There’s a consensus in our country that an investment in our infrastructure is long overdue.
It didn’t take another derailment of an Amtrak train in Washington state to convince me or anyone I know.
But instead of investing the amount of money it would take – money that according to that bastion of liberal orthodoxy, Forbes, would provide an immediate and dramatic boost to our economy – the Republicans in Congress have decided to cut taxes on the richest of the rich among us.
That’s the same tax cut that independent analysts say will add more than a trillion dollars to our existing debt.
That’s the same tax cut that will reward the donor class – the Kochs, Adelsons and Mercers – for their donations as a required return on investment.
And, to be sure, that’s the same tax cut that will almost certainly benefit directly, as well as indirectly through continued donations, those voting for it.
People who know economics far better than I have noted that this is a curious time for a tax cut. Our economy, for the most part, is cruising along pretty well.
But the modern Republican party has become, on economic issues, a one-trick pony. Cutting taxes, particularly on the wealthy, is their answer — regardless of the question.
Meanwhile all this brave talk our president made about investing in the infrastructure has been pushed to the back burner, where, my guess is it will sit until it long after the election of 2020.
We don’t need the tax cut, at least not the one currently being pushed down the throats of the American public.
We do need an investment in infrastructure.
If only our politicians truly cared about all the American people instead of just the ones rich enough to put them in office and keep them there.
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