cent. Harvard universitys acceptance rate is 5. 8 . In other words its harder to become a sanitation worker in new york city that it is to get into harvard. When i heard there was 960,000 applicants for the job, it made sense and made me think how hard it is to get a job. One reason being a sanitation worker is enticing may be the pay. The starting salary is low about 34,000. When you factor in overtime it averages about 47,000 in the first year. After 5. 5 years, the salary jumps to 89,000. Its not bad, considering the annual pay for transit workers is 78,000. New york city teachers 68,000, and parks employees, 50,000 per year. And since new york city sanitation workers operate snow ploughs, theres an ample opportunity for overtime. When we have a big snow fall we move into 24 hours shifts. They earn a lot of overtime. Last winter was harsh, and people that may have made 75,000 a year were averaging 95,000. And there are other perks 10 extra pay for night shift. An unlimited number of sick days and extra holidays. Sanitation Department Workers used an average of 14. 4 sick days in 2014. Thats more than Police Officers who used less days. Like a strong union, they have good benefits very Good Health Care plans, thats true across most other city employees. Its not the easiest job, its unexpected you dont know what you are walking into. It could be anything. Lives, acid. You dont know what you are touching. Despite days filled with garbage, sanitation worker joe considers himself to be one of the luckiest in new york. I tell my friends take the test, in 20 years, to retire its a great job. From sanitation workers to teachers and firemen. 71 of all workers in new york are unionized, the highest rate in the nation. Daniel is a senior fellow at the mapp institute, a manhattan institute, a conservative thick tank and wrote government against itself. He said the unionization of jobs makes government more costly and restricts innovation. Its unionization occurring in the Public Sector in the private sector rates have fallen since the 1970s. In the Public Sector its been a different trajectory. And it has stayed steady and constant. What is the best argument. We looked at the job numbers is see despite a roaring stock market and house prices going up and low Interest Rates and unemployment wages do not budge for most people. They do not budge. They have been moving for Public Sector employees, and that is a problem that your lead piece puts a finger on which is Public Workers like teachers and sanitation workers see incomes rise as unions press for higher wages and Better Benefits at the same time that the taxpayers funding them have not seen those benefits and increases. What would you propose the solution is when you see again, im not sure i fully get the problem. Its surprising when you see a sanitation worker in new york a garbage collector earning pore money. Theres probably issues. Is there not an also phone for the private sector to take from the Public Sector. I think in the private sector the issue is whether there has been a long debate about whether unions could come back in the private sector. The issue is that they are not going to come back. Thats the view of most analysts because Service Sector employment is so hard to unionize and manufacturing employment will continue to decline. Those where were the classic blue colour union jobs were. We have seen cities that are struggling under debt loads outsource a lot of City Services and when you out source in some cases you get away from these things. What is the best solution for public services. You put your finger on something of importance. In new york and municipalities where you have strong Public Employee yun yornings the possibility is if there were efficiencies and cost savings doesnt happen because the union put uch a fight against put up a fight against privatisation. Those managed competition would be good solution but its a political battle and elected officials have to be willing to take it on. Thank you for being here. Thats our show for today, im ali velshi thank you for joining us. Pass o hello, im richard gizbert, and you are at the listening post. Here are some of the media stories we have been tracking. Newsstand. A whos who come comes out