An economic 'super cycle' will likely emerge: U.S. Steel CEO
U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt is sensing a strong, V-shaped like economic recovery for the country as it moves beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I have to say I have gone from — even back in the second quarter of last year — cautiously optimistic, dare I say bullish and now I am sensing there is a super cycle here with lots of cash and liquidity from the Fed," Burritt told Yahoo Finance Live. "[Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome] Powell did an incredible job last year just amazing. Then we have the relief bill going into place. Even money in that relief bill hasn't been spent, another $1.9 trillion."
Burritt and other companies that play in the infrastructure space are now fixated on the potential for a major infrastructure bill from the Biden administration. Should one get passed, it would only ignite the economic super cycle Burritt is seeing (and which is starting to appear in some economic data).
Recall, then presidential candidate Joe Biden outlined a more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan called Build Back Better. He said it would be the “largest mobilization of public investment since World War II.” Among other proposals in the plan, Biden would devote about $400 billion to expanding clean vehicle technology, steel production and other building materials. He is also earmarking $300 billion for investments in 5G and artificial intelligence.
Now that Biden is president he is expected to make a push for the Build Back Better plan once another round of COVID-19 relief gets passed.
Clearly, the time for a big infrastructure plan is long overdue and desperately needed.
According to new research from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. economy stands to lose $10.3 trillion in GDP by 2039 if an infrastructure bill isn’t passed. A total of $9 trillion in disposable income among households will be lost over the next 20 years, the research shows. The current state of America’s infrastructure — including gaping potholes on roads, outmanned electrical grids, and suboptimal public transport — is costing the average household in the country $3,300 a year.
"There is a lot of money on the table ready to be spent — spent on the infrastructure, spent on clean energy. Building back better is a great thing for this country and I think it's going to be a great thing for the world, too, to see the United States step up, collaborate and lead," Burritt added.
Investors may already be betting on U.S. Steel to haul in the profits as America rebuilds its aging infrastructure. Shares of U.S. Steel have surged 106% over the past year according to Yahoo Finance Premium data, outperforming the advances in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (8.2%) and S&P 500 (16.5%).
Yahoo Finance is going inside the nation's crumbling infrastructure in its latest series called: Rebuilding America. More details could be found here.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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