In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned the nation to be alert to the potential threat to our freedoms from what he memorably termed the military-industrial complex.   

We’d argue, however, that in the years since then, neither the military-industrial partnership nor other examples of government/private industry collaboration have jeopardized our liberties. Rather, these public/private partnerships have been critical in establishing the U.S. as a leader in many vital areas. The transistor, the laser, and the Internet are all the fruit of cooperation between the military and private industry. And much of the country’s infrastructure, including the interstate highway system, exists only because of partnerships between government and industry.

But infrastructure isn’t a onetime deal. According to reliable surveys, the total value of U.S. physical asset wealth is over $40 trillion. Much of this infrastructure has begun to fray, and in some cases fray badly. The nonpartisan American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the U.S. will need spend at least $3 trillion by the end of this decade to make our infrastructure adequate to our needs.

Congress has shown recent signs of getting the message, and a bill allocating around half a trillion dollars for infrastructure spending is on the Congressional plate. Obviously there’s no guarantee it will move forward, but we hope it indicates that our government may yet focus on what it will actually take to make this country stronger and more productive.

One impetus for taking up the infrastructure challenge is that our leading competitor for economic hegemony, China, has clearly stolen our thunder. From nearly a standing start a generation ago, China has amassed an asset base that nearly equals our own and that by early next decade could easily be 50 percent larger than ours. Moreover, China’s infrastructure base is much newer and in many ways better than ours. From fast trains to the smart grid, China is miles ahead of us. And while China still may have fewer roads and pipelines than we do, the ones they have aren’t in disrepair.

Even President Obama recently noted that he was embarrassed by the extent to which the U.S. was falling behind China. Perhaps we can hope that China will be the red flag that rouses our competitive spirits. If so, the half trillion dollars proposed so far will be a drop in the bucket. Nor is the U.S. alone in needing upgraded and new infrastructure. It’s estimated that from 2012 to 2022, more than $50 trillion will be spent globally on infrastructure, ranging from pipelines to bridges to water sanitation equipment.

In The Complete Investor, we review seven stocks that are among the best and most reasonably valued infrastructure companies around. Some are dedicated to U.S. projects, while others have worldwide footprints. All should outperform the stock market by a considerable amount.