On the heels of a $2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that spend far more money than necessary of dozens of things that have little or nothing to do with COVID-19, we are now getting a look at the next piece of over-laden spending bill the Biden administration will try to shove through Congress and down the throats of the American people: The $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.
I am not against the idea of rebuilding our roads, bridges, damns, locks, ports, airports and trains. For example, I think the interstate highway system is one thing that made this country great and continues to aid commerce and transportation.
But…
What happened to all the money allocated for those so-called “Shovel Ready” projects during the Obama administration? Before we allocate more money for infrastructure, I’d like to get a report on how the last chunk of change was spent and whether we, as a country and as taxpayers, got what we expected out of it. If private industry said, “We’re going to spend $662 billion on capital improvements over the next 8 years,” then you can bet shareholders would want a detailed accounting of how that money was spent and how it benefitted the organization. So before you rush to spend more money, Mr. Biden, how about accounting for the last project? How well did you spend those funds?
Good Money after Bad
I dislike it when taxpayers nationwide pay to bail out cities, school districts, or mass transit systems in a specific geographic area, which is what happened with the COVID-19 stimulus bill. I might be OK with it if a natural disaster caused the damage, like an emergency declaration after a hurricane or tornado, but I am not OK with spending federal dollars to bail out local municipalities that cannot manage their budgets or finish a project on time. They should fix their own problems and tax their own residents rather than forcing the rest of us to pay for their mistakes.
I am also against what is to be the largest tax increase in more than 50 years to pay for the infrastructure plan. Especially when large amounts of that money will go to places like Mexico and China to pay for steel and concrete. They are calling this the “American Jobs Plan” but has anyone done a comparison to see how many jobs it will provide in the U.S. vs the rest of the world?
As I have explained before, corporate taxes have a way of being passed down to the rest of us as companies pass on the expenses. We might be better off moving to a flat tax for corporations, seeing how many large companies, like Amazon.com, Netflix and IBM, don’t pay any Federal income tax at all. According to this report from 2019, 60 of the Fortune 500 companies didn’t pay federal income tax.
Boondoggles
All around the country, individuals and companies are rubbing their hands together at the prospect of a couple trillion dollars up for grabs in the infrastructure plan. This scale of feeding at the public trough has not happened for more than a decade, and there are sure to be companies lining up, unions pulling their chair to the bar, and people polishing their resumes. Every time the government has lots of money to spend in a little time, they seem to lose track of a good portion of it and cannot account for how it was spent. You won’t ever hear of it, but it would surprise me if there is bid rigging, collusion, and outright corruption as they chop these funds up between corporations, NGOs and non-profits.
$2.3 Trillion is about $7,200 per U.S. citizen. Increased taxes will pay for it, but don’t for a minute believe corporations are going to be writing checks. They’ll take tax credits, accelerate depreciation, move offshore, and find other ways to avoid paying taxes.
That’s means we the citizen tax payers will be stuck footing part of that bill. will be added to the debt to fund this bill, if it passes. I’m betting most of see little or no return on that investment while a few thousand people make tens of millions.
Forget Roads and Bridges, Let’s Repair the Tax Code
A decade or so ago, some senators and congressmen were pushing for a flat tax, where you paid a portion of your income to the IRS, no tax deductions, no tax breaks. We need to implement that for corporations. Right now, an alternative minimum tax applies to the rich, let’s consider adding one for corporations. They use our roads, bridges, ports, air ports and other infrastructure. They should pay for them, too.
Prepper News Update
- The prospects of another battle in the Ukraine/Crimea region appear to be strengthening as Russia moves trainloads of armor and artillery towards the region. It will be interesting to see what moves, if any, NATO makes to strengthen its presence in Poland and Romania. This could be Biden’s first big test.
- Texas Is still open and cases of COVID-19 continue to fall. The state also has the lowest positivity test rate (under 5 percent) it’s seen since testing began. Are they defying science or… is the science wrong? Actually, it’s the scientist’s interpretation of data through their liberal lens that is wrong.
- We missed this a couple days ago when the Wall Street Journal reported companies like Kimberly-Clark, General Mills, and Hormel Foods are raising their prices. More proof that inflation is here. Mid to high single digits was mentioned.
- And this Tweet stands on its own:
