Blackstone Group CEO Schwarzman: Infrastructure is a Super Big Deal

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Blackstone Group CEO on removing obstacles to improve US infrastructure

Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman on President Trump's plan to improve America's infrastructure.

President Trump has long stressed the need to improve America’s infrastructure, describing U.S. airports as "third world." Now the administration is pushing to make changes. “Infrastructure is a super big deal and it’s liked by both Republicans and Democrats because it’s needed,” said Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman in an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.

Schwarzman, chairman of President Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, said speeding up the infrastructure project process is essential as the U.S.  is falling behind globally. “The US is now 16th in the world in infrastructure.  And anybody who goes to our airports or drives on our roads knows is in close touch that we can do better.  And if you travel abroad you see that we can really do much, much better.”

Schwarzman says it’s not just an issue of funding, but getting the government bureaucracy out of the way.

“It’s more than [red] tape, this is some other super, it’s Elmer’s glue, you just can’t get stuff done. And in Canada and Germany it takes two years to approve whole projects that take us 10 to 15 years.”

Because of the red tape, Schwarzman says just throwing money at an infrastructure problem doesn’t mean it will get done.

“So, you have to attack infrastructure not just financially, because in a way it’s very important but it’s more the tail of the dog, if you were given a lot of money it would be hard to build something anyhow.”

“Get the Republicans and Democrats together and say, ‘I actually want to build something,’” Schwarzman continued, “It’s going to involve some people giving up some control, but what you get for that, you’ll get lots and lots and lots of infrastructure.”