Mr. President, POLITICO Knows How You Can Save Money – Don't Spend Any Of It
Leave it to POLITICO to have the stupidest take on the economy yet.
The publication, which the great Charles P. Pierce of Esquire calls “Tiger Beat on the Potomac,” thinks the government can save a lot of money by…well…not spending any.
Now why didn’t I think of that?
In a recent piece on the political website, which takes itself way too seriously – why else would they tout themselves in all caps – they posit that Pres. Biden’s spending plans for infrastructure and jobs is running headlong into a resurgent economy. This, they tell us, is not good for the President.
The piece open like this:
“President Joe Biden is pitching his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal as the ‘largest American jobs investment since World War Two,’ a plan that will put millions of people back to work as the country emerges from the coronavirus crisis.
The economy, meanwhile, is showing signs of recovering on its own.”
So basically, Pres. Biden’s plan to spend big bucks to shore up the country’s infrastructure – known as The American Jobs Plan – which would create jobs and generate revenue, not to mention repair badly deteriorating roads, bridges and water systems – is a waste of time because the economy is recovering on its own anyway.
Save the $2 trillion Joe. The economy will work itself out. More than 900,000 jobs were gained in March. We’re on the right track.
“It's the latest in a series of reports this week showing a resurgent economy, with consumer confidence jumping to levels not seen since the start of the pandemic and manufacturing activity surging to its highest peak in nearly four decades,” POLITICO notes. “The S&P 500 also closed the week at a record high. Together, the numbers signal the U.S. is well on its way toward a revival, one that’s widely expected to reach record levels of growth later this year.”
Since Pres. Biden’s reason for spending all this money is to create more jobs and get the country up and running again after the pandemic, it is no longer valid since the economy is recovering on its own. Those jobs are coming back all by themselves. Just look at the numbers! The S&P 500 is up!
This is not only stupid. It’s really stupid.
And the S&P 500 is not reflective of the economy.
But, to prove its point, POLITICO quotes some egghead at the conservative Manhattan Institute: “The economic outlook is strong for the second half of the year. And it would have been strong without the next stimulus bill.”
Maybe. But the roads and bridges aren’t going to get fixed without government spending. It’s like telling a cancer patient “You’re in remission, so go home and have a good life. You don’t need to come back anymore.”
Translation: stop trying to make people’s lives better Democrats, you’re spending a lot of money on people who don’t vote for us.
You see, conservatives hate to spend money on anyone but themselves. They should get to take advantage of all the breaks and loopholes they can. Those “other people” in the country are not worthy of the government’s money. Especially if it’s going to blow a hole in the deficit. Which they only care about when the Democrats are in power.
They’re also against the plan because their friends and donors in the big corporations are going to have to foot most of the bill and pay their fair share in taxes, something they haven’t done is years.
When Republicans are in power, they aren’t adverse to spending like a drunken sailor on stupid shit that no one needs. But when Democrats try to spend money to make our lives better, we get bullshit like this from idiots like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“I’m going to fight them every step of the way, because I think this is the wrong prescription for America,” McConnell said at a recent news conference in Kentucky.
This is why we can’t have nice things in this country.