Barney Frank gave Rachael a great question to ask any Republican that would come on her show

"If Government Spending to build a new bomber is considered providing jobs and stimulating the economy, why is Government Spending on a new bridge not considered providing jobs?"

Duh

spending is permanent because the product is immediately destined for destruction.

That seems pretty damn obvious to me.

Whereas construction can take years for infrastructure that we sorely need done.

Airframes last a long time. Both roads and planes require continued maintenance.

Bombs OK, Roads are not

"Road Bombs"

It provides (Rethug) weapons dealers with jobs and stimulates (Rethug) wealthy economies like Halliburton, Blackwell etc...

Those durn bridges only help the poor regular folks so that's not stimulating the "real" economy that "really" matters. There's 1 economy for the rich, and another economy for the poor. And only the rich economy matters to the Rethugs.

And really! Once you've fixed "that" bridge, "that" project is done so ... no more stimulus and thus it's not self-perpetuating like building bombers and makin' war ("no, no! don't look at any of those other bridges everywhere that are crumbling! Must narrowly focus...!")

Govt spending for a bridge doesn't... and likely gives jobs to union workers.

No contracts, no campaign $$$$$

manufacturing military stuff that gets blown up or wasted vs. building stuff that improves our trade and commerce and communities and standard of living and forestalls worldwide depression 2.0?

I've recently been looking at my life through a 100 year lens. I realized that the idyllic baby boomer post war years of my youth were the aberration. The prosperity of middle class was the way I thought it had always been. Not so. Not so. Think what working life in America must have been like before the union movement in the thirties!

Remember the movie "Sea Biscuit", where the economically segregated racetrack was pointed out because the trainer could not be in the same area as the wealthy owner. Or the tiered by class decks of the Titanic. Thats what American life has been like for most Americans until the aberrant rise of the middle class post WW2.

A main factor in our post war Happy Days prosperity was that our world competitors had been wiped off the map. We were the only game in town and we invented mass production. We blew their frigging doors in. But, we've seen that turn in the last 30 years or so (what a coincidence, right at the beginning of Reaganomics!) to our war time enemies cleaning our clocks economically. Lots and lots and lots of reasons for that.

NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS:

We mandated Germany and Japan become a nation of pacifists, with no army or munitions industries. We were their protectors with our military!!!! So they have less defense spending than us, and we spend extra to also defend them! We don't spend more than the rest of the world combined on the military for nothing!

Doesn't it seem that balancing that back would make a country just go out and have tiny, easily winnable wars every now and then just to keep the prosperity going? OR the War profiteering? Do we want to "share the wealth" by middle class prosperity, or concentrate the wealth, which tends to result in military industrial congressional complexes that need war to perpetuate themselves. Make everybody happy and thrive or make more gated communities borne by the exploitation of masters degree level wage slaves?

just wondering. connect my dots. lick my decals off baby.

-90% Jimmy

and war projects, it's the same rich greedy republican fat cats who own these companies, who get the government contracts...along with the workers jobs for these projects being non union.

A bridge (and roads) will no doubt be built by union workers, republicans do NOT want to see any expansion of unions...and what the fuck do republicans care about roads & bridges for workers & everyday people.

Republicans want that government money (all government money) to go to them & their non union corporations and military contracts these republican corporations live off the government and our taxes....yet the republicans point the finger at social programs because these greedy republicans pigs want it all for their corporations, fuck sharing any of our tax dollars with the workers!

Everything he says makes complete sense.

He has this stuff figured out. We are lucky he is on our side.

Don

Yuch!