Joe Biden, Inc and the Democrats have already established a really bad behavioral pattern. Otherwise known as lying their faces off.
They name mass avalanches of government spending after popular concepts – but the actual bills actually spend very little on the popular concepts for which they are named. And spends all the rest on idiotic Leftist policies.
For which only a tiny percentage of Americans would have voted. Which is why Democrats lied their faces off while campaigning. (Ironically, the tiny percentages for both would be roughly similar.)
Having gotten away with a 91% grift on the $2 trillion Covid bill – Democrats are now looking to increase the heist.
Only 5% of $2 Trillion ‘Infrastructure’ Bill Funds Roads and Bridges
In Reality, words mean things. Which is an impediment to Democrats and their grifts. So when called on their grift – they warp Reality and the meaning of words.
Fox News’ Chris Wallace: “You’re really stretching the word beyond all meaning.”
Oh: And I have long said that the federal government should have almost no role in infrastructure. Because – speaking of huge percentages against – 95% of America’s infrastructure is owned by state and/or local governments and/or the private sector.
The federal government shoveling money to private road owners – is yet another instance of massive cronyism. Private road owners toll We the Drivers. And then We the Drivers are taxed even more – to shovel the private road owners crony “infrastructure” money.
And government roads? Interstate 95 goes north-to-south from Maine to Florida through fifteen states and the District of Columbia – more states than any other US highway. But why should We the Drivers in the thirty-five states in which I-95 does not exist – be taxed to pay for it?
Biden, Inc was (is?) very stupidly contemplating a per-mile-driven gasoline tax – incorrectly in the name of the concept of “user-pays.”
But when it comes to roads and bridges spending? Biden, Inc wants to Socialize all of it – the antithesis of user-pays. They want to spend billions on roads and bridges – owned almost entirely NOT by the federal government.
Let the states, localities and private companies that own the roads and bridges – pay for them themselves.
Oh: And of course, government is awful at everything. Because human nature. Please again behold my Wallet Rule:
“If you go out on a Friday night with your wallet, and you go out the following Friday night with my wallet – on which Friday night are you going to have more fun?
“Obviously, you’re going to have a whole lot more fun with my wallet – because you don’t care what my wallet looks like at the end of the evening.
“Well, government is always on other peoples’ wallets. And the Friday night never ends.”
Government can’t handle the simplest of things. I recently escaped from Maryland. Where the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is so awful – an entire private industry of doing DMV stuff for you for a fee has sprung up and is thriving.
That’s just issuing really basic documents – an exceedingly simple set of tasks. As things get more complicated – government gets ever more exceedingly awful. And one of the most complicated things We the People currently do? The Internet.
Our World Wide Web is better than the rest of the planet’s. Precisely because we have less government involvement than the rest of the planet.
All of which has been proven yet again by our governments’ China Virus lockdowns.
Coronavirus: Nation’s Internet Providers Have Made #SelfDistancing Telework a Piece of Cake
China Virus Breaks Europe’s Internet – Not the US’s. Why? Uber-Regs Like Net Neutrality
Shutdowns Yet Again Demonstrate: Our Internet Works – and States’ Big Government Doesn’t
So of course Biden, Inc wants…much more government.
Biden’s Grand Plan for the Internet: Restore Net Neutrality, Create Municipal Broadband
President Biden’s Massive Infrastructure Plan Calls for $100 Billion in Broadband Funding
“Municipal Broadband” – is government broadband. And contrary to that idiotic headline – government broadband has existed for almost as long as has the Internet. And shocker: Government is AWFUL at it.
“For decades, local governments have made promises of faster and cheaper broadband networks. Unfortunately, these municipal networks often don’t deliver or fail, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. Explore the map to learn about the massive debt, waste and broken promises left behind by these failed government networks.”
Biden, Inc’s fake Covid bill – was a giant crony bailout for failed Democrat governments.
$350 Billion for State and Local Government in COVID Relief Bill
So too is this $100 billion government Internet boondoggle. Because very-few-to-no Republican states or municipalities are stupid enough to engage in government broadband. Again: Check the aforementioned Broadband Boondoggles interactive map. All of this money too will be going to down-ticket Democrats.
But the Internet is a VERY expensive proposition. Even $100 billion in government money – is but a drop in the private sector Internet investment bucket:
“(B)roadband providers such as AT&T and Verizon…(e)very year…invest more than $50 billion in network infrastructure, such as 5G, that generates broad-based economic benefits….
“‘Hundreds of billions of dollars of investment by broadband providers enabled the U.S. internet to respond magnificently to soaring demand when the pandemic hit.’”
So this GIANT government money dump – only covers two years of current-level private investment. And as we’ve seen for decades – the government money will be utilized MUCH worse than has been the private investment.
So the entirety of this government broadband endeavor is titanically stupid here in Reality. But that matters not – because the Democrats are yet again trying to warp Reality.
All of this is actually the Democrats’ move to further the government’s ultimate takeover of the Internet.
They massively increase the regulatory (and tax) assaults – which will drive the private sector ever further out of the Internet providing business. While increasing government spending on the Internet – to replace the private sector they’re destroying.
Leaving We the People with government as our sole Internet Service Provider (ISP). Which of course comes with ZERO functionality or Bill of Rights problems….
White House Moves to Reshape Role of US Capitalism:
“The White House is pushing…to reestablish the federal government as a primary driver of how the economy should grow and function….
“The ambitious proposal effectively transforms the relationship between the government and the private sector, making radical changes to key sectors of the economy that could be felt for years down the road.
“It places a big bet on the ability of the federal government to drive sustained economic growth at a time when confidence in institutions is low.”
Which is EXACTLY for what an avowed Marxist – and a godfather of the Marxist “media reform” movement – has long called:
“There is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles.”
“Any serious effort to reform the media system would have to necessarily be part of a revolutionary program to overthrow the capitalist system itself.”
“At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies. We are not at that point yet. But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control.”
Biden, Inc’s tax-and-regulatory assaults and $100 billion aren’t about improving the private sector Internet. Because everyone knows the government is incapable of improving anything.
Biden, Inc’s tax-and-regulatory assaults and $100 billion are about destroying the private sector Internet. And having government replace it.
Great news all the way round.
This first appeared in Red State.