Trump Is Selling a Privatization Scam, and Calling It an Infrastructure Plan (AlterNet)

Scorning serious proposals, the White House offers a Trump University plan for employment.
By Jefferson Morley / AlterNet
June 5, 2017, 3:45 PM GMT

President Trump’s original proposal for a $1 trillion infrastructure jobs plan was, in principle, a worthy idea, a practical way to create jobs and improve the country’s highways, bridges, railways, and airports. In reality, Trump’s jobs agenda is a sham that does not involve a trillion dollars, won't do much for the country's infrastructure and won’t create many jobs.

That became obvious Monday during the first installment of what the Trump White House billed as “infrastructure” week: a televised event designed to look like a signing ceremony. Before the cameras, the president made only a very modest proposal calling on Congress to split air traffic control away from the Federal Aviation Administration and place it under a private, non-governmental entity. Trump made a show of signing two documents as if they were legislative bills or executive orders. In fact, they were merely statements of “legislative principles,” according to the White House.

Trump's still-vague proposal bears all the marks of a large-scale bait and switch sales pitch like the one Trump perfected in sellling fraudulent enterprises like the now-defunct Trump University to unsuspecting consumers.

The Bait

The bait was the trillion-dollar figure, which suggested Trump would launch a massive effort that could have real stimulating effect on a $13 trillion-a-year economy. The switch is found in a fact sheet distributed by the White House. Trump’s 2018 budget involved the expenditure of no more than $200 billion toward the goal of infrastructure jobs.

The bait was that Trump’s plan would be new. The switch is that his privatization proposal recycles an old idea, opposed by Democrats and Republicans alike.
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more: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-selling-privatization-scam-and-calling-it-infrastructure-plan


Not too long an article, but informative on the details.