Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is a FRAUD
This bill is a massive give-away to the rich and an added tax on the rich
*This was originally posted on my old newsletter on June 30*
Last week, a group of 21 Senators, made up of 11 Republicans, 9 Democrats and independent Angus King agreed on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, including $579 billion in new spending over 8 years.
At face value, that looks like a lot of money. A lot. But, in fact, it is very little when you consider that, just to upgrade it to an adequate level where bridges aren’t falling apart would cost upwards of $4 trillion. To get it to a level where the American Society of Civil Engineers would give American infrastructure an A+, it would cost upwards of $16 trillion.
So what can $579 billion possibly do? Well, in reality, this is a massive giveaway to the richest in society. This isn’t about improving infrastructure for the people. This is about giving money to private infrastructure companies so that they load their pockets to the detriment to the actual people, who see their taxes increased whilst the rich make money.
This is evidenced by the fact that one of the pay-fors for this bill is what is known as ‘asset recycling’, which is, to put it simply, selling currently held assets to pay for the building and repairs of new infrastructure. The American government is going to sell roads to private companies, allowing them to charge tolls for people to drive on that road which means ka-ching for those who are sold these roads, and a hit to the bank account for the people.
This has been tried before. Selling assets to private companies was tried in Australia. And it is deeply unpopular. People do not want to pay to private corporations in order to use vital roads.
One of the other pay-fors that is frankly disgraceful is a gas tax. On its face, the Left could be excused for supporting this, because gas plays a not-insignificant role in climate change. However, true progressives cannot support it because, in reality, it is increased taxes on the working and middle classes. As well as added tolls, those who struggle to pay the bills each month are now going to be expected to pay even more tax, both to government and private corporations (that’s what tolls really are).
A third way that this is going to be paid for in this bill is reduced funding for social security. To the tune of $70 billion. Again, this is taking yet more money from those who desperately need it.
This bipartisan bill is a scam. The point is not to improve infrastructure. The point is to give money to the rich elites on Wall Street.
Genuine infrastructural reform is needed. As well as the aforementioned study by the American Society of Civil Engineers which said that at least $4 trillion is needed to adequately upgrade infrastructure, a 2015 McKinsey Global study suggested that $150 billion a year for 5 years, which isn’t nearly enough to upgrade infrastructure to the needed level, would create roughly 1.8 million new jobs. That’s just from a small amount. Imagine if we actually did enough to upgrade infrastructure to the adequate level needed. Imagine how many jobs would be created if we spent $16 trillion, the amount needed to make infrastructure get an A+ from the American Society of Civil engineers. We need actual infrastructure spending. Unfortunately, this bill doesn’t offer it.
Joe Biden’s tactics throughout have also been grossly inadequate. Basically what he has said is that, while the Democrats do a partisan bill, which is slightly less insufficient. They’ll then try to pass through reconciliation, which only needs 51 votes rather than the 60 needed to avoid the filibuster, he will also negotiate a bill with Republicans to pass a bipartisan bill. As we have established, this second bill is a fraud. But the President cares more about the optics of working with Republicans than actually providing for people who need it desperately.
These tactics are set to fail because neither bill is likely to pass. The bipartisan bill, which is going to need 60 votes, will probably get 11 or 12 Republicans voting for it, which would appear to get it over the necessary total to get it passed. Unfortunately for the corporatists pushing for it, and fortunately for the people, there are a few Democrats and an independent (Bernie Sanders) who are against it, making it about a 50% chance of actually passing. It is also unlikely that pure corporatist Democrats such as Joe Manchin will vote for a bill that is purely partisan, even if it is the better bill for the people. This would suggest that neither bill is necessarily going to pass, and is setting the administration up for disaster when neither succeeds, and they have done dicky mcgeesacks (otherwise known as nothing) to improve America’s flailing infrastructure.
Of course, the media isn’t reporting it this way. Their main criticism of this bill is classical deficit hawking, which we’ll deal with the stupidity of on another day. But their main concern, as evidenced by a Washington Post article entitled “‘It’s a daydream’: Questions emerge about financing plans for bipartisan infrastructure deal”, with the subtitle suggesting that “creative math” is required for this bill to succeed. Of all the criticisms that are applicable and genuine for this infrastructure bill, the media have gone for the worst possible one.
This bill is a fraud. It does little to actually improve infrastructure, as well as increasing taxes on those who need the money while giving money to the rich elites who are already set for life. And President Biden cares more about the optics of bipartisanship than he does about actually working for the people who need their infrastructure improved significantly.