infrastructure

Refugees? Dissidents? Collaborators? by Gaius PubliusThat big infrastructure bill you keep hearing about, and Democrats are starting to come on board with?

Watch the first 2:45 of this clip to see a primary reason Establishment Democrats lost to Donald Trump. Remember as you read on — it didn't have to be this way.by Gaius PubliusWhat we're about to get from the incoming Trump administration is revealed in this two-page PDF released by the campaign in October before the election.

Donald Trump was an outsider who boldly stormed the citadel of Washington DC and won. He has promised real change, but his infrastructure plan appears to be just more of the same – privatizing public assets and delivering unearned profits to investors at the expense of the people. He needs to try something new; and for this he could look to Abraham Lincoln, whose bold solution was very similar to one now being considered in Europe: just print the money.
In Donald Trump’s victory speech after the presidential election, he vowed:

Friday, Morning Consult published polling that shows that among Republican voters, priorities aren't identical to Trump's. Passing an infrastructure bill seems to be what he's signaling what he wants to do first. It's way down the list for his supporters, as you can see in the chart below. Trump, when asked: "A lot of really great priorities.

I'm not a betting man but had I bet, it would have been for Hillary-- and the odds being offered would have been terrible for the bettor-- and I was tempted to buy stocks when I saw them collapsing last night. That would have been a losing bet, too. Dow Futures were down 750 points at one point. But, today, they are trading in a normal range as the uncertainty of what a Trump presidency would bring set in. The Nikkei was off almost 6%.

If you find yourself in the neighborhood -- Sheepshead Bay, that is -- follow Mitch's recommendation of the roast beef "au jus" sandwich, and be sure to have them pile on the (free) onions and extra gravy."Something happened during the Bloomberg era, however.

This morning, I was speaking with one of the congressional candidates Blue America is most enthusiastic about this cycle, Paul Clements from southwest Michigan. He's running for the seat held by Energy Committee chairman Fred Upton (MI-06) and he told me that "the biggest holes in investment in America, if we were going to promote broad-based economic growth, are in infrastructure and education.

21st Century Wire says…
Things are finally looking up for the war-torn nation of Syria.
Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi has announced that Russia is set to rebuild war-torn Syria after signing numerous contracts with the country after the conclusion of their successful anti-terror air campaign.
The Syrian PM said:

During the 2015 Canadian federal election campaign, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, now Prime Minister, promised to borrow money (at interest) to pay for $60 billion in new infrastructure investments, as opposed to the NDP’s plan to balance the budget in their first year. It was, and remains, a false frame of having to stay in […]

In a landmark infrastructure bill passed in December, Congress finally penetrated the Fed’s “independence” by tapping its reserves and bank dividends for infrastructure funding.
The bill was a start. But some experts, including Congressional candidate Tim Canova, say Congress should go further and authorize funds to be issued for infrastructure directly.