This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture as part of the Making It In America project.
One legacy of the Reagan tax cuts is that we stopped maintaining -- and never mind modernizing -- our infrastructure. As a result there is a lot of work that needs doing. And there are a very, very large number of unemployed people. Hmmm...
There are so many more ways our economy suffers as the consequences of Reagan-era choices come home to roost. The current economic doldrums are in great part the result of Reagan-era choices:
* The deferred infrastructure maintenance and modernization that resulted from the tax cuts mean that our economy is no longer world-class. Bob Herbert has been writing about this problem for a while. From his most recent article,
Schools, highways, the electric grid, water systems, ports, dams, levees -- the list can seem endless -- have to be maintained, upgraded, rebuilt or replaced if the U.S. is to remain a first-class nation with a first-class economy over the next several decades. And some entirely new infrastructure systems will have to be developed.So here we are with a massive infrastructure deficit that is harming our ability to compete economically in the world. Just one example: China has 42 high-speed rail lines coming into operation connecting their major cities, and we are just starting our first one connecting ... Tampa to Orlando?
* The education cutbacks then are really hurting now.
* Energy. Cancelling all of Carter's efforts to solve our energy problems has left the economy dependent on last century's expensive and polluting energy sources and the monopolistic giants that control them.
* Debt. Tax cuts creating "structural deficits" have built up tremendous debt and the accompanying burden of paying interest on that debt and dependence on those who fund our borrowing habit.
* Militarization. We spend more on military than every other country on earth combined. The big defense corporations keep us from doing anything about it. Historically this kind of military spending and the resulting debt has ruined empires and kingdoms, and here we are.
* Government. Outsourcing/cutting/destroying/hating government and the commons has left us ill-equipped to catch up with China and others, and deal with monopolistic multinational corporate giants.
Schools, highways, power grid... everything. And all this work needs to be done on top of the need to retrofit all of our country's buildings to be energy efficient. Or we will just continue to fall further behind. There is so much work that needs to be done. I wonder how the cost compares to the amounts that have been transferred to the very rich since the tax cuts started.
Hmmm... Let's see ... high unemployment ... lots of work that needs doing ... massive wealth accumulated at the very top ... hmmm ... dot. dot. dot. And on top of that, there is all that evidence that past investment in infrastructure leads to great prosperity in the years following the investment ... dot. dot. dot. hmmm... Ideas are forming... connections are being made...
I can hear the shrieking from the "free market" conservative bunch now, just for thinking such thoughts: "But ... but .. that would be just WRONG to just ... give people jobs doing what needs to be done!!! and taxing the RICH -- the very beneficiaries of past infrastructure investment -- to pay for it? How can you even dare suggest such a thing???!!!"
Public works projects -- infrastructure. Example: In the 1950s, with top tax rates at 90%, we started the massive public works project that is the Interstate Highway System. How did that investment work out for our economy? How many companies benefited from the ability to deliver trucked goods across the country in a short time? How did those top taxpayers do economically as a result of such investments?
Hmmm...
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Democracy is already so last century.
I'll bet the author of that comment about privatizing the roads doesn't even get what I am talking about here. the idea of democracy is so alien to so many.
Here's the reality. It wasn't budget cuts that's left our infrastructure in the shape that it's in, it's the fact that from the beginning, it had a 50 year lifespan which has run up.
Of course, back then, nobody planned on what we'd do today to once it all started falling apart. Screw it, just let the next generation figure it out, they said. Well, the next generation is here and now we have to pay for it. Guess what, we don't have the money.
We can't raise taxes on the rich much more. We're already at the point where we see diminishing returns due to the Laffer effect. Much more and revenues will decrease with higher taxes. 90% real tax rates never existed...the rich pay more today than they did back then due to all the loopholes.
Once again, we're bit in the butt by government mishandling. Spending money they didn't have and leaving the fallout for the next generation. You're solution: another huge spending program.
HA!
There never has and never will be any scientific basis for the laffer effect.
Keep exposing the 'perils that tax cuts, outsourcing, etc', the cornerstone legacy of Reaganism - the bible that conservatives believe wholeheartedly have damaged this country. It needs to be exposed day in and day out so the people can become more informed voters.
All people hear are tax cuts here and tax cuts there, never a program or reform that first words out of conservative mouths are tax cuts, then free markets. Nobody asks these clowns how the running of the country gets paid for. Now these clowns want to and have been selling major US highways to foreign companies because there is no money to pay for upkeep. President Eisenhower gotta be turning over in his grave on the state of his beloved Interstate Hwy System.
With the country's infrastructure is falling away, where is the money coming from. Face it folks, the conservatives have destroyed our country.
Massive growth of the welfare state is what's destroyed this country. What is up to 75% of government expenditures?....
But no, a 3% tax break is what really caused the problem.
Give me a break. You people have decimated this country.
Can't you just go and look at what the government spends its money on?
1) Military. If you add in veterans programs, spies, nukes and the military spending's share of interest it adds up to over $1 trillion EACH YEAR. It is more than every other country on earth COMBINED.
And where is interest on the debt now on the list?
Sheesh.
I'm afraid in many ways America has become comfortable in the hole it has dug for itself. So comfortable we're actually afraid to leave it.
In other words, it didn't even do anything AFTER losing a city.
The author pretends as if progressives in government haven't set up hundreds of agencies to regulate commerce, and to stop the sorts of "infrastructure" improvements he is calling for.
Can I walk up to a union job without being a union member, like during the New Deal? No.
Can we just up and build a dam (like the Hoover) without 30 years of environmental review, labor law review, diversity review, etc like during the New Deal? No.
The author provides ZERO proof that
1. Our infrastructure is crumbling, and by what metric, compared to other developed countries
2. This is in any way related to tax cuts enacted by Reagan.
If you can't see that the infrastructure is falling apart, I have a bridge in Minneapolis you could stand on. That particular bridge was put on the "need to fix" list long before it collapsed. At the time, surveys were released that listed an astronomical number of highway bridges and overpasses just short of being condemned. I would google it for you, but I am pretty sure you are not interested in the answer.
Of course you can't walk up to a union job without being a union member. They negotiated for their benefits -- why hand them to someone who doesn't even want to pay dues? What use would you be?
And you can do google on why Reagan was the beginning of the downfall of this country yourself. I am sure if we did it for you, you wouldn't read it. But let's just mention one completely useless program he initiated: "Star Wars." To this day, it has produced nothing useful whatsoever.
In this tiny town, a CCC-constructed school recently burned. The history buffs wanted it rebuilt, the municipality could not afford it, private funds were raised for its reconstruction, and the conservatives, in an area with huge unemployment, are complaining because "it isn't necessary". Note that the renovation is being done with private money by a local construction firm with local labor, but the neocons are having a gripefest.
Can't please 'em, don't even try.
I'm not praising that, by the way.
After over 50 years of traveling on these roads, I see how much they have now fallen into disrepair along with our bridges and rail system, not to mention our outdated grid.
We have over 15 million people out of work, and the government is trying to think of ways to create jobs...this is not rocket science nor any big stretch to find out what needs to be done.
Re-instate a WPA /CCC type program and put people back to work and tap into the idle talent that we have just wasting away.
The Europeans and even China are building the infrastructure to accommodate thousands of miles of High Speed Trains.
We here in America have thus far committed to a short high speed rail-line between Tampa and Orlando. The right of way corridors are already in place, we just have to upgrade them with twenty first century technology.
http://nyliberalstateofmind.blogspot.com/2010/01/high-speed-trains-and-one-mule.html
In a pretty simple, and capitalistic move, the costs of completing every project, whether it be bringing a bridge to code or erecting a new bridge, are determined and every job is bid upon, by all companies, regardless of the size of the project. From this point the state/federal partnership idea kicks in. The cost of every project, regardless of size, is divided into five equal "parts", with the winning bid company being responsible for 1 part, the federal infrastructure fund being responsible for 2 parts, and the state government responsible for 2 parts. I call this the 2 Fifths Plan
In a bad economy, the commodities are cheaper. The cheaper it is for lumber, steel, copper, oil, or any other materials needed for a project, the lower the costs of the final product is going to end up being.
Still, in the scenario that I'm presenting, the economy is going to improve over time, and the commodities market is going to improve with the economy. A stabilized commodities market will lead to stabilizing projections for the costs of future project, leading to better budget projections and better targeted actual project costs.
Companies still get the chance to go about doing serious work projects, and the government gets to have finished projects that they don't end up spending 20-30% more than they should've spent taxpayer money on.