“Democratic leaders—backed by a majority of the U.S. population”
Baloney!
What a crock! Once they get “Infrastructure” to mean “Your House”, it’s over. CWII is nigh!
PING!
“Biden and Democratic leaders—backed by a majority of the U.S. population”
Citation needed, and not some slanted poll where Democrats are oversampled by 30% like normal.
One of the reasons I can’t swallow the argument about infrastructure has to do with Obama’s “shovel ready jobs.” He actually laughed when that was brought up in an interview, saying something along the line of, “Yeah, it turns out some of them weren’t as ready as we thought.” One of those jobs was to completely raze a very good road, Highway 20, that ran near my house. They resurfaced it with about the same surface it had before. That road had already been recently resurfaced and was in tip top condition. But, the work was done anyway. A total waste. It reminded me of the FDR administration slaughtering millions of meat animals and burying them to raise meat prices. They also burned millions of acres of wheat and corn to raise grain prices. This is what governments do. BTW, deflation, the lowering of prices, would be great for you and me. But deflation is the enemy of big government. While prices shoot up all around us, government is acting like deflation is a risk. I’m not seeing it.
They know this is a lie. They’re pushing this BS hoping to convince more gullible people to join their little Fairyland Express.
How I loathe the media.
Between the 1820s and 1850s Americans hotly debated the merits of public investment in roads, bridges, canals, riverways and, eventually, railroads.
Even if a state DOT can come under the rare exceptions to the USDOT "Buy America" requirements for a highway or bridge project, for example, the project is built right here in the U.S. with labor that is almost entirely American ... and the ones who benefit most from the use of the infrastructure are Americans.
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States”
Article I, Section 8
The question is: Is it general welfare?
Mr. & Mrs. Rich’s nanny serves the Rich family well, but the Rich family nanny doesn’t serve the general welfare.
Ms. Gimme’s child care provider serves the Gimme family well, but the Gimme family child care provider doesn’t serve the general welfare.
Well, no. On principle, the issue had already been resolved by that time.
The first National Road was authorized by Congress in 1806, and was completed roughly along what is now US-40 from Cumberland, Maryland out to Vandalia, Illinois by the 1830s.
The role of the Federal government WAS hotly debated in the early years of the 19th century before the National Road was established. The project was ultimately approved by Congress because the Ohio territory had established the construction of this road as a condition of entering the Union in 1803. Congress saw the wisdom of building infrastructure to connect the new interior states to the coastal states (up to that point Vermont and Tennessee were the only U.S. states without access to the Atlantic Ocean) to give them access to ports and urban centers of commerce. Without these roads, a Great Lakes state like Ohio would ultimately have stronger physical and economic links to British Canada than to the rest of the U.S.
The Democrats always talk about “roads and bridges.” Dukakis and Clinton did. But when they get into power we get crappy roads and toll roads and disrepair.
Now the question for Democrats and Slow Joe. What is the asset life of “.....perhaps most innovatively—home care for the elderly and disabled, support for families with children, and expanded access to health care (and higher $15/hr wagers for elderly health care providers)..........?”
If it is not an asset under generally accepted accounting principles, then it is not infrastructure. So remove it (about $800 billion) from the infrastructure legislation.
“improvements to water pipes”
There is a big problem with lead water pipes in older communities, but I am on well water, and so is my friend Sharon.
Sharon called the county here in Florida about a week ago and they said it would cost her $6,000 to $7,000 to hook up to county water. The county water hookup fees are about $5,000. Almost all new homes in my Florida county are hooked up to county water and their owners have to pay 100% of the very expensive costs.
The Democrats are squealing because people are finally waking up to their bait and switch. For 30+ years they’ve been selling “infrastructure” to taxpayers as roads and bridges, but when they get the money they spend on all their pet projects, anything but roads and bridges. What a majority want is their roads fixed but are tired of it never happening because of the bait and switch.
“charging stations for electric vehicles”
Gas stations got commercially built despite the fact that people that rode hayburners could fuel up anywhere grass grew.
“physical upgrades to schools”
I pay ad valorem tax for something labeled “School Capital Impr” on my property tax bills. “School Capital Impr” is about 20% of total school taxes in my Florida county.
New home buyers in my Florida county pay impact fees for school construction.