12ft | https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...al-investment-red-state-beneficiaries/674633/ This so far is Biden’s Biggest accomplishment and in my mind overwhelms any of his policy negative. The infrastructure bill, inflation reduction act and chips act are transforming America. This is what government is supposed to do, and it has been a long time since it has done this.
Interesting that Biden is refusing to play politics and instead doing what is best for the country in spite of the lack of recognition and appreciation from the right. From the article: Many Democrats see that as an important economic commitment and a powerful political argument. But portions of the party are grumbling that the administration is not showing enough concern as companies steer so much of the investment triggered by the new federal incentives toward Republican-leaning states and counties. That concern is rooted partly in the belief that voters in those places are unlikely to credit Biden for promoting new factories and facilities or to punish Republicans who have opposed the incentives that made them possible. An even larger complication may be the fact that many of these new jobs are moving into states where workers have historically received lower wages and benefits than in the more heavily unionized blue states. “They are sending the money to the states with the lowest worker protections, lower worker standards,” Michael Podhorzer, the former longtime political director of the AFL-CIO, told me. “It’s putting pressure on blue-state employers to lower their standards to be competitive.”
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The prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules in the IRA are good. I wish there was more like that in economic bills. TBD if these investments translate to real wage increases relative to inflation.
the laws are creating massive new investment, creating jobs and pissing off unions. What’s not to like?
