A Possible Infrastructure Investment Structure

By special law, an Infrastructure Investment Bank, designated as a charity, could be federally chartered and insured by the Federal Reserve System (not the Federal Government). Neither the Fed nor the Government, nor any of their current or future potential departments, affiliates, agencies or designees, would have access to the Bank’s funds for any reason. The purpose of the Bank would be to fund a full transition to a green and white Hydrogen Economy.

The goal of this transition would be to:  

• Fully replace fossil fuels and nuclear fission to generate electricity.
• Wean the U.S. from the need to rely on foreign oil reserves to support the dollar and to control the ocean’s choke points.
• Significantly reduce the probability of a terminal war.
• Tap a widely availalable and inexhaustible fuel for mobile applications.
• Literally manufacture virtually unlimited pure water where desalination is impractical or impossible, including inland arid areas such as west of the 98^th Meridian in the United States, and the Sahara Desert. The need to address water scarcity is well known; existing infrastructures such as China’s South-North Water Transfer Project, California’s State Water Project, and proposed but now defunct analogues such as the North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA), while forward-looking, will not meet the world’s future needs. The proposed Death Valley Canal System would, – without costly dams.
• Use hydrogen to fully meet the United States’ current and future energy demand.
• Export hydrogen in vast amounts to countries that need both energy and water.
• Flip the chronic trade deficit into surplus.
• Permanently solve the chronic and pervasive shortage of affordable housing for working class individual buyers.
• Mitigate the very real consequences to the advent of robots run by artificial intelligence, mechanical slaves that threaten to replace human workers on an unprecedented scale.
• Relieve federal, state and local governments from the responsibility and burden of providing ever-growing safety net benefits.
• Create a template for other countries to help prevent famine, mass-migrations and wars.
• Peg the value of all currencies to each country’s per capita production and use of green and/or white hydrogen. This would replace the International Monterary Fund’s (IMF) basket of privileged currencies, enforce universal fiscal discipline, preclude deficit spending to fund wars of aggression, rein in inflation, and protect wealth everywhere.

As of 2024, the top 10% of the population owned fully 60% of the nation’s wealth, or $101.3 trillion. New legislation would require them to gradually deposit not less than 50% of their wealth in the proposed Investment Bank. As a result, the Bank’s capital could approach approximately $50 trillion. This would be neither tax nor confiscation; instead, depositors would create individual Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (CRUTs). Depositors would get prorated income tax charitable deductions in amounts equal to their individual contributions. The CRUTs’ assets would grow tax-free and additional contributions would be allowed after the initial funding. The Bank (the trustee) would distribute a predetermined prorated percentage of its assets each year. Its income would be derived from the sale of electricity, hydrogen, water and other ancillary products as outlined here. To protect the interests of the depositors’ heirs, the former would use a portion of the income they receive to purchase life insurance in an amount equal to their contributions. Thus, the depositors would get a tax deduction and income for life, and upon their passing, their heirs would receive the insurance benefit.