Forgive me for being out of the loop lately on the whole Democratic stimulus package. I've been doing the whole, you know, life thing. But I just saw Rachel Maddow's show and I'm in shock. Did she make a mistake? Is there something she's missing?
According to Rachel, and depending on how generously you calculate it, at most, 18% of the Democrat's planned stimulus will actually go to infrastructure. Defined as traditional, transportation infrastructure, the number is only about 7%. Seven percent.
Yet, and this is where the word insane pops into my head, 33% goes to tax cuts? Did we have an election?
In fact, she reports that billions that were allocated to infrastructure (Amtrak, aviation, US Army Corp of Engineers, Water infrastructure and sewer) were gutted to accommodate tax cuts.
Now, the other 49% goes to "states, health, education" and what is unclear from Rachel's show is what exactly this 49% actually entails.
Rachel frames this segment against Obama's reported statement that "I won." Yet, according to Maddow, Obama is behaving as though it were a tie.
To hammer it home, she brings out Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR). He argues that Obama's been listening to Larry Summers who, according to Defazio, "hates infrastructure." I will assume Defazio has some insight into the behind the scenes deal making that us plebes aren't privy to - which begs the question - what idiot hates infrastructure?
Is Maddow omitting something? Or are the Democrats even stupider than I thought?
Is Larry Summers really shaping Obama's policy here? Is he really trying to keep alive his idiotic, failed, right wing economic policies of laissez fair, anti-Keynesian, free market orthodoxy despite all evidence that it is crumbling all around him?
Is this the Chicago School of Economics yet AGAIN? And what do you have to do to get rid of these fucking people?
OR, has Rachel jumped the shark here, missing some big picture, missing the brilliance of Obama's master plan?
She's made a compelling, albeit, still somewhat inconclusive case here. Someone heeds to talk me down.
Watch the video and let me know what you think.