Today we saw another example of both getting something done for the American people but also the uphill struggle with getting the message out. Getting the Build Back Better Bill passed in the House is a significant accomplishment and even though it likely will get pared down in the Senate we are still likely to see two major infrastructure bills come out of this Congress and the Biden Admin.. These will have far reaching benefits for this country but is likely being drowned out by many other things.
11 days before passage, it was a pretty good bet by all congressional watchers that it was going to happen. And airports and water systems were not going to get pared out of the bill. It doesn't take insider knowledge to know there would be some govt spending there. The effect of the infrastructure bill would already be fully baked into the price of the bonds by then. I think it isn't credible to suggest that there is some corruption going on there.
Scott voted no on the infrastructure bill (calling it reckless spending)... but had no problems with financially benefitting from it. I believe Walter Schaub believes members of congress should not be able to purchase and sell stock.
I also have no problems benefitting from government spending that I don't believe in. When they did that covid relief check to everyone in the country, I didn't think they should send it to people like me -- but I cashed it anyway.
This is like post Financial Crisis where GOP preached austerity but still used the money to plug budget holes and build things. You either like this type of duplicitous behavior from politicians or don’t. Politicians talk out both sides of their mouths but when a political party does it leads to poor policy. Or maybe you think austerity was prudent and disagree.
i am as anti-Repug as anyone. but, at 11 days before the actual passage, but it was pretty much public knowledge that some type of infrastructure bill was gonna be passed; they only question was how big I play the stock market, i too had started plays on stocks---AA and URI---that'd benefit from the much-anticipated bill
Yeah, I don't get it. How you vote on policy and how you rationally execute sound financial decisions are separate things. On policy, we all debate together and come up with a single plan. You might have an opinion that doesn't prevail, and then you go with the policy that the wider group settles on. Then, you have to make individual decisions on how to use money. If you didn't think you should be allotted money, but it came to you anyway because of the group's decision, it's irrational to maintain your ideological purity and not use it the best way you can in the circumstance you're in. If you refuse it to avoid some appearance of hypocrisy, you defy the collective wisdom of the group that set policy, and you betray all the people who rely on you to make the best decisions you can. In that sense, I do appreciate the duplicitous behavior of Rick Scott because I don't think it's really duplicitous to say, 'I don't think we should do this thing, but since we're doing it I'll make the most of it.'
Dude bellyaching about silly valley and woke **** but couldn't admit Pittsburgh is dumpsville. Oh dear, that cost me some Deplorable Votes.... But seriously, the pie is shrinking, corruption is high (he didn't b**** about the two Forever Wars that cost trillion/year), and lending to pay for debt and poverty has uhh transitory effects. Hope we get more bridges fixed before the bank closes its windows
Iowans pocketed their bribe from Trump as he sent agriculture trade down the toilet. **** principles, they said with their votes. I know how to pay back a favor! These folks believe what they want to believe and we have all been trained to pick apart and snipe the other side's vices while downplaying our own. I guess it's scarcity and fear doused with gasoline from cable and social media.
Pennsylvania's Fuel Tax Is Supposed To Fund Bridge Repair. Billions Went to Cops Instead. Pennsylvania has one of the nation's highest gas taxes, but those user fees haven't helped fix the state's poor roads and bridges. https://reason.com/2022/02/01/penns...-bridge-repair-billions-went-to-cops-instead/ excerpt: The city of Pittsburgh is guilty too. As Randal O'Toole points out in his Antiplannerblog, the city's Department of Mobility and Infrastructure has spent about $6 million annually on bridge repair and maintenance projects over the past five years. But it has spent, on average, more than $8 million annually on so-called "complete streets" projects—like bike lanes, sidewalks, beautification projects, and the like. "The 2017 inspection of the Fern Hollow bridge estimated that restoring the bridge to good condition would cost $1.5 million," O'Toole notes. "Instead of fixing it, the city spent more than $1.3 million in bike-sharing last year." But you won't hear that from the infrastructure experts and politicians being quoted in the aftermath of another preventable near-tragedy. For them, it's always about needing more money. "Ultimately, it's a resource problem," Kent Harries, an engineering professor at the University of Pittsburgh, told TribLive. "I hope it's a wake-up call to the nation that we need to make these infrastructure investments," Lt. Gov. John Fetterman told a local radio station from the scene of the collapse. Ultimately, the federal infrastructure package suffers from the same sort of misplaced priorities. Yes, there is $40 billion for bridge projects. But Biden's much-ballyhooed spending plan will direct $156 billion to mass transit agencies, $40 billion for green energy grants (think Solyndra), and $48 billion to subsidize public broadband to compete with existing internet providers, and $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations. As nice as items like that might be, every dollar spent on them is a dollar that can't be used to prevent the next bridge collapse. As always, effective governance is mostly a matter of budgeting well—and budgeting is really nothing more than priority setting, given that public resources are not unlimited. Pennsylvania has done a poor job of setting priorities, as the sorry state of the state's roads and bridges can attest. More federal money for infrastructure won't address that underlying problem. more at the link
money is needed for BOTH maintenance (especially steel structures up North) and for future projects....having rideshare lanes helps reduce loads on the bridges, so its kind of a good thing....we have the money, just look at healthcare and defense spending LOL - Professional Civil Engineer oh yeah, i love how the internet makes everyone feel like an expert...im lol'ing at all these Engineering experts speaking about $hit they don't understand LOL
Just curious. Did the author do any investigating on whether the 40 billion for bridge repair is not sufficient to the point he treats infrastructure spending as a zero sum game where the most powerful nation on the planet can't repair bridges AND expand broadband or public transit at the same time?
