Is Buttigieg right Biden $2T infrastructure plan is ‘common sense investment?’

Bill (No)

One can only conclude that Buttigieg's statement that Biden's $2T infrastructure plan is 'common sense investment' must be an April Fool's joke. There is no other way to explain Biden's $3.9T spending spree since taking office—nearly $2T/month! The deficit spending that Biden proposes would be equivalent to the GDP of Germany—the fourth largest economy in the world.

Biden's latest budget-busting spending plan will aggressively add to our national debt (which currently stands at an eye-popping $28T), which future generations will be burdened with paying. It also explodes the 2021 Federal deficit, which currently stands at $4.2 trillion (not counting the additional $2T).

Some of the Biden plan lowlights include $650B going to affordable housing, schools, community colleges, and drinking water. Federal taxpayer money should never go to projects like these since state income taxes and local property taxes are already levied for this purpose. Another third of the $2T is earmarked for government intervention in the free market system to 'invest' in research and development for certain designated industries like clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing. 

Biden's tone-deaf, out-of-touch, $2T boondoggle only reinforces Americans' low opinion of our lawmakers—which currently stands at a meager 27% approval rating. If Biden were truly interested in jump-starting the economy, he would direct needed capital to small businesses in the form of loan programs. Small businesses generate two out of every three new jobs, and are estimated to account for nearly half of the total US economic output. Instead, Biden is determined to squander hard-earned federal taxpayer dollars to shore up failing state and local government projects, hardly 'common-sense investment.'

Morgan (Yes)

Improvements in infrastructure will improve the overall quality of life for Americans. The crews and teams that will be hired to improve American infrastructure will create tons of new jobs for Americans—which is especially needed after many people lost their jobs or had pay decreases due to a full year of living through the pandemic. The jobs these improvements will make will get many Americans back to work and off of unemployment. 

Biden and his administration claim that their infrastructure plan will be paid for 'by raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.' This means it won't cost the average American anything, and they make up the majority of the country's citizens over CEOs and shareholders. According to Deloitte Insights, 'Investment in infrastructure can act as a direct economic stimulus.' 

This tax increase is expected to last 15 years and, in the long run, these infrastructure investments will pay off for corporations when their customers have the means and access to be bigger consumers thanks to more jobs and better infrastructure. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said about the investments that 'part of what made America so competitive was that we had some of the best infrastructure in the world [...] The biggest threat to American competitiveness is continuing to believe that we can have a world-leading economy with third-rate infrastructure'. 

An investment in infrastructure is an investment in the American people. By improving roads, the electrical grid, the internet, and the other components of the plan, Americans' quality of life will improve greatly, and the younger generations will grow up in a country they can be proud of.