Obama’s Infrastructure Spending Wish ‘Makes All of the Sense in the World,’ Amanpour Enthuses
President Barack Obama’s new infrastructure spending plan “makes all of the sense in the world” and is an “eminently sensible idea,” ABC’s Christiane Amanpour enthused Sunday morning on This Week as if there is no rational reason to oppose the additional federal money and without a look at the impact of the already-spent stimulus spending.
Following up on President Obama’s boast that “when you got the AFL and the Chamber of Commerce agreeing on anything, that’s a sign that it’s a good idea,” Amanpour brought aboard the chiefs of those two organizations to tout the self-interested spending and fret over Republican opposition.
Amanpour cued up AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue:
It makes all of the sense in the world, build the crumbling infrastructure, put people back to work, and yet it’s such a hard sell. Make the case for why the Senate, why Congress should do this business on infrastructure.
If “Republicans don’t agree with the tax part, how to pay for this,” she despaired, “how is this going to become a reality, this eminently sensible idea of getting people to work in infrastructure?”
In between those questions, she relayed the economic expertise she’s gleaned: “And I’ve been told – read, of course – that investment in the infrastructure creates growth, and by the contrary, crumbling infrastructure really hurts the GDP in this country.”
From the Sunday, October 23 This Week with Christiane Amanpour on ABC:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, OCTOBER 11: The council here is quoted as saying if there’s one thing that Washington should be able to agree on, rebuilding our infrastructure should be one. I mean, when you got the AFL and the Chamber of Commerce agreeing on anything, that’s a sign that it’s a good idea.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: And we do have the AFL and the Chamber of Commerce here. It’s not often that big business and big labor agree. But this is one of those times. Both see an opportunity to create jobs by rebuilding America. The Senate is expected to take up that issue in the next few weeks. And I’m now joined by two men that you seldom find in the same corner, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue. Gentlemen, thank you very much indeed for joining us.
Amanpour’s leading questions:
> It makes all of the sense in the world, build the crumbling infrastructure, put people back to work, and yet it’s such a hard sell. Make the case for why the Senate, why Congress should do this business on infrastructure.
> Tom Donohue, can one join together – behind me in that building [Capitol] – politically to get this done? And how many jobs do you think it would bring to America if it was agreed to?
> It’s not just about putting people to work, it’s also about growth. Without growth, obviously, there will be no significant uptick in employment. And I’ve been told – read, of course – that investment in the infrastructure creates growth, and by the contrary, crumbling infrastructure really hurts the GDP in this country.
> So, Rich, if Tom Donohue and the Republicans don’t agree with the tax part, how to pay for this, how is this going to become a reality, this eminently sensible idea of getting people to work in infrastructure?
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Comments
Winners and losers
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 6:45pm.
Kristy Ann, ya think maybe if that stretch of road was so all-fired important, maybe the locals would keep it up?
We've got a 4-lane bridge that replaced a 2-lane bridge about a block over from it, and danged if we didn't get some Stimulus Money to convert the old one into a "Walking Bridge" Point A = Tattoo Parlor. Point B = Low Life drinking establishment.
LOL Cool Arrow
Submitted by gfrrman on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 7:12pm.
these are like a kid in a candy store with $5.00 burning a whole in their pocket. Govt', "If we get $$ we spend". Save or pay down debt?..."we don't need to be saving no stinkin' money or pay off debt".
g
Well you wouldn't want drunks
Submitted by Dan Diego on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:25pm.
Well you wouldn't want drunks driving to get a Tat would you? Can you pay for a Tat w/ an EBT Card?
It's also about protecting critters that will use the bridge, that helps w/ the green vote and illegals can use it to avoid detection which helps w/ the hispanic vote and union labor is mandated that helps w/...
Oh, illegals aren't worried
Submitted by ant on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 10:28pm.
Oh, illegals aren't worried about detection. Who do you think is gonna be doing this 'infrastructure' work? I just flipped past two home improvement channels featuring nothing but illegal labor, aside from the gay designing host, of course. That's whats called 'living in the shadows', huh? being filmed working and talking on National television. Lies, lies, and more lies all day and night, including Amanpour's "emminently sensible" shtick. We've heard this all before. Do they think we are really this stupid?
Huh?
Submitted by Denny Crane on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 1:54am.
No offense ant, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree. What makes you think the laborers were illegals? Blatant stereotyping is not a good thing, and can make you look like something you aren't.
We Are The 53%
I'm aware it may seem like
Submitted by ant on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 2:38am.
I'm aware it may seem like stereotyping. Let me put it this way, I was in the trades for about 15 years, I 've met more and more in later years (as illegal immigration numbers were growing, coincidence?) who (when they spoke English, English is a requirement for citizenship, so if they don't speak it, they probably aren't) told me flat out they were here illegally. The amount of hispanic males in the trades is highly disproportionate to their percentage of the total population if they were to be legal. (Construction and trades is an easy way to keep moving and get paid under the table). It's also a matter of deduction, not just on disproportionate numbers and the Spanish language spoken, but when the facts on illegal immigration are known, such as increasing immigration (acknowledgement that it IS happening) and even activist groups and others acknowledgement that is predominantley from Latin America, it is pretty hard to figure a growing presence of foreigners on work-sites as 'coincidence'.(Basically, when it's widely reported that the millions of illegals we know are here are known to be from Latin America, it's pretty hard to assume 'Nah, these guys are the legal ones'). Most damning, the host of one of the shows asked for his 'workers' to assemble so he could speak to them, stating along the lines of "C'mon, you guys, get over here, green-card or not." Not funny, not with 14 million Americans out of work. Lastly, I can safely assume, along with the aforementioned deductions, that a brown man of short stature that speaks Spanish has not migrated from Norway.
Justify it how you want.
Submitted by Denny Crane on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 2:58am.
But your statement said "nothing but illegal labor" And it just seems that you saw a group of brown construction workers and jumped to the conclusion that they were illegal solely based on their looks and their jobs. (and also from your personal experience). I'm not arguing the statement that illegals may find construction to be a job they can get away with. I'm sure there are quite a few illegals in the construction industry, just like there are quite a few illegals in just about every labor industry.
But to jump to the conclusion that just because the crew is brown and are construction workers that they are all illegal is just plain wrong. And it's also insulting to the Americans of Latino ancestry that are in the construction industry.
We Are The 53%
But it was, Denny, besides
Submitted by ant on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 1:55pm.
But it was, Denny, besides the obviousness of the quote by the host, there were about 20 workers on set, not ONE, was a caucasian or a negro. Not one. Those odds do not match the true demographics and are not what a random group of workers would have looked like before illegal immigration became rampant and rewarded. Let me put it this way, if we know that huge numbers of Monarch butterflies have been migrating north for the past ten years, and you suddenly see scores of Monarchs in your neighborhood, it's safe to assume they are not moths. We, as far as I know, have not been inundated with scores of legal immigrants, even those that have come from Latin America to truly desire to be Americans have done so, they speak English, they are American. I would have been hard-pressed and still am, to pick out a citizen of Hispanic descent from a crowd, illegal aliens however, not so much, especially, as I've said, they are not 'hiding in the shadows' especially when it is said up-front on TV like in the case of the two shows I saw. They weren't hiding this fact. I don't know how else I can qualify this, I cannot assume all of a sudden masses of American citizens of Hispanic heritage have instantly just 'materialized' and decided to get jobs in the trades, while American caucasians and negroes have decided to leave the trades. I cannot assume scores of ads for government entitlement programs have appeared on bus-stops in the Spanish language because of 'legal' immigration. I'm not a fool.
You have to understand, I don't care if they have pointy ears and speak Vulcan, besides the obvious safety of it's citizens and the common-sense for any Nation to control it's borders, we have a serious unemployment problem and a DHS that's handing out what are essentially 'Amnesty/working papers' to any illegal aliens with no more than two misdemeanors (not counting the crime of illegal entry). Would any citizen, of Hispanic descent or not, receive such 'mercy' from our beloved government? It is insane.
So, to sum up, Denny, and I
Submitted by ant on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 2:46am.
So, to sum up, Denny, and I mean no offense, but I have eyes and I will call a spade a spade. If someone wants to call me racist for noticing a fact, that's fine, Libs and my so-called Representatives have been calling me a racist for years now. Hispanics, I have no problem with, foreign Nationals, LaRaza types, and their libtarded enablers can go to hell. People who come here for the goodies and carry Mexican flags and burn mine, can go there first.
Right there with ya Ant
Submitted by Denny Crane on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 3:11am.
I'm not calling you a racist. But the statement was full of stereotypical profiling. We should be careful about lumping people into broad groups based on few facts.
We Are The 53%
sure it makes sense
Submitted by kata on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 6:50pm.
when it's not attached to the pathetic campaign shtick labeled the American Jobs Act. This "Act" is just a money laundering operation from the government's bottomless pockets to the unions and right back into the DNCs coffers.
I wonder what Ms. Amanpour reads with her morning coffee.
Owebama = 4.2 trillion new debt, 3.9 of it publicly borrowed
Submitted by merly1 on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:22pm.
Yes, let's ka-ching the credit card some more :oD Most astonishingly, the publicly held federal debt
was about 6T when Owebama took office, and he will almost double it in one term. And you wonder
why there is unrest out there........5T under Owebama, 6T from 1776-2008.
You know I almost wish
Submitted by zenman1661 on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 6:57pm.
the Republicans would go along with this. It wouldn't create that many jobs, but there has to be in this big country enough badly needed repair work to warrant the expense. More importantly, it would undercut Obama's plan to to cast the Republicans as "do nothing" and out just to block anything for political gain that he proposes .
Those repairs are already underway
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 9:05pm.
Those repairs are already underway, or are due to begin soon, in just about every State. By far and large, the funding for all that repair has already been approved, which means the money's there waiting for the maintenance to begin. So, why spend more money for something that's already being addressed? It's an election year ploy, of course.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
ding ding ding
Submitted by antiObamunist on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 10:38am.
Right on point CobraMan. During the first stim I expected that as an unemployed civil engineer in a liberal state there may be a chance at employment. To my astonishment I found that almost all of the purported shovel ready jobs we're actually currently permitted and money had already been appropriated. Liberal governors and legislatures simply allowed stim funds to pay for these projects(mostly repaving) while diverting those other funds to prop up state workers and retirees pensions. Like most forms of instant gratification it came back to bite them in the @ss because now the 2 billion dollar rainy day fund is history and taxes on everything from cigarettes , alcohol to sales tax has increased.
Sounds more like cash for clunkers than a sane way to run a modern economic system. I call this bs on this voodoo economics, more like trickle down poverty.
Greetings from the peoples republic of Massachusetts
It's not so much that they are opposed to the spending.
Submitted by Denny Crane on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 1:59am.
It's the financing that is important. D's want to raise taxes and punish the rich to pay for it. If they found the funding by cutting somewhere else, then the R's would have a harder time opposing it.
We Are The 53%
AFL and Chamber of Commerce
Submitted by Franksam on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 7:06pm.
When these two groups agree on something, it is time to check on the Vaseline supply. Nothing good can come of this.
Every Year The American Association of Civil Engineers
Submitted by Paarl on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 7:17pm.
comes out with report on how bad our infrastructure is and how much rebuilding reengineering is
required....
DUH ????
would you expect them to say anything else ???
Paarl of Rhodesia...
And between the federal and
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:44pm.
And between the federal and state gasoline taxes, and all of the other fees and assessments that take place with regards to public transportation, as well as the gazillions of other tax monies that have come and gone............you'd think that, somehow, these roads and bridges would have been serviced, maintained, repaired, fixed, or re-built at some point along the way. But somehow it's got to be a crisis in Boy Barry's view of things...........and we MUST past this 'jobs bill'!!! And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and bet that - even if the bill DID pass - the majority of these projects would NEVER happen...............but they sure as hell would be used as props for the NEXT 'jobs bill'!!!
After the multitude of
Submitted by Dan Diego on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 10:24pm.
After the multitude of self-supporting State & Federal bureaucracies suck up highway funds with their impact studies the project will be outdated by 10 years and won't address current commuter trends/needs. A year after completion they decide more improvements are needed and the cycle starts again.
Sure it does - it takes from
Submitted by amyshulk on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 7:31pm.
Sure it does - it takes from the productive to fund the unions - what's not to like for a lib???
Ronald Reagan
Need or lack thereof for ...
Submitted by NL207 on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 7:32pm.
infrastructure spending is completely immaterial to the discussion. Obama has no more intention of spending any of this "Jobs Bill" money on infrastructure than he did the Stimulus. Obama is a liar and these hack journalists are giving him a pass.
The Dear Ruler could not care less about our infrastructure
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:09pm.
All he's looking to do is further pad his already sizable reelection slush fund.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
So Obama says“when you got
Submitted by Reaver on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:10pm.
So Obama says“when you got the AFL and the Chamber of Commerce agreeing on anything, that’s a sign that it’s a good idea,” and This Week says let’s get Trumka and Donahue together and do an entire segment on this. This segment should be listed as a campaign contribution from ABC to Obama 2012. And the only sign it is that when the government talks about throwing around money big business and big labor will both be standing there with their hands out saying me too.
His obsessive devotion
Submitted by Unsane on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:11pm.
If He is so deeply obsessed with infrastructure, why couldn't He have spared us and just ran for governor of IL?
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Building for the sake of building.....
Submitted by Ashrak on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:13pm.
leads to empty cities, just like China demonstrates with the couple baker's dozen it has built.
The mindless foolishness really has to stop.
Yeah, eminently sensible ...
Submitted by LibertyAtStake on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 8:33pm.
... to a STATIST.
d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”
Let's spend $10 trillion......
Submitted by GregE on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 9:29pm.
....on infrastructure. Replace every bridge in America with a brand spankin' new one.......
........made with Rearden Metal.
LOL
Submitted by Unsane on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 9:34pm.
I think Rearden Metal is better for the rails. Dagny would agree.
:o)
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
You mean no tritanium?
Submitted by drsamherman on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 9:41pm.
Could not resist the Star Trek reference.
Had the original series on local cable tonight.
It made a lot of sense in 2009, too . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 10:36pm.
. . . Remember when we were told the Stimulus was going to "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects? Less than 10% of the stimulus went to construction, and Obama confessed that there really was no such thing as shovel-ready. The rest went to increasing teachers' salaries, scientific studies about insect sex in Africa, etc.
But Amanpour is too intellectually shallow to think back two years and understand we're being sold the same dead parrot a second time.
Don't forget the
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 11:11pm.
Don't forget the sanctemonious and snide laughter that went along with the 'I guess the jobs weren't THAT shovel-ready'!!!
And don't forget about the pot-smoking, menstruating monkeys...............hell, I could've shown quite a few of them from around here, at 1/10 of the price!!!
The MSM has been very light on comparisons to . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 9:03am.
. . . the failed 2009 stimulus, as if removing the buzz words stimulus and shovel-ready have totally transformed the American Jobs Act into something promising.
In fact, the cynical principal purpose of this Act is not to stimulate the economy, but to maintain and expand the employment of government unionized jobs -- law enforcement, emergency services, educators.
The construction jobs, too, are union, as the companies that will get the contracts have to pay workers at union wages whether the workers are union members or not.
As that ridiculous sock puppet from Nevada Harry Reid explained: "The private sector is doing fine. It's time to focus on the government sector." This coming from a senator of the state that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.
The MSM generally fails to point out that we will have to borrow money to pay this bill this year, and borrow again next year to do the same, and the next . . .
Essentially, the Federal government is usurping the responsibilities of state and local government.
Why be against
Submitted by coin of the realm on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 11:55pm.
Job creation? More jobs means more demand followed by yet more jobs ...
This is a good thing that feeds on itself, not to mention the tax revenues generated.
Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws. Mayer Amschel Rothschild
coin
Submitted by kata on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 12:21am.
Give me 10 bucks then I'll pay you eight bucks to mow my lawn.
Silly coin of the realm
Submitted by Unsane on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 12:41am.
The government exist to protect people's property through violence and the threat of the application of violence. The government does not exist to be an employer.
It didn't work during the New Deal (oh, I'm sorry, New Deal programs cut unemployment to a miniscule 14%!) and it won't work now.
If you REALLY wanted job creation, have the government cut (or raise in some cases like GE's) corporate income taxes to 17%. No loopholes, no breaks, no nothing. Just bring in your earnings no matter where from as long as its legal and pay the government 17% of that and that's it.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Why be against job creation?
Submitted by ant on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 12:46am.
Good question. Go ask Obama why he is. American jobs, I mean. I already know Pelosi's answer, "Unemployment and food stamps are the best economic stimulus money can buy". But maybe you can ask her a follow-up like, "How's that workin' out?"
Our Shahinshah's fight to not have jobs
Submitted by Unsane on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 12:58am.
coin is clearly not too familiar with attempts by the government to prevent Boeing from hiring more American workers in SC via the NLRB. Among many other things.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
You're not kiddin'
Submitted by ant on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 1:19am.
"Among many other things" is a pretty long list, including things like raiding Gibson guitars, open borders and 'working papers' for illegals who find themselves in the US court system and drilling moratoriums (excluding Brazil, of course, where Soros looks to be rewarded handsomely by an investment of American tax-money made by Hussein Soetero). I guess we can't really blame coin, in a way, if he/she watches Network News, there is no way he/she's going to find out about these things.
BOEING...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 11:32am.
...Just reported that they have over 80,000 employees on the payroll in the state of Washington, the most since 1999...
I'm greedy
Submitted by Unsane on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 8:36pm.
...and if permitted to build planes in SC, they'll hire even more in WA. That's in Boeing's plans. Or, at least, it was until the NLRB came along.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Coin - of course it makes
Submitted by amyshulk on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 12:56am.
Coin - of course it makes sense, if you don't stop to look at the total picture. Speaking of which, picture a snake eating it's own tail, and then you will comprehend why this never worked, and never will.
Ronald Reagan
Wait a minute,
Submitted by killa37 on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 1:09am.
Wait a minute, realm.............let me think about this. The government passes a 'jobs bill', and sets out to create a bunch of jobs - on either taxed, borrowed, or printed money. And they hire their supporters (i.e. the unions and other 'chosen ones') to do the work, and award them the contracts. And, aside from doing the work at a very highly inflated price, these supporters also 'reimburse' the government and the REGIME in the form a large 'contributions'. And, all of these 'blue-collar' workers (of which I am one, but I am self-employed and work in the private sector) get paid their Davis-Bacon wages, or whatever they are getting............and they are taxed the usual rate - so I guess that you can call that 'tax revenue' being 'generated'. Except that the contract, the work, the payments, the materials, the kick-backs, the wages, AND the attendant taxes and payroll burden are being paid by either the REAL taxpayers, or by borrowed or printed money!!!
I'd say that you swerved into the truth when you said that it 'feeds on itself'.
And your second paragraph....................I have NO IDEA what the hell you are trying to say.
I've seen a couple of your posts lately............and I have to say that they remind me of your second paragraph.
No one is against job creation.
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 1:28pm.
No one is against "job creation." We will all fully support the creation of jobs in America, as soon as someone actually comes up with a real plan that will do that. Right now, things like this "jobs bill" won't create new jobs, unless you count the number of temporary jobs, of which the vast majority are voluntary (meaning unpaid) that Obama's campaign is "creating." There's no "jobs" in this "jobs bill." The best it can accomplish is to pay for the raises that union workers, like the "Teachers" and "First Responders" it is targeting, are "due" in the next 4 months. The best it can accomplish is stagnation. Are you willing to spend 400 BILLION dollars to promote stagnation?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Good morning coin
Submitted by cocodrie on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 11:38am.
It has worked out quite well for the countries that Obabble and his democrat henchmen sent our jobs to. Too bad america wasn't one of those countries. He screwed all 57 of our states.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
When ever I hear the words "shovel ready"...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 11:34am.
...it usually means that the cat box is full of you-know-what...
When ever I hear the words "shovel ready"...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 11:34am.
...it usually means that the cat box is full of you-know-what...