Bernie Sanders Drops A Bombshell Report That Exposes Trumps Infrastructure Scam

[babylonsister]

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/07/bernie-sanders-drops-bombshell-report-exposes-trumps-infrastructure-scam.html

Bernie Sanders Drops A Bombshell Report That Exposes Trump’s Infrastructure Scam

By Jason Easley on Wed, Jun 7th, 2017 at 12:36 pm


As the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has released a report that exposes Trump’s infrastructure plan as a scam designed to benefit Wall Street.

The report exposes how Trump’s infrastructure plan actually cuts infrastructure funding:


Under Trump’s proposal, billionaires on Wall Street, wealthy campaign contributors and even foreign governments would receive hundreds of billions in tax breaks to purchase our highways, airports and water treatment plants. They would then be allowed to impose huge new tolls and fees on the backs of American commuters and homeowners.

The reality is that Trump’s plan to sell off our nation’s highways, bridges and other vital infrastructure to Wall Street, private investors, and foreign governments is an old idea that does not work. Trump’s plan to rebuild America relies heavily on the use of public-private partnerships to finance infrastructure projects with private equity capital. Such financing, whether through private equity or traditional tax-exempt municipal bonds, is repaid by ordinary citizens through a combination of taxes and user fees.

Private equity financing is markedly more expensive than traditional government financing, however – by as much as three to six times. Considering the scale of infrastructure development under consideration, that difference could be enormous. For example: the charge for a $100 million-dollar investment using traditional government bond financing (at 3 percent, over 30 years) is about $90 million. For private equity capital, at a 15 percent return, the total skyrockets to $450 million.

Trump’s infrastructure plan is to cut real infrastructure spending while giving tax cuts to corporations and billionaires so that they can buy the nation’s infrastructure and profit off of it with tolls and fees. Once the infrastructure is privatized, the new owners will be motivated to keep expenses down and profit up. The easiest way to accomplish this goal would be to spend less on the maintenance of roads and bridges while charging user fees to all.

Sen. Sanders said, “Donald Trump wants to hand over critical public infrastructure to private investors who will squeeze profits from the American people by putting up new tolls and exorbitant user fees. That is unacceptable. We shouldn’t be selling off our infrastructure to billionaires to make huge profits on the backs of working people.”



Trump’s plan is a con. Sen. Sanders and his report make an important point. While the Russia scandal consumes the bulk of the national spotlight, Trump is continuing his efforts to use the presidency to make the wealthiest Americans ever richer.

[nolabear]

1. First time a bridge collapses due to cost cutting measures there's going to be hell.

Privatization of prisons, schools, all of the things governments have maintained and had regulations regarding have gone down in quality.

[bluecollar2]

5. hasn't stopped privatisation from happening though

I know of no previously privatised entity that has been returned to public ownership.

[progressoid]

6. I wish that were true.

I'm afraid too many Americans are blinded by their faith in their GOP cult to see what's really happening.

[Kentonio]

13. All that would happen is they'd say 'This company is terrible! Let's find a better company!'.

Same old, same old..

[furtheradu]

2. Thank You for this post!

Don't want it to get lost in all the crazy goin on!

[disillusioned73]

3. Agreed..

this Comey thing is about go bananas..

Read his statement earlier..

[smirkymonkey]

4. K&R and Bookmarked!

[trueblue2007]

7. IS THIS LEGAL ?????

[babylonsister]

8. I don't know but I don't think

too many people will agree with this 'plan'. It's still all about the benjamins, not the infrastructure.

[lostnfound]

12. It's been done before - "The Shock Doctrine" outlines how. "Austerity plans" coming our way.

Create a shock and/or major distractions, rewrite the country's economic basis and eliminate its social safety net, so corporations buy up public assets at distressed prices and people are powerless to fight on so many fronts.

[NCjack]

9. Privatization of infrastructure would complete the conversion

of America's middle-class to debtor slaves.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

10. Why Bernie is "Da Man"!!! Keep tellin' it like it is Senator!!!

[beam me up scottie]

11. Kicked and highly recommended!

Keep up the resistance, Bernie!

[LAS14]

14. K & R - really important. Hope the media does something with this. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

15. One Not To Pick

The 15% yield on private equity funding seems a made up number
Far too high vs. current financing models and cost of capital
Other than that, I believe this needs to be highly publicized as the scam it is