The Itsfuckedforsure Bill.
And the Ghosts of Spending Bills Past.
President Biden signed H.R. 3684 into law with leaders in Washington breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back. Never mind that the infrastructure bill is either 20% or 40% of what the American Society of Civil Engineers believes is necessary (depending upon your interpretation of the allocated funds), or that it doesn’t begin to address climate change, or that it’s stuffed with old school pork and contains none of the human elements promised to us. It’s a bill that got signed in Washington and that’s apparently all that matters. Find out why it’s great for corporations, guarantees the Republicans take back the White House in ‘24 and why we’re mad at Elon Musk and his hair plugs.
Show Notes
Clips
Episode Timestamp + Link | Clip Link
- 00:02:40 + 00:02:41 | PBS News Hour: GOP 'nervous' about 'overdue' progressive policies in budget, infrastructure bill
- 00:02:43 | NBC News: Bernie Sanders Against Raise In Gas Tax To Support Infrastructure
- 00:02:44 | NBC News: Bernie Interview- Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill 'Mostly Good'
- 00:02:45 + 00:02:46 + 00:02:47 | MSNBC: Bernie Sanders- GOP Will Try 'To Obstruct As Much As Possible' Biden's Infrastructure Plan
- 00:07:29 | C-SPAN: President Biden Signs Infrastructure Bill
- 00:08:26 | Historic TVA Film: This is TVA
- 00:10:29 | Futurama 1939
- 00:12:06 | American Road Builders Association: We’ll Take the High Road
- 00:15:50 | POTUS Weekly Address: 1/24/2009
- 00:19:54 | CNBC: President Trump- We Want A $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
- 00:20:02 | ABC News: President Trump: 'Time to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure'
- 00:20:07 | NBC News: Trump Unveils ‘Unprecedented’ Infrastructure Plan As Part Of 2019 Budget
- 00:20:21 | PBS NewsHour: Trump promises to make infrastructure a major focus
- 00:20:34 | Princess Bride: You keep using that word.
- 00:27:20 | Seven: What’s In the Box
Resources
-
U.S. Department Of Transportation: Public Roads- Summer 1996
-
Investopedia: Understanding the Infrastructure Bills
-
ASCE Infrastructure Report Card: Making the Grade
-
ASCE Infrastructure Report Card: A Comprehensive Assessment Of America’s Infrastructure
-
New York Times: Biden signs infrastructure bill, promoting benefits for Americans.
-
New York Times: What’s in the $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
-
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works: H. R. 3684
-
Brookings: Eight Years Later- What the Recovery Act Taught Us about Investing in Transportation
-
Britannica: Tennessee Valley Authority
-
U.S. Department Of Transportation Federal Highway Administration: Interstate Highway System - The Myths
Book Love
-
Michael Grunwald: The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era
-
Stephanie Kelton: The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy
UNFTR Quick Links