"We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet. In my view we have nothing to show for it. We haven't invested in our roads, our bridges, our waste-water systems, our sewer systems. We haven't even maintained the assets that our parents and grandparents built for us"

Michael Bennett draws a sharp line between the scale of national borrowing and the paucity of tangible public assets to show for it. He treats debt not as an abstract tally but as a balance-sheet item that, ideally, should be matched by enduring assets, bridges, roads, water systems, that expand economic capacity. The indictment is not simply that the country has borrowed; it is that the borrowing funded consumption and short-term priorities rather than long-lived investments with compounding returns.

Underlying the argument is a basic principle of public finance: if a government takes on debt, the strongest justification is to build assets that future generations will benefit from and help pay for. When borrowed dollars bypass infrastructure and maintenance, the nation inherits liabilities without the offset of productive capital. The result is a double burden, interest costs that constrain future budgets, and a deteriorating stock of public works that quietly erodes productivity.

Bennett’s focus on maintenance is crucial. Repairing existing assets is less visible than cutting ribbons on new projects, yet deferred maintenance is costly: potholes become reconstruction, minor leaks become system failures. Treating upkeep as discretionary, and politically expendable, invites slow-motion decay that businesses, commuters, and communities feel daily in delays, higher costs, and service disruptions.

There is also a moral dimension. Prior generations built the infrastructure that powered growth and bound regions together. Failing to maintain that inheritance amounts to living off capital rather than stewarding it. Communities with fewer resources, often rural or low-income urban areas, bear the brunt when water systems fail or bridges are weight-limited, deepening inequality.

Ultimately, Bennett is criticizing a culture of short-termism. He urges reconnecting public borrowing to nation-building, prioritizing resilient infrastructure, modern water and wastewater systems, and a disciplined maintenance-first ethos, so that the national balance sheet reflects not just obligations but the durable assets that make future prosperity possible.