Tuesday, March 10, 2026
When America Built Things: The Lost Art of Creating Tomorrow
I've been thinking a lot about my Uncle Ray lately. He worked for Morrison-Knudsen, one of those big construction outfits that doesn't exist anymore, and in 1963 he helped build a stretch of Interstate 80 through Nebraska. Ray wasn't a college man, but he bought his first house at 28, sent three kids to state school, and retired with a pension that actually meant something. Last week, the American Enterprise Institute released a fascinating study about how the infrastructure boom of the 1960s — the Interstate Highway System, the space program, the great public works — didn't just move dirt and launch rockets. It created what they're calling "generational wealth" for ordinary Americans.
The numbers tell a story that would make my dad proud. Between 1960 and 1970, federal infrastructure spending didn't crowd out private enterprise — it supercharged it. Every mile of interstate highway created demand for American steel, concrete, and heavy machinery. The space program birthed entire industries, from semiconductors to satellite communications. But here's what strikes me most: this wasn't government taking over the economy. It was government creating the stage where American ingenuity could perform. Companies like Caterpillar, Bechtel, and thousands of smaller contractors grew alongside these projects. Workers learned skills that lasted lifetimes.
My dad used to drive us kids to watch them building the overpass on Route 9. "That's what America does," he'd say, cigarette hanging from his lip as we watched the cranes swing steel beams into place. "We build things that last." The men working those jobs — and they were mostly men then — could afford houses in neighborhoods where teachers and shop foremen lived side by side. Their kids became engineers and doctors, not because of government handouts, but because good work paid enough to dream bigger.
The infrastructure we're debating today feels different somehow. Too much focus on which politician gets credit, not enough on whether we're creating the kind of lasting opportunity that built the middle class. The AEI study suggests we should look backward to move forward — strategic investment that strengthens American manufacturing rather than shipping jobs overseas. When I see abandoned factories in towns that once hummed with activity, I wonder what Uncle Ray would think about our capacity to build big things anymore.
✍ My Take: We've forgotten that the best government spending doesn't replace private enterprise — it creates conditions where American workers and American companies can thrive together. The 1960s proved you could be fiscally responsible AND ambitious about the future. Today's infrastructure debates get lost in partisan scoring when they should focus on one simple question: Will this create the kind of work that lets a young person buy a house and raise a family? That's not liberal or conservative thinking. That's American thinking.
📎 American Enterprise Institute
Remember when building America's future was something we did together? Those days can come again. — Jack Reynolds
— Jack Reynolds