China Joe To Unveil “Big, Bold, Progressive” Infrastructure Plan

Hey, remember when Joe was talking about Unity and bipartisanship? Well, yes, 70 million of us knew that was a bunch of mule fritters

With an eye on history, Biden moves on big, bold and progressive infrastructure package

Every day he works from the Oval Office, President Joe Biden stares across from his desk at the portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt he selected to hang above his fireplace. (snip)

As he travels to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unveil the next chapter of his massive effort to transform the country though long-sought progressive priorities, Biden is deeply conscious that it is now his moment to step up. He is looking to the bold actions favored by Democrats decades earlier to inform the opening days of his presidency, determined that small steps cannot match the current moment.

Why is it necessary to “transform the county”? Remember the days when we had presidents who loved the country?

The plan he will unveil in Pittsburgh on Wednesday includes $2.25 trillion in direct spending, with an additional $400 billion in clean energy tax credits, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The $2.25 trillion would include $650 billion for physical infrastructure, $300 billion for housing infrastructure, $300 billion for manufacturing, $300 billion for the electric grid and $400 billion for home caretakers and care for the elderly and disabled.

Part two of the proposal — which is likely to include child care, early education and health care funding — will be announced in April and is still being drafted, though sources said it could come in at roughly the same price tag.

Instead of mimicking the last Democratic administration, in which he served as vice president, Biden hopes to model the more transformational change offered by his acronym’d 20th-century predecessors, FDR and LBJ.

He believes his party has more fully embraced progressive causes since he was last in the White House, according to officials, and thinks the dual health and economic crises caused by Covid-19 have lent an urgency to passing major pieces of legislation. And he has not been shy to point out areas he believes President Barack Obama fell short and where he will strive to be more ambitious.

So, it’s all about pushing a hardcore leftist agenda. So much of this has nothing to do with infrastructure. And what happened to all that infrastructure money from the big Obama stimulus, for which Obama put “Sheriff Joe” in charge of? How much was pissed away along with using it to repay Obama donors? I remember a big sign on I440 here in Raleigh extolling the silly recovery act as they repaved the road which didn’t need repaving and messed up traffic near Capital Blvd. I remember Obama laughing about how all that money was pissed away on jobs  and projects that weren’t shovel ready.

For Biden, that now means a sweeping plan on infrastructure that moves well beyond simply repairing roads, making airports nicer or preventing bridges from falling apart — though he wants to do that, too.

Instead, Biden views the package as an opportunity to drive the fight against climate change, to strengthen the federal safety net and to make the United States more competitive against China.

So, not so much about actual infrastructure.

The first prong of the White House proposal, which will include more than $2 trillion in spending, will be financed in large part through business tax increases, including raising the corporate rate to 28% from its current level of 21%, and increases in the global minimum tax, the ending of federal subsidies for fossil fuel firms and a requirement that multinational corporations pay the US tax rate.

Internal debates on how much of the proposal to pay for have been ongoing for several weeks, with White House officials keenly aware of potential inflationary risks, officials said. Psaki told reporters the proposal laid out on Wednesday would include mechanisms to finance the entirety of the package over time.

Raise the taxes and they get passed on to the consumers. Seriously, this stuff never works. And, it’s great how the “potential inflationary risks” is buried deep in the article, eh? This whole thing will once again be a party line vote, because it’s way too broad. If the focus was specifically on infrastructure, with specific spending priorities, it could very well be done in a bipartisan fashion. Won’t happen. Seriously, only $650 billion funds roads and bridges. It’s all about more Government.