China Adds $160B To Infrastructure, While U.S. Blocks A $60B Transportation Bill (Guest Post)

By Phil of  Phil's Stock World 

Ah the old "destroying the universe" ploy.   It's the same one the Republicans are using in the Senate as they once again kill Obama's $60Bn infrastructure program that was meant to provide direct aid for highway and rail projects and set up an infrastructure bank. Without 60 votes, bills can't even make it to the Senate floor so nothing gets done.

This is ironic because, on the same day, China APPROVED another $160Bn of infrastructure spending -  just to build new underground subway systems in 28 cities by the end of the decade - creating millions of Chinese jobs, lowering transportation costs  and laying the foundation for continuing to kick our butt in the 21st Century.  So, to be fair, the Republicans aren't destroying the Universe to advance their political agenda - just America.

Meanwhile, China's subway plans are coming AFTER they have developed the World's largest high-speed rail lines to connect to their World class shipping ports so goods can now be whisked around the country in a cheap and efficient manner while the knuckle-draggers in Congress debate whether or not it's worth fixing the potholes that are ripping the tires off trucks on our nation's roadways.  

You don't make a nation great by talking about how great we are - you make a nation great by building a great nation and we are doing almost the exact opposite - squandering what once seemed to be an insurmountable lead in education, transportation, utilities, health care, housing and even environmental progress - and turning America into what is now one of the lowest-ranked developed nations in each of those categories.

Rather than employ millions of people to maintain our infrastructure, we allow it to decay and ship our manufacturing and jobs overseas to Nations that are willing to invest in their future and that leads to trade deficits that suck hundreds of Billions of additional Dollars out of our economy along with the hundreds of Billions of Dollars we ship overseas every year to pay for our addiction to oil.

In more bad new for the Republicans, 50M of the bottom 99.9% woke up this week and made a commercial telling them it's time to look elsewhere if they want to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor. Like the man said, they are 50M seniors who EARNED their benefits and every time these politicians pontificate in their debates that our nation's retirees are holding their hands out for entitlements, as if there were no promises made to them by the "job creators" for the past 40 years, they just push more and more people over the picket line.

Speaking of our "job creators," America only added 80,000 jobs in the month of October with unemployment (as undercounted by the Government) still at 9%.   While the jobs report may not have been a big downer, Greece and MF Global almost seem like two perpetual causes for chaos.   Be very careful out there and have a great weekend.

Courtesy Phil, Click here to try Phil's Stock World Weekly

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