PPI Names 2011 Investment Heroes in New Report

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Jul 10, 2012, 11:34 ET

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the U.S. economy stuttering, the Progressive Policy Institute has issued a completely new list of the top 25 "investment heroes"—the nonfinancial companies which are investing the most in the United States.

The U.S. economy's anemic job growth is mainly the result of a "lackluster recovery in business investment," according to a new Progressive Policy Institute report.

In "Investment Heroes: Who's Betting on America's Future?," coauthors Diana G. Carew and Michael Mandel show that half the leading "investment hero" companies are either telecom or energy, reflecting the growth areas of the economy. The top five companies on the list are AT&T, Verizon, ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart and Intel.

The key to recovery is encouraging more companies to return to pre-recession rates of business investment, say Carew and Mandel.

"We estimate there would have been a total of $1.4 trillion more in non-residential business investment over 2008-2011, in 2005 dollars, had business investment continued to grow at the same average annual rate in the ten years before the recession (4.8% over 1997-2007)," write Carew and Mandel. "That extra investment could have gone a long way toward creating jobs, boosting productivity and enhancing U.S. competitiveness."

The Progressive Policy Institute is an independent, innovative and high-impact D.C.-based think tank founded in 1989. Through research, policy analysis and dialogue, PPI develops break-the-mold ideas aimed at economic growth, national security and modern, performance-based government. Today, PPI's unique mix of political realism and policy innovation continues to make it a leading source of pragmatic and creative ideas.

To view the report, please follow this link: http://progressivepolicy.org/investment-heroes-who%E2%80%99s-betting-on-america%E2%80%99s-future .

SOURCE Progressive Policy Institute