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

[babylonsister]

Trump Is Selling a Privatization Scam, and Calling It an Infrastructure Plan
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.

The bait, promised by Trump at the White House event, is "cheaper, faster and safer travel." The switch, unmentioned at the event, is that Trump’s 2018 budget seeks to cut $175 million from the Essential Air Services program, which subsidizes air travel to remote areas, so that all regions of the country are guaranteed air access, even Hawaii and Alaska. If approved, Trump’s budget proposal would actually dismantle one feature of the current air travel infrastructure that serves rural Americans.

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http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-selling-privatization-scam-and-calling-it-infrastructure-plan?akid=15694.1068945.enL0UE&rd=1&src=newsletter1077960&t=10

[spanone]

1. here's the good news...there is no 'plan'.

Trump opens 'infrastructure week' without a plan, and calls for privatizing air traffic control

President Trump employed all the trappings traditionally reserved for signing major bills into law as he kicked off “infrastructure week” on Monday: the stately East Room full of dignitaries, a four-piece military band to serenade, celebratory handshakes and souvenir presidential pens for lawmakers, promises of “a great new era” and a “revolution” in technology.

Yet the documents Trump signed amid all the pomp were not new laws or even an executive order. They were routine letters to Congress, relaying support for a minimally detailed plan in Trump’s budget to transfer control of the nation’s air traffic control system to a private nonprofit group.

This was the ceremonial opening to Trump’s full week of infrastructure promotion, which is scheduled to include a speech along the Ohio River on Wednesday and a White House meeting with mayors and governors on Thursday.

But it was also the latest example of a pattern of the administration claiming to have sent Congress fully constructed policies when it has provided only facades — creating the appearance of substantive heft and legislative action even in cases where there is next to none.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-20170605-story.html

[Scurrilous]

2. K&R