Pirate's Cove

Is it any wonder that President Trump continues to fight with the Credentialed Media when they continue to assault him in a way they would never do to a Democrat? All Republicans know that they are damned if they do damned if they don’t when it comes to the majority of media outlets which will act as surrogates of the Democratic Party. Most Republicans choose to not fight back. Obviously, Trump has taken a different path. And why not, when we get schlock like this?

Missing: Donald Trump’s Infrastructure Plan

Which of Donald Trump’s many campaign promises would bring real benefits to the economy? Which would almost certainly win support even among people who voted against him? And which seems to have disappeared completely from the White House radar?

The answer to all three questions is Mr. Trump’s pledge to put his self-described talents as a builder to work by spending $1 trillion on restoring the country’s crumbling bridges, potholed roads, rust-bucket trains and shabby-not-chic airports. More than a month into his presidency, no such plan has emerged, and there are no signs that one is coming anytime soon.

Trump hasn’t even been in office for a month an a half, and the NY Times Editorial Board is assaulting him for not releasing a plan yet. Seriously.

Part of this could be attributed to the less-than-blinding speed with which Mr. Trump has assembled his administration.

It’s actually been faster than most. Yet, there are still many, many positions to be filled. Just like with Obama. And Bush. And Clinton. And Bush. And Reagan. Etc. Heck, some positions under Obama were never even filled. Perhaps there are just way too many positions which are political within the federal government, and, heck, just too many positions to start with?

Regardless, the guy has been in office a whopping 38 days.

But evidence suggests that the plan is on hold for the foreseeable future; Republican sources told the news organization Axios last week that the White House wouldn’t unveil an infrastructure proposal until 2018.

No, that’s not evidence of anything, except fevered minds which look for any excuse to attack the president.

A big infrastructure package involving direct government spending would, politically and economically, be a slam-dunk compared with other misguided investments and policies, like building a border wall or cutting taxes for the wealthy. Experts say that the United States needs a huge increase in spending on public works after years of neglect and to prepare for the increased threat from climate change. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the country’s infrastructure a grade of D+ and says that $3.6 trillion in spending is required by 2020.

If only we’d had some sort of infrastructure project over the last eight years. Oh, right, right. If only the Obama administration hadn’t pissed away hundreds of billions on pork laden projects which weren’t shovel ready, barely and rarely addressed the actual issues, and weren’t simply ways to repay campaign contributors. Wasn’t Sheriff Joe Biden supposed to monitor the projects? How’d that work out?

Though the circumstances are not the same, Mr. Trump’s indolence and Congress’s palpable lack of initiative sit in sharp contrast to the speed with which President Obama and congressional Democrats were able to engineer a nearly $1 trillion economic stimulus bill in 2009, a task completed in less than six weeks. At the current pace, Mr. Trump’s American greatness project may never get off the ground, remaining no more than a slogan on red hats, a testament to the emptiness of his populist promises to help the forgotten workers.

That’s about all Obama did in that time period. The promised jobs never materialized. Poverty increased. Green energy jobs haven’t increased. No one really cares about electric cars. The cost of the jobs created was somewhere between $196k and $562K per job. Disgraceful. Overall, it was a failure. Perhaps Team Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress should have take a bit more time to craft legislation rather than rush it through on flawed economic forecasts.

By all measures, the economy actually came out of recession before the Stimulus projects even started.

Anyhow, perhaps Trump and his team are taking their time to put together a plan that makes sense. One that works. One that is targeted, unlike the Stimulus, which attempted to cure every ill. One that fixes problems for the long term. Trump is a guy who understands what a billion dollars is. What it means. Where it comes from. To Obama and the Democrats, it’s just a number, because Other People are paying for it, and Other People will take care of the interest on what was borrowed.

But, for the NY Times Editorial Board to have a snit fit like this so soon shows their utter partisanship, and gives yet another reason why Trump shouldn’t trust the media.

Crossed at Right Wing News.