Amid the gloom, Alstom chief stays upbeat

Alstom SA CEO Patrick Kron is having a hard time feeling the gloom and doom.

The French maker of power plants, turbines and trains is hiring 1,000 people a month worldwide to work through a 47 billion-euro backlog and the CEO anticipates a further boost as governments from the US to France increase infrastructure investment to weather the global economic decline.

"The world is rediscovering the Keynesian approach to the economy, and that will benefit infrastructure projects," Kron said in an interview at the company's headquarters near Paris. "I cannot convince myself that the infrastructure needs of a year ago aren't still true today."