Unfortunately most of the rich people taking advantage of the system doesn't result in luxury items being bought. If it did we would just have a luxury-based economy where everybody was making Yachts and Ferraris and designer everything.

Those other things would also just be a tax on the working population again. I want a tax on the people who like doubled their wealth in the pandemic. That's the shit that needs to go.

smokers should be taxed to oblivion.

The new spending far outstrips what can realistically be raised in taxes.

As for "pay for itself" mumbo jumbo, you're going to have to support that with evidence. As they say, "Fool me once...", and we are on the 11th or 12th time.

This is just another one of those cases where we would have reaped the benefits for the past 50 years if we had spent a little more to keep our infrastructure maintained. Now we have to overhaul the whole thing while also suffering 50 years of worse and worse infrastructure.

Infrastructure will almost certainly pay for itself over the next 50+ years. It's infrastructure. It's kind of necessary to the functioning of the economy.


Also the ones who say that bullshit will pay for itself has overwhelmingly been the GOP with tax breaks. You've been fooled a dozen times by the GOP. Not by our crumbling social safety nets.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Apr 6 2021 08:35pm

taz all churches and religious entities. ez money

Alas, infrastructure spending is only one part of the overall price tag.

There is a difference between good spending and bad spending. We need to evaluate what is being funded and to what extent, and whether that's likely to support future economic growth.

I haven't listened on the details much yet. Are there any things you think would be bad regardless of partisan or ideological slant?

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Apr 6 2021 08:49pm

The current iteration of the infrastructure plan is to raise corporate taxes over a 15 year period to pay for 8 years of projects. The real savings will be in the future because maintenance is significantly cheaper than repairs. I don't know how that is "mumbo jumbo."

I imagine that the "human infrastructure" bill that's coming out in a couple weeks will be paid for by an increase in income taxes.

I don't think healthcare is on the table but that would be the most expensive thing.

and we've been over healthcare before, as something that would almost definitely pay for itself after all is said and done when compared with the current cost of healthcare premiums. I think when I calculated it out last time we talked even if the worst-case estimates were what happened we could afford to give every doctor an extra million dollars a year in incentivie and we would still just break even? It was something ridiculous like that.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Apr 6 2021 09:07pm

A purely infrastructure plan would be totally doable with $1 trillion. I'm guessing half is pork.

The bill has $200 billion to "create affordable housing" - the only states without affordable housing are Democrat states.



These types of projections almost always fail because they negatively change the future in which they are hoping to take advantage of.