title:  Adviser Who Oversaw Obama’s Infrastructure Plan Blows IMMENSE Hole In Trump’s Plan
text: One of Trump s biggest campaign promises was to create jobs, and right now his plan is a massive, trillion-dollar infrastructure program. Sounds fantastic, right? Sure, it ll cost money, but it ll mean thousands of jobs and we get our crumbling infrastructure back into shape. Sweet!Or not, says former Obama adviser Ron Klain. Those trillions won t be poured directly into projects   they ll go to investors who then may or may not back needed infrastructure projects. Klain oversaw the implementation of President Obama s  Recovery Act  of 2009 and knows a thing or two about this, and he believes Trump s plan is actually a massive trap: Trump s plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors who back profitable construction projects. These projects (such as electrical grid modernization or energy pipeline expansion) might already be planned or even underway. There s no requirement that the tax breaks be used for incremental or otherwise expanded construction efforts; they could all go just to fatten the pockets of investors in previously planned projects. How bloody fantastic   more tax cuts for the rich. In other words, the plan may or may not create jobs for Americans. It may or may not actually give us the influx of dollars we need to repair our decaying infrastructure. It s a very pretty Mardi Gras mask placed over what s basically more government welfare for the rich and powerful.In fact, Klain points out that there s no guarantee that this will create jobs because there s no requirement that those dollars go to unfunded projects. He also says that it s not likely to go to projects that aren t profitable for investors, such as expanding and rebuilding water grids or repairing existing roads and bridges.These investors could see up to $85 billion apiece with which they have to do nothing. Without the necessary strings, those trillion dollars will effectively be flushed down the toilet while rich investors make themselves richer.And Democrats jumping on board with this plan are busy collecting their 30 pieces of silver. According to Klain, it didn t go so well for them when they backed either Ronald Reagan s or George W. Bush s tax cut plans because ultimately, those plans increased inequality and blew holes in the federal budget. Democrats sold themselves out on those plans, though, and they re selling out again on this one.Worse, though, Trump s infrastructure plan could actually open the door to Republicans who want to weaken things like wage protection and union representation for construction workers. Both of these will badly harm Americans, including, and perhaps especially, the white working class.Democrats are taking a lot of heat over an idea that they needed to focus far more heavily on white, rural America during the election, and some Democrats have jumped on the Trump train s infrastructure ideas and are calling it a  jobs plan.  Except it s not, and it will probably hurt the working class even more. At the bare minimum, it won t help them, and then they ll blame Democrats for it because reasons.They ll blame Democrats if Trump s infrastructure plan doesn t go through, too. In other words, Democrats can t win for losing, even though Trump is the cartoon villain who deserves to have this land squarely on his head like a piano or a giant anvil.Trump s setting us up for a trillion dollar failure. All he and the Republicans care about are enriching the already rich. Klain is right. This is a trap, and we need to beware.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images