As you will see, I sometimes have the tendency to beat a subject a little more than necessary. Periodically, things stand out that need to be discussed at a little more depth and this is one of those times.
The Biden “Infrastructure Plan” is a massive two plus trillion dollar bill that is supposed to create jobs, push forward industries that will deal with climate change and help rebuild the crumbling infrastructure in this country. There are components of this bill that will help rebuild America for sure but there are also components that don’t seem to make any sense to me.
For one, spending over 400 billion dollars to improve access to quality, affordable home or community-based care for the elderly and people with disabilities. Now this an admirable thing for sure and believe me, I am not one to be giving short shrift to our elderly population but is it really infrastructure? Maybe I am 100% wrong about this, but isn’t elder care for the most part a private sector industry? Will this bill give the private sector cash to rebuild and increase the level of care our elderly population is going to need in the coming years? Is this money going to be allocated to families that need to take care of their aging family members? It’s a little unclear and while this is probably a subject no one wants to broach and dig deeper. It just seems that this component gets little or no attention and just looking back on history, any government expediture of any size that doesn’t have a clear purpose generally ends up a mess and it becomes wasted dollars. My feeling is that if the Biden administration wanted to help this sector of our population, this program should have been separate and distinct. I doubt anyone would object to spending money to better the lives of our senior citizens and in a separate bill, oversight would be much better. I could be wrong about this but I really fear that this will end up being a black hole because no one is truly watching.
After we remove that 400 billion, it leaves us with 1.7 billion or so in infrastructure spending. Doing some very loose math, I figure that actual infrastructure spending will be roughly 1.1 trillion dollars and obviously there are some very crucial components in there. Upgrading the Electric Grid, Water Infrastructure Upgrades, Airport Upgrades, Bridges and Tunnels and Roadways and so on.
I would almost agree that Hi-speed wireless upgrades could be considered an infrastructure project but this is another of those scratch your head, public vs private debate things. Seventy five per cent of the people in this country have full access to hi speed internet. It grows on a daily basis as the major carriers are rolling out 5G throughout the country and fewer and fewer areas are going to be shut out. Several intrepid companies are launching satellites to cover those areas that don’t have full access and within the next year or so, almost all of the continental United States will have coverage. The private sector, knowing there is money to be made has done what it has always done, filled the gaps. So why does the US Government need to spend 100 billion dollars upgrading a system that the private sector has already taken care of? The reason seems to be that there are a vast number of people in this country that can not afford to have that high speed internet connection at home and they are falling behind the rest of the population. I imagine that there is some truth to that and Federal, State and Local governments should address those needs directly. I also think there probably is a lot cheaper way of doing that than what is proposed.
Using my high school math again, if you supplied every child in this country with a Dell laptop the total cost would only be around 45 billion dollars. I know, thats not all there is to it. I get that, but my point is; The numbers seem a little suspicious. They are going to spend a tremendous amount of money on something the private sector has already taken care of. Most cities now have free internet access and for suburban and rural areas, the availability is increasing every day. It’s another black hole.
My last point is different. This bill has money allocated for all sorts of needs but there is an allocation that just does not sit right with me. The funding for Veterans. To put 18 billion dollars aside for Veterans in a massive bill like this is an insult. There are over 18 million veterans alive today in the United States. We all know the dedication, valor and sacrifice these men and women have made for this country and to spend 18 Billion dollars to upgrade Veterans services and hospitals is just not right. I am not a veteran but I am the proud son of a World War II veteran who never asked for anything in return for his service. His experience with the VA was beyond disappointing and I am sure it hurt my father knowing other vets had to deal with such a system. He was fortunate that he had the means to get care at a medical group near his house but his experience at the VA hospital hurt him. I don’t blame the people that work there. They are stretched thin and are not given the resources that these men and women deserve and thats what makes that appropriation so disturbing. Every Veteran knows that because of chronic underfunding, they may not receive the care they deserve. I think what is even more hurtful and surprising is that literally no one is standing up for our Veterans.
While we look for ways to fast forward into the future we clearly want to forget about the past.
Thanks again for the common sense approach and HS math;)
And as far as a broken record, I like vinyl!