So Much For That Idea...

The one and only thing Donald J. Trump has proposed that makes sense is infrastructure spending. I've been looking forward to seeing how it plays out in the R-controlled Congress since, after the initial stimulus bill, they've blocked every attempt by Obama and Democrats to make it happen. This provides a clue:

It was supposed to be a big, beautiful infrastructure bill. But President-elect Donald Trump’s pitch for a $1 trillion upgrade of the nation’s roads, bridges, tunnels and airports is already running into potholes as it meets reality in Washington. The overwhelming sticking point, as always, is how to pay for it. 

Trump's advisers are so far floating the same kinds of financing schemes that Congress has batted around for years with little success, including proposals to lure private investors or reap a revenue windfall through an overhaul of the tax code. Key lawmakers say they’re in the dark on how Trump’s plan would work — with some conservatives simply hoping that his call for massive tax breaks will provide an economic jolt that makes the hard spending decisions easier...

Yeah, now we're talking! Tax breaks!! The homeopathy of budgets. And privatizing!!! The alchemical solution to all our problems. If wishes were fishes... something something seafood sandwiches.

Building and repairing infrastructure is, of course, a no-brainer: not only enormously necessary, but a jolt to the economy that'd be in effect for decades. But far be it from Rs to consider taxes to pay for it. Let it rot, if not.

Also, per Paul Krugman:

... Crucially, it’s not a plan to borrow $1 trillion and spend it on much-needed projects — which would be the straightforward, obvious thing to do. It is, instead, supposed to involve having private investors do the work both of raising money and building the projects — with the aid of a huge tax credit that gives them back 82 percent of the equity they put in. To compensate for the small sliver of additional equity and the interest on their borrowing, the private investors then have to somehow make profits on the assets they end up owning...

This biology major can't be sure, but it seems that, as opposed to tax cuts paying for themselves, providing that many jobs and purchases that much in goods would create positive feedback across all industries; not just for direct purchases, but for so many new workers with money to spend. Might even provide so much tax revenue that taxes could, at some point, be lowered!

So I'm sure it'll happen, because Republicans love America so, and are the party of the common man and woman.

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