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Presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden has been slowly rolling out his future plans for America, should he be elected. These plans can pretty much be summed up with a single phrase: SPEND ALL THE MONEY.
This is no shock, as both sides of the aisle, despite promising fiscal limits or “reducing the national debt,” always find a way to slap together pork-laden omnibus spending bills, or have a good excuse to pass trillion-dollar stimulus packages that never satisfy anyone. But Biden isn’t even trying to play coy. He wants to spend a whole lotta money, and he’s going to take from the rich to do it. This is the usual “close the tax loopholes” and “tax the top X percent” talk that we always hear, even if certain Democrats would like to find ways to avoid taxation themselves.
The Biden camp is hoping to slowly roll out these proposals, which have little in the way of actual substance, in order to convince people that Biden has plans for everything (borrowing a tactic, if not the phrasing, from Elizabeth Warren). So, what has Biden proposed in the last week?
You want the schools to open? Biden has a five step plan! The problem is, those five steps basically mean schools will never reopen.
First, he calls to “get the virus under control,” including expanding contact tracing, bolstering the nation’s supply of personal protective equipment and improving U.S. coronavirus testing capabilities.
Second, Biden says the United States must “set national safety guidelines, [and] empower local decision-making.”
The third tier of his plan involves providing emergency funds for public schools and child care providers, including a $30 billion congressional education package and an additional $4 billion to upgrade technology and broadband.”
The fourth and fifth points of Biden’s plan call to ensure quality learning during the pandemic, including improving remote learning for students, and to close “the COVID-19 educational equity gap,” which he describes as leading minority and low-income students to falling behind educationally compared with their white and more affluent peers.”
Notice that the first two parts of this “plan to reopen schools” have NOTHING to do with schools. Name one thing a school district could do with those first two points. The answer is nothing but to stay closed. But hey, at least a “five step plan” SOUNDS good, right?
And that $34 billion Biden wants to spend on education and supporting technology is NOTHING compared to the $2 trillion he wants to blow on his version of the “Green New Deal.”
Biden’s climate initiative calls to chart the United States on “an irreversible path” to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
To do that, the plan would aim to achieve a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. It would also upgrade 4 million buildings and weatherize 2 million homes over four years to increase energy efficiency. And the proposal, Biden’s campaign said, would seek to shift major cities toward public transportation and “create millions of good, union jobs rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure.”
The former vice president’s plan comes with a $2 trillion price tag, with plans to deploy those resources at an accelerated pace during his first term.”
The proposal also includes environmental justice components, such as creating an Environmental and Climate Justice Division within the Department of Justice.”
Of course, Biden has problems here because he openly said during the debates that he wanted to ban any new fracking, but has already attempted to walk that back in local Pennsylvania media. Will the media let him get away with this? Yes. But the Trump campaign had better get those debate clips in an ad, playing repeatedly, in Pennsylvania immediately. And let’s not forget the joys of flushing money down the toilet with such spectacular green projects like Solyndra while Biden was vice president. $2 trillion is less than the Bernie Sanders/AOC wing want, but it is still more than the American taxpayer can afford.
Today, Biden put out his plans for “caregiving” – specifically, child care and elder care.
Biden’s campaign said the plan would cost $775 billion over 10 years. Biden would pay for it by repealing tax breaks for real estate investors who earn more than $400,000 and, according to a campaign document, “taking steps to increase tax compliance for high-income earners.”
Of that, $450 billion would go to clearing a waiting list for Medicaid home and community services that, citing Kaiser Family Foundation data, Biden’s campaign said numbers more than 800,000 and can last as long as five years.”
“Child care” in this plan means universal preschool, tax credits for daycare expenses, and pay increases for child care providers, which presumably would be the other $325 billion of the $775 billion price tag.
Biden’s speech today was… not exactly a barn burner, nor particularly upbeat, and delivered to the pool reporters.
Hello from a very hot parking lot in New Castle, DE, where Joe Biden will speak about his new plan to help Americans who care for children, the elderly and those with disabilities.
The event is pool only.
More on that plan from @ericbradner @sarahmucha https://t.co/pptKO9wwB5 pic.twitter.com/g84mEZd8k2
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) July 21, 2020
And yes, it was on the teleprompter. Team Biden is fully aware that the man cannot be allowed to speak extemporaneously.
And no questions, thank you very much.
“I look forward to having your questions at another time but I’m off to another event," says @JoeBiden at the conclusion to the pool of reporters. (One question shouted which he did not answer)
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 21, 2020
Sorry, media, Grandpa Joe has a very important event back in his basement.
So, there you go. Joe Biden plans to “Build Back Better” (that’s what they came up with? How much money did they spend for THAT slogan?) by spending a crap ton of money – for schools! for the environment! for taking care of people! – on the backs of some significant tax hikes to the tune of almost $4 trillion over a ten year period. Notice how he isn’t out promoting that part of his plans? I wonder why???
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Featured image: Flickr/Gage Skidmore/Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)/Cropped
Formerly known as Skeptic says: “Notice that the first two parts of this “plan to reopen schools” have NOTHING to do with schools.”
And the other three points have nothing to do with reopening said schools, just shoveling money at them to make staying closed “better”.
Dietrich says: “It would also upgrade 4 million buildings and weatherize 2 million homes over four years…”
Out of how many buildings and homes in the U.S.? These may sound like big numbers, but they are less than a drop in the bucket. A quick internet search yielded: “When all forms of housing are included there were 138.45 million housing units in the U.S. in 2018, of which roughly one third were renter-occupied. 2 million is %0.00000144 of that number.
And why do the infrastructure jobs have to be union?
Garland Twitty says: Spend what money? Meaning borrow and/or print even more money than We are now?
But promise we can pay for it all: “raise taxes on the rich” (while simultaneously creating generous tax exemptions for “special” cases).
GlobalTrvlr says: “First, he calls to “get the virus under control,” including expanding contact tracing, “ Oh, gee, I guess no one thought about that. Let’s elect Joe because he wants to get the virus under control!
“bolstering the nation’s supply of personal protective equipment and improving U.S. coronavirus testing capabilities.” Not aware we have a PPE problem any longer. Because we don’t. And improving testing? Again, genius! I guess the thousands and thousands of researchers and companies who have been doing just that should be told that Joe wants them to do what they are doing!
“Second, Biden says the United States must “set national safety guidelines, [and] empower local decision-making.”” Again, that is not being done? The problem is that those national safety guidelines are too numerous, keep changing and are not always based on science.
“The third tier of his plan involves providing emergency funds for public schools and child care providers, including a $30 billion congressional education package and an additional $4 billion to upgrade technology and broadband.”” Why emergency funding for schools? They have been saving money since being closed in the Spring and it will cost them no incremental money to reopen and do what they are supposed to be doing. And where are the broadband issues? I have not heard of ANY. Even if there were some, companies spend well over $4B per year on upgrading the infrastructure. Where would Biden waste this money?
“The fourth and fifth points of Biden’s plan call to ensure quality learning during the pandemic, including improving remote learning for students,” Magic wand time. Throw out a some general talking points with nothing specific, the media will eat it up.
“ and to close “the COVID-19 educational equity gap,” which he describes as leading minority and low-income students to falling behind educationally compared with their white and more affluent peers.”” “ How about reopening schools? That is the biggest way to help minority (and it is not just minorities, it is socio-economic – those that do not have parents that can stay home and help educate their kids or cannot hire someone to do so).
So, essentially a bunch of words that don’t mean anything.
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