Yesterday, I published an article in which I stated that cooperating with Trump is not an ]option, we should not resist projects that benefit the American people, such as infrastructure spending. Bernie Sanders went even further tan I did, suggesting he would cooperate on such item. I’m sad to inform you the the Fuhrer’s plan is a scam, a tax break and stimulus for only billionaires masquerading as an infrastructure project.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called out President-elect Donald Trump’s plan on infrastructure, labeling it a “scam” and “corporate welfare.”
In an article posted to Medium on Monday, the senator said Trump rightfully promised to improve America’s infrastructure while on the campaign trail, but the president-elect’s plan has fallen short on that promise.
“Trump would allow corporations that have stashed their profits overseas to pay just a fraction of what the companies owe in federal taxes. And then he would allow the companies to ‘invest’ in infrastructure projects in exchange for even more tax breaks,” Sanders wrote. “Trump’s plan is corporate welfare coming and going.”…
From <Huffington Post>
Paul Krugman explained more about it.
There are three questions you should immediately ask.
First, why do it this way? Why not just have the government do the spending, the way it did when, for example, we built the Interstate Highway System? It’s not as if the feds are having trouble borrowing. And while involving private investors may create less upfront government debt than a more straightforward scheme, the eventual burden on taxpayers will be every bit as high if not higher.
Second, how is this scheme supposed to deal with infrastructure needs that can’t be turned into profit centers? Our top priorities should include things like repairing levees and cleaning up hazardous waste; where’s the revenue stream? Maybe the government can promise to pay fees in perpetuity, in effect “renting” the repaired levee or waterworks — but that makes it even clearer that we’re basically engaged in a gratuitous handout to select investors.
Third, what reason do we have to believe that this scheme will generate new investment, as opposed to repackaging things that would have happened anyway? For example, many cities will have to replace their water systems in the years ahead, one way or another; if that replacement takes place under the Trump scheme rather than through ordinary government investment, we haven’t built additional infrastructure, we’ve just privatized what would have been public assets — and the people acquiring those assets will have paid just 18 cents on the dollar, with taxpayers picking up the rest of the tab.
From <NY Times>
On the Rachel Maddow Show, Ron Klain, a former Obama administration adviser, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about why Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan is really just a tax break for investors in for-profit projects and doesn’t address America’s real infrastructure needs.
There it is, The Fuhrer wants to charge taxpayers more for projects that generate profit for billionaires, ignore our infrastructure needs, and create few new jobs, if any.
RESIST!!
13 Responses to “Trump Infrastructure Plan a Scam”
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Well, when something seems too good to be true, it probably isn't. In the case of Trump, it ALWAYS isn't!
I understand the need for knowledgeable and intelligent people like Bernie and Krugman to call this scam out as to the details. But if people would just grasp that privatization ALWAYS involves US paying MORE to get LESS, they might not even need to.
Why should this even surprise me? I don't believe a thing he says for the betterment of our Nation.
ugh!
Robert Reich's First 100 Days Resistance Agenda
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The Donald Trump Resistance Movement
Welcome Freya.
All the links were broken. I repaired them.
Always nice to see you here, Freya! Thanks for the good information.
So, why would anyone be surprised? There is nothing this POS says that one can take at anything even close to face value!
This is the only reason he ran for the job….PROFIT!
This certainly does not surprise me.
Many of Drumpf's followers are already angry because Drumpf seems to be moving away from putting Clinton in prison, something he cannot do anyway. But those from the rust belt, the ones that want work etc, are really going to be angry when they realise what Drumpf's definition of infrastructure improvements really is. The devil is in the details, something that Drumpf would not talk about during the campaign, and now we know why.
And so it begins, even before Drumpf takes "office".
The scamming of the United States of America…
with his cronies… sigh…
.
Drumpf never had a real plan for infrastructure while campaigning and even after his election the plan was nothing more than "It's a trillion dollars plan…which will become, by the way, second to none," no content, no explanation, just like all the other "plans". The opposition of course knew it would be a terrible plan at best, but probably a scam in all likelihood, but couldn't attack him on it because there wasn't anything there for them to attack. The Trump voters accepted this infrastructure hot-air balloon, just like it accepted all the other empty promises, all the other balloons he floated to see which one would catch a breeze and get somewhere. And now he's filling in the plans and they're exactly like the opposition expected them to be. Good for the 1%, bad for the country.
Of course the Democrats and every one else is going to oppose these plans now and that'll be just fine with Drumpf and his cronies because he can then blame anything that fails in this and other plans on the Democrats. And his voters will believe him and the GOP, just as they've done in the past eight years. Democrats should waste no time and start communicating the scam in simple terms any way they can. While they still can…
Thanks all! Hugs!! Bernie had thought there might be something to his plan, so I was skeptically hopeful,