NOVEMBER 16, 2021 – Doubtless, FoxHound infotainers are excoriating “socialist Democrats” and turncoat Republicans for having passed Biden’s “un-American,” “inflationary” infrastructure legislation “costing the taxpayer” over a trillion bucks.
I see it differently.
FIRST, it’s not $1.2 trillion. It’s only $550 million of additional money. That’s less than the $678 billion Americans spent on media and entertainment (excluding beer, nachos, and popcorn) in 2018. The remainder of the $1.2 trillion comprises funds already targeted for infrastructure spending.
SECOND, the Manchin Mantra—“How we gonna pay fer it?”—was a simplistic question-turned-roadblock geared to voters who equate government spending with “socialism,” which is hell on wheels—far worse than being swept downstream in West Virginia floodwaters caused by unrestricted burning of fossil fuels that leads to climate change wrecking the entire planet, not just coal country.
The $1.2 trillion isn’t Monopoly money tossed skyward only to overstimulate the economy as it falls upon the game board. The expenditures will be made over years, and not solely with stimulus intent-and-effect on an already robust economy. The money will be used to repair, restore, protect, and bolster national infrastructure in desperate need of upgrades. These upgrades will improve the productivity of our economy—a condition that fosters growth over inflation.
Because of the anti-tax, anti-pay, anti-government strains in our political culture, particularly among people with the most dough, we’ve allowed ourselves to decorate our own caves at the expense of the common good—networking our caves, clearing paths to common hunting grounds, and providing joint protection against the common threat of wild beasts. Neglect the common good, and eventually, we become a nation of broken-down bridges, vulnerable power grids, limited rural broadband access, and ports without the capacity to move all the goods we take for granted. These drags on economic productivity act as a giant, invisible tax—a consideration wholly absent from the Manchin Mantra.
The question isn’t “How we gonna pay fer it?” but “How we gonna get by when the whole nation is an underdeveloped country?” What’s the cost of this alternate scenario and . . . “Who’s gonna pay fer it?”
THIRD, given the short-term measurements embedded in our tax code, #MeNow culture, and ROI (“return on investment) expectations, the private sector by itself isn’t geared to invest adequately to salvage our long-neglected collective economic roof, walls, and foundation. The trade-off for “Don’t Tread on Me!” is “Road Closed – Bridge Ahead is Out.” Our myopic mentality has afflicted us ever since the Continental Congress refused General Washington’s pleas for boots and bullets—by way of higher taxes on rich farmers.
Will there be waste within the $1.2 trillion of spending? Of course. But so is there waste at every construction site in the land of free enterprise. I know, because I’ve seen what perfectly serviceable lumber winds up poking out of many-a-dumpster sitting on-site—not to mention over-priced sub-contracts, “do-over” change orders, and disputed charges I’ve encountered in my construction finance legal work over the decades.
Call Biden a “socialist.” Just don’t call him “un-American.”
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
