Poole also notes that:
-- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders "has already proposed a plan that would commit the nation to closing most of that $1.4 trillion infrastructure investment gap in the next 10 years."-- "So does the People's Budget introduced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus earlier this year."
-- "Hillary Clinton has a far less expansive proposal, but it would be a significant step above where the nation is now."
-- Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, "said in a December debate that 'the $4 trillion' the U.S. spent 'trying to topple various people' could have been spent 'in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges ... our airports and all of the other problems we've had.'"
Ironically, Trump's own proposals to cut taxes guarantee that if elected he cannot meet his promise to spend on infrastructure. But he is not alone in this.
Necessary Taxes, Spending Face Ideological Lock-Out
The country has put off keeping the infrastructure in good repair since the "Reagan era" ushered in the Republican "starve the beast" tax and spending cuts of the 1980s when Republicans said, "Hey look at this big pile of seed corn. Let's eat it!"
Since then, the Republican Party is ideologically locked into anti-tax, anti-spending and general anti-government policies.
Today, "Tea Party" Republicans are committed to obstructing anything they consider to be "government spending" regardless of what it is for. (Unless, of course, it is for military adventures.) They say infrastructure money is really just "pandering to unions" or a "union bailout" or a "union payoff."
They have been at this for a long time. From 2013's "Economic Sabotage: Republicans Obstruct Infrastructure Work":
"The kook right (perhaps that should read 'Koch right') that really 'leads the charge' for Republicans these days says 'Infrastructure Spending Is Not the Federal Government's Business' or that infrastructure spending is just more 'big government.' Heritage Foundation claims here that government spending on infrastructure 'takes money out of the economy.' Some of the (Koch-funded) kooks even actually claim that investing in infrastructure hurts the economy."
The Chamber of Commerce is one of the leaders of Infrastructure Week, asking Congress to approve increases in spending on maintaining and modernizing our infrastructure. But the Chamber has helped elect the Tea Party Republican majority that pushes for tax cut after tax cut, and which opposes this spending and wants to send the responsibility back to the states. And many of the companies belonging to many of the organizations sponsoring Infrastructure Week, like the Chamber, themselves dodge paying the taxes that could fund infrastructure projects.
Work That Needs To Get Done When People Need Work
Finally, from the post "The Infrastructure Cure For The Economy":
"Everyone understands that our (and the world's) economy is underperforming. While U.S. unemployment is down, people are finding jobs that underpay and/or don't provide enough hours. Regular people just don't have enough to get by -- never mind enough to drive consumer economies. The lack of pay causes a drop in consumer demand, which leads to economic malaise.
"Economist Joseph Stiglitz puts it clearly: 'The only cure for the world's malaise is an increase in aggregate demand.'
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