Do you know what Trump means by investing in infrastructure?
He doesn’t mean the US government will spend money on maintenance work. I can’t blame anyone for thinking this though as it has been the norm… up until now.
What Trump means is something very different indeed. He means selling off infrastructure to private companies like Trump Enterprises so that “business moguls” like himself can personally invest in infrastructure — by buying it out from under the American people who now own it, and then charging everyone tolls to use it.
And you can be sure Trump will be first in line to buy and will get a whopping presidential discount too.
The earliest mention I have seen of this idea is in the party platform that David Koch ran on in 1980. An excerpt of that lengthy and terrifying list of policies was posted by Senator Bernie Sanders on his official site and it includes the following:
- “We call for the dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation, including the Department of Transportation.”
- “We demand the return of America's railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of the public roads and national highway system.”
- “We call for the privatization of the inland waterways, and of the distribution system that brings water to industry, agriculture and households.”
The trick of course, from Trump’s point of view as an unethical businessman, is to bring the cost down to bargain basement level so he and the Republican plutocrats who thought up this scam, can buy it up at discount prices.
How do they bring the prices down to rock bottom? If you guessed “by bankrupting the country” give yourself a pat on the back. Trump knows this and has used it before to benefit himself.
From Correct The Record:
Before the economic crisis in 2008, Trump said he was “excited” for the housing market to crash and bragged that he could make lots of money off of a housing crisis. [Then] Trump doubled down on his comments, saying that his plans to profit off of foreclosures was “the kind of thinking our country needs.”
That’s where Paul Ryan’s budget comes into it.
It is no accident nor is it due to poor arithmetic that Ryan’s budget will bring the country to its knees economically. It is absolutely by design. You see, then they have a reason to sell off government assets like infrastructure (and national parks and schools and, who knows, maybe even turn the White House into the next Trump Hotel Casino!).
We see this happening in the republican states. It’s the reason behind Brownback and Walker etc economically kneecapping their state economies — Kansas began selling off government agencies this year.
How will the GOP get this past its supporters?
Like the stereotypical “creative” accountant, The GOP’s policy platform has long been two sets of books. There is the clandestine set which details their real platform, geared to specifically and only advantage the top one percent. Then there is the public set which details how they will sell their policies for the one percent to the peasantry of the ninety-nine percent.
So how will they persuade their supporters that this is a great idea?
They’ve already laid all the groundwork for this one by selling them on
- big government bad; limited government good
- government is cluttered up with waste and inefficiency
- the private business sector is more efficient than government
- businesses are customer-focused and will therefore look after you, the customer
They will add to this:
- we can pay off the crippling debt and deficit we inherited from the Obama administration and finally have a balanced budget
- businesses provide more jobs than government
- if job creators have more businesses then they will employ more people
Also Paul Ryan’s budget will abolish the minimum wage and Trump will happily sign off on it. After all, he did say salaries were too high in America, that the country couldn’t compete with India and China with such outlandishly high wages (my wording obviously as Trump couldn’t ever manage more than a couple of syllables to a word). So American wages will come down just as these new charges — tolls on every form of transport — are coming into effect.
All GOP reps and senators are on board with the abolition of the minimum wage and privatization of government assets. It serves two purposes for them.
- Like their president, they too get to invest in infrastructure, either by buying a bridge or road, or pooling resources to invest in the purchase of a freeway system
- Their big money backers have made it very clear to them that their political futures depend on their full support for these schemes.
As in the past, no amount of appealing to the great GOP powers that be will make the slightest bit of difference. Not that you shouldn’t try anyway, you absolutely should. First because I may be wrong. Secondly because, if I am right, it makes far more of an impact when you’re personally brushed off or totally ignored by your local GOP rep and/or senator. Chances are they will be far more motivated by making a killing for themselves than dealing with constituents.