A very close cousin of the real estate industry is infrastructure; roads, bridges, transit, water, parks & recreation, waste management, schools and so on. Every weekend in New York City, and during my visits to other locales, I observe crews working on major projects of every size and shape from jackhammering roads to structural bridge repairs (remember the bridge collapse in Minneapolis?). The real estate industry relies on sound and reliable infrastructure.

Alas, the US is way behind on the infrastructure front, and scores a D+ according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which publishes the Infrastructure Report Card. I suggest that you visit the ASCE site to review the sobering findings. Our infrastructure is crumbling, and the real estate industry owes itself to lead the charge with our legislators at the local, state and federal level who are, for the most part, clueless on this issue.