Laura Tyson, a member of President Obama's Economic Advisory Council, says the federal government should create a National Infrastructure Bank to shepherd billions into upgrading America's physical plant.

And it would help reduce the road congestion, airport delays and freight bottlenecks that reduce productivity and make the United States a less attractive place to do business. The American Society of Engineers has identified more than $2.2 trillion in public infrastructure needs nationwide, and a 2008 study by the Congressional Budget Office found that, on strict cost-benefit grounds, it would make sense to increase annual spending on transportation projects alone by 74 percent.