Obama nails it on why we need to invest in America's infrastructure—and why it's not happening
by Laura Clawson
attribution: Pete Souza/White House
President Barack Obama views the new bridge under construction adjacent to the Tappan Zee Bridge.
President Obama continues to press on the need to invest in infrastructure. Asked by Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace "we sit here in an economy where corporate profits are up, but the money's not being spent, where the jobs that are being created are low-wage, low-skill jobs. How's that supposed to work? How do you reconcile the disconnect there," Obama said:
Well, there's some things we could be doing right now that would make a huge difference. When I was at that bridge in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., yesterday, we were talking about the fact that we've got $2 trillion of deferred maintenance: roads, bridges, an air-traffic control system that's creaky, an electrical grid that wastes too much energy and is highly inefficient, and we could be putting hundreds of thousands of folks back to work right now and not only put a big boost to the economy in the short term, but also lay the foundation for economic competitiveness in the long term. That creates a lot of middle-class jobs. The challenge we have is not that we don't know what to do. The problem is that we've got a Congress right now that's been saying no to proposals that would make a difference. That's an excellent summation of how ridiculous it is that Republicans are blocking infrastructure spending: 1) Our bridges, air-traffic control system, and electrical grid are not good enough for our needs right now.
2) Repairing and updating them would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, which would in turn boost the economy.
3) We need better infrastructure to be competitive in the future.
But no. Screw all that, Republicans need to oppose the president in all things and keep corporate taxes low at all costs. |
