The Fallacy of Our Infrastructure Spending Bill: What's Wrong With This Picture?

Yesterday, I was distracted by two things seemingly unrelated, but in retrospect very much related.

I listened to President Biden's State of the Union Address the night prior. I was disappointed. After his lengthy, proud accolades of his administration's response to the Ukraine crisis, I thought to myself, "how is it possible that President Biden touts among his meaningful accomplishments of late, the actions we've taken to make Russia feel the pain of being an unprovoked, dictatorial regime and bloody aggressor?"

From my perspective, any U.S. White House would be expected to take action of this immense proportion when democracies are attacked or Genocide is unfolding. No matter what side of the aisle controls the US Congress or the White House, we citizens expect nothing less, and there is plenty of precedent dating back to Pre-FDR. I don't think that deserves a special "Atta Boy."

This was distraction number 1.

Distraction number 2 was the laughing and loud voices coming through my office window from outside. Some 16 MTA workers were enjoying the 55+ degree weather 75' from me, while maintaining some 20' of LIRR rail line (see picture). The captions I placed thereupon are obviously fictitious and designed for effect, but I began to think about President Biden's passionate bit about the Infrastructure Bill, the multitude of jobs it will create and the revitalization of the economy that supposedly will ensue. Thousands of miles of bridges, roads, bike paths and infrastructure will get built and/or repaired. Wonderful! Leading us to where may I ask?

President Biden continued. We heard about tax reform, child care, educational spending and many wonderful and important goals and plans that have yet to be funded and implemented. Where is this all coming from?

As this picture suggests, it is time the White House takes on a new battle that has been in waiting for decades, and that is the blatant inefficiency in government spending. We are doing nothing to address productivity in government. It's not just a technology or money that will solve this problem. We need to embrace and reward the American worker who delivers results to their employer. We need to fix the waste that all these tax payer dollars and fiscal stimulus are earmarked toward.

If President Biden is prepared to create a Watch-Dog for abusers of the SBA PPP loan program, then we should initiate another Watch-Dog organization that holds Federal, State and Local agencies accountable for spending tax-payer dollars responsibly.

I do not believe 20 feet of track repair requires 16 people. Cut the human capital requirements by 50% and produce the same result. Then reallocate the budget to all the other important causes we as a nation need to tackle. Especially in an inflationary environment, it is vital to figure out how to do more with less... and not disturb occupants of adjacent buildings trying to make a living and pay their rent.