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What really happens with the money spent on 'infrastructure'?
American Thinker ^ | 18 Jun, 2021 | David Ennocenti

Posted on 06/18/2021 3:40:21 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Here's what Congress and the president's administration can't seem to understand: government does not make investments.

In explaining the difference between an asset and an expense, my intermediate accounting professor used the following example. He asked, when you go into a grocery store and buy beer, what is the beer you receive? An asset or an expense? They answer, it's an asset. After you drink it, it is an expense.

So what does this example have to do with the Biden administration's plan to invest in the nation's infrastructure? Plenty. With a little further information, it is the basis for understanding what Congress and the president's administration can't seem to understand — government does not make investments. In fact, with very few exceptions, government departments do not record depreciation of anything owned. This is because governmental accounting does not follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). From the ways in which they handle budgets, you might say, Congress doesn't even apply simple mathematics.

Governmental accounting follows rules and regulations as defined and proposed by The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Our federal government is not very good at following even those standards. Congress seems to invent rules whenever it wants to — for example, using the Social Security fund as an asset instead of what it is — a liability. You could call it insanity because it is. That's a subject for another article.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: communism

1 posted on 06/18/2021 3:40:21 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

The government infrastructure “investments” are future liabilities that only empower the government.


2 posted on 06/18/2021 3:40:33 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Well.... it COULD be an asset... if you’re planning to sell the country.

Which does appear to be in the works.


3 posted on 06/18/2021 3:49:49 AM PDT by ArmstedFragg (So Long Obie)
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To: MtnClimber

“What really happens with the money spent on ‘infrastructure’?”

There is a Las Vegas mafia-like casino skim at every level the money passes through. What’s left gets divvied up amongst “connected” contractors who have greased the appropriate politicians. Then finally union workers get the remaining crumbs and their dues also funneled to democrat politicians. At least that’s the way it works in Chicago.


4 posted on 06/18/2021 3:49:54 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Bonemaker

Yep. Government units have largely become dens of thieves, especially so at federal and state levels.

Because we the people do not watch and spank them.


5 posted on 06/18/2021 3:52:47 AM PDT by polymuser (A socialist is a communist without the power to take everything from their citizens...yet.d)
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To: MtnClimber

I remember Obama’s “shovel ready jobs”. From what I could see, all the money spent in MA was spent on big signs that read “Paid for by the Obama Administration”. It wasn’t clear what was paid for, since there was rarely any evidence of infrastructure work being done.


6 posted on 06/18/2021 3:55:11 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy ("I see you did something -- why you so racist?")
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To: Bonemaker

Don’t forget the big guy’s 10%.


7 posted on 06/18/2021 3:56:34 AM PDT by ryderann
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To: MtnClimber

Money is fungible.

Three guesses.

Hint: None involve civil engineering.


8 posted on 06/18/2021 3:57:46 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: Bonemaker

“Nice little place you got here. Be a shame if something happened to it.”

The implication here is that if you DON’T cough up the “protection money”, that is, if the “infrastructure” bill is not passed, then the portion of the “infrastructure” that you have legal title to might just be trashed or burned down. There are bad people out there that “peacefully” raise protests, and well, we can’t control them all the time, doncha know.

Peace in our time. Where have we heard that kind of “promise” before?


9 posted on 06/18/2021 4:19:05 AM PDT by alloysteel ( Cows don't give milk. You have to work for it.)
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To: MtnClimber

I suspect some of it will be used to purchase hunter’s ‘artwork’.


10 posted on 06/18/2021 4:36:45 AM PDT by farmguy
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To: MtnClimber

Bkmk


11 posted on 06/18/2021 5:30:42 AM PDT by sauropod (The smartphone is the retina of the mind's eye.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Infrastructure is now new government departments to further manage our lives and that will need to be funded until THE GREAT COLLAPSE.


12 posted on 06/18/2021 5:55:59 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

One does not buy beer.

One only rents it.


13 posted on 06/18/2021 5:59:22 AM PDT by castlebrew (Gun Control means hitting where you're aiming!))
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To: MtnClimber

Kinda like the Oprah show: “everybody gets some!”. First the BigGuy gets his cut, then everyone else who supports this crappola. It is gonna run out just like the UN’s Food for Oil program — billions put into the program and hundreds of millions of $$ went into the pockets of people related to officers in the UN. That is the purpose of all such — redistribution to elites.
The Froggies waay back had a solution to this sort of corruption. Perhaps a post card to every CongressCritter showing a drawing of the device used would make the point.


14 posted on 06/18/2021 6:39:39 AM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo)
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To: MtnClimber

“Infrastructure investment” is hiring a bunch of overpaid government employees to oversee nothing happening by design. Most of the funded money goes toward payoffs and bribery to political cronies and allies.


15 posted on 06/18/2021 6:41:19 AM PDT by Gnome1949
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To: MtnClimber

The money goes from the mayor to his buddies, and those he is in the bag for.


16 posted on 06/18/2021 6:56:01 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: ClearCase_guy

Funny you should mention that. I actually talked to the company that made those signs. They won the government contract to produce them. They got $1800/sign. They were a made out of one sheet of Marine grade plywood. Then painted with a stencil and a back round color. At the time the retail cost of this plywood was about $50/sheet.

These signs were put all over the country wherever one of these “shovel ready” jobs was being down.


17 posted on 06/18/2021 7:05:26 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: MtnClimber

After Obama’s trillions the only things I ever saw was the federal building in Honolulu get remodeled and 10 miles of highway resurfaced.
10% goes to the big guy. 45% goes to bureaucrats. 45% goes to “studies. Uh Oh. It’s out of money and over budget.


18 posted on 06/18/2021 7:52:08 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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To: MtnClimber

Where did the money disappear the last time during the obama Biden crime spree?


19 posted on 06/18/2021 6:02:15 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
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