Our Brand is Spite and Apathy
By Akhilleus
Over 600 bridges have collapsed or failed since St. Ronald left office. Citizens in Flint are dealing with life threatening lead poisoning. The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that 42% of our highways are so congested they cost the US over $100 billion annually in lost time and wasted fuel. While other countries are building bullet trains that speed commuters across the landscape at over 300 mph, our trains fall off the track taking a turn at 50 mph killing and injuring passengers at an alarming rate. Airports, waterways, drinking water systems, dams, waste water plants, railway stations, subway systems, are all falling apart and endangering American lives and livelihoods. The Republican response to this ongoing disaster? "Don't bother us. We're busy helping the rich. And by the way, if you haven't voted for us, fuck off. We wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire."
As routinely as mass shootings, Republicans reject infrastructure bills. In 2011, Republicans killed a $60 billion jobs and infrastructure bill put forward by the Obama administration. Fox rubbed its dirty hands with glee and smirked that this was another ass kicking of the black guy by its heroes in congress. Mitch McConnell sniffed that fixing bridges and roads was nothing but a cynical ploy to steal votes from Republicans.Just last year the same charlatans blocked a nearly $500 billion infrastructure bill.
Their plan?
Let those bridges collapse. More tax breaks for the wealthy.
Part of the problem is paying for these things. Republicans (and many Democrats) refuse to raise gasoline taxes, and a plan to add a tiny surtax on wealthy Americans earning over a million a year was flatly refused by Republicans. "How dare they!" came the horror filled refrain. "Indeed, a recent Citizens for Tax Justice analysis found that the 0.7 percent surtax paying for this plan to upgrade our infrastructure ...would impact 1/500 of American taxpayers and would on average set them back an additional 1/217th of their overall income. Just to be clear on what we’re talking about here."
This means that Americans making over a million bucks a year would be paying about $4,600. But this is an outrage to Republicans, so let the country disintegrate. Fuck it. Let it all rust out. Believe it or not, according to Jonathan Waldman, author of a book on rusting America, rust costs the country around $400 billion a year. The Pentagon (the fucking Pentagon, fer crissakes) has an office devoted to rusting materiel! Confederates (like David Brooks) are always running on about how dirty hippies and rock and roll ruined America but it's people like Neil Young (Rust Never Sleeps) who remind us of the continuing corrosive effects of time, not Mitch McConnell. The rusting pipes in Flint are a perfect example of Republican indifference. And here's an interesting tidbit:
"...cleaning up municipal water supplies was the greatest public-health triumph of the 20th century. The economists David Cutler and Grant Miller have estimated that approximately half of the dramatic decline in mortality between 1900 and 1936—a period in which life expectancy increased from less than 50 years to more than 60—was due just to improved municipal water systems. The infant mortality rate fell by more than 80 percent. These public health measures helped lay the cornerstone of a capable system of government that could boost America’s rising economy by tackling problems that markets alone would not."
Republican love of returning us all to the past is more than just keeping the darkies in their place and shutting up feminists. It's a return to a time when science was still questioned, when disease was rampant, when ignorance flourished. And people died, needlessly. But hey, the rich never had to worry.
They still don't. Republicans have their backs.
Other than their hatred of Obama, whence such appallingly anti-American apathy?
First, Republican political power still resides mostly in the south. There is far more crumbling infrastructure that needs fixing in the north where fewer citizens vote Confederate, so to hell with those people. Even though taxpayers fund southern states at a rate of 2 to 1 versus northern states, Confederate pols from those states are happy to take the money and run, but when it comes to allocating funds for restoring infrastructure that might save the life of a single Democrat (or undeserving blah), that's where they draw the line. This is some evil shit.
Other reasons? Privatization. Republicans can't wait to hand over public works, highways, bridges, and waterways--systems created by taxpayers--to private corporations who will then charge those taxpayers for their use. It's another way of returning to the past when private companies owned many road systems and canals.
But the most insidious aspect of this plan is something called "qualified private activity bonds". Bear with me. This means that private corporations are handed the opportunity to develop projects which are paid for by the government with tax free loans. Which means "... Local governments are financing the efforts to privatize their own public assets and the private equity investors earn tax free profits on their investment. Privatization is not just a golden opportunity, but a tax-payer subsidized, tax-free opportunity."
And one other benefit of foot dragging on any infrastructure spending are the long desired goals of killing unions and sidestepping environmental concerns. No jobs means a weaker union. So what if people are killed along with the jobs? Spite and apathy. Remember the levee failures in New Orleans during Katrina? The Decider saw it from the air, shrugged his shoulders and went home. It's mostly blahs that are dying. Time for a nap. Chris Christie rejected federal funds for much needed infrastructure improvements in New Jersey in order to improve the chances of his recent dismal presidential bid--which ended ignominiously--immediately after which he got on his knees to the guy he previously said was unfit for office and begged him to allow Christie to lick his balls.
It's not about what's good for the public. It's what's good for me. The Republican Way, kids!
Infrastructure spending is not sexy. It's not a quickie sort of thing you can take back to your constituents (it's not for nothing that the single biggest legislative accomplishment in Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's long career as a moocher is getting a post office in his hometown renamed. I am not even kidding. You could look it up, as James Thurber might say.
But here's the problem. Republicans have so demonized spending on anything (taxpayers don't see enormous tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy as "spending" but it's no different than a $400 billion jobs bill, except a jobs bill would benefit millions of Americans while the Republican tax breaks benefit the one percent) that it's a bear to get any spending bills through. And they don't mind not spending on America's future because they all take The Decider's position that they'll all be dead by then. Thus, it's easy for Republicans to whack any contender for Confederate seats who wishes to promote investing in America by repairing infrastructure as a no good tax and spend socialist. Fox is always thrilled to help spread that propaganda.
You've probably gotten tired of hearing me say it, but these people have a LOT to answer for. Spitefulness, apathy, greed, hatred, racism, ignorance. These are the hallmarks of the right. These are the qualities that inform their approach to politics and the reason they don't care about governing. It's all about protecting the rich and keeping their own seats of power. Government is there for them and their rich friends. The rest of us are, at best, a minor nuisance.
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Reader Comments (5)
love this post. Not being snarky but European trains travel at 300 km per hour, not miles per hour..
Alan,
Glad you liked the post.
My reference to high speed rail travel was about trains in Asia, not Europe. According to Elizabeth Drew's very fine article in the NYRB, a Japanese maglev train cooks along at 375 mph. A maglev in Shanghai runs at 288 mph. At speeds like that you could love in NYC and commute to DC everyday with no problem. Hell, you could practically go home for lunch and be back in the office for your afternoon meetings.
I say, Ak....what's this? "....At speeds like that you could love in NYC and commute to DC everyday with no problem."
Ahhhh, the affairs of men (and women)!
Ha! Fat fingers, small smartphone. Should have been live but love is much more pleasingly salacious.
@Akhillieus - Long time no see! Nice post, glad to see you've kept up the good fight.
I'll come back with ideas first -
A $15 minimum wage will hurt many "real" small businesses and it won't do you any good if you can't get hired.
That's why my idea of a federally subsidized living wage and federally subsidized employer OJT training program would help out in a big way for Black unemployment by empowering Black business owners and Black entrepreneurs. That's what sets it apart from any other plan or idea I've heard.
To get more Black voters interested in a Sanders Presidency, (which I see as a necessity for real change) you have to show how they can participate;
If nobody will hire inner city Black men & women, how will that $15 an hour do them any good?
No job, means no wage.
My idea is to establish a "living wage system" that accounts for the cost of training first time employees, and rewards the attainments of long time craftsmen and experienced technical professionals of all stripes.
The government would help kick start things ( for a length of time TBD) by paying a subsidy to workers so they can earn enough to live, while compensating certain employers for training employees in a variety of professions.
New employees who have never had any job need to have an employer train them in basic skills, and cannot generate profit at first.
So to an extent we need to have a return to a type of system that recognizes neophytes, apprentices, Journeymen, and Masters with commensurate pay. Large corporations with billions in profits would receive the least, and small businesses in local communities would receive the most.
This will level the playing field for millions of small businesses, guarantee a living wage for employees, generate millions of new small businesses & new hires, bring about training of newer and older employees on a vast scale and finally make a real difference in the lives of the majority of working Americans.
To help pay for this new program I would implement several new taxes - A 50% tax on all lobbying and campaign contributions, as a way to level out the ability of the wealthy to buy their own laws, they can help buy employees for small businesses..
And a "use it or lose it" tax on all offshore accounts, and cash holdings on multi-billion dollar corps. with no loopholes for any accounting tricks or subsidiary shenanigans, either invest in training programs for employees, and/or local and/or inter/intra state infrastructure or face 90% tax rates on any cash holdings over $300,000,000, with new powers for the IRS to go get it.
We also need a return to a gas guzzler tax for people who feel a need to drive vehicles with terrible fuel economy, any vehicle that gets less than 20mpg has to pay $10,000 per MPG under that figure to register said vehicle every year. So if your fancy new Jaguar only gets 7MPG you will pay $130,000 to register it every year - from new, until 5 years old. The only exemptions will be 18 (and bigger) wheelers, heavy duty dump/cement trucks and non- street legal farm/construction equipment and some understanding for delivery fleets and state refuse removal etc.