The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) just released their latest “infrastructure report card,” and the United States got a D … plus. The good news is that we can totally get a B! We just need some money. Bad news is that the money unpopular President Trump is talking about is about 20 percent of what we need to get that B!
So … $1 trillion, right? Great news! Except the ASCE report says it’ll take $4.59 trillion to bring things up to a B, or adequate grade, by 2025. That’s a shortfall of $2 trillion over current spending plans. Again: $1 trillion is nowhere near enough.
The other problem is that any “goodwill” Trump might receive for investing in the no-brainer infrastructure work we need was dashed when it became clear that the Republican infrastructure plan is just another attempt to scam taxpayers into giving more to corporations by giving them tax breaks and then raising tolls on citizens.