We Need the American Jobs Plan

Hoping everyone is on board with President Biden's American Jobs Plan. Americans need it, America needs. Heck, look at Missouri alone. This is from USA Today, June 29, 2013. Missouri was ranked 10th worst, overall, in list of states with bad bridges.

Since 2011, Missouri may have made more strides fixing its bridges than almost any other state in the nation. Although 3,502 of its 24,072 bridges are structurally deficient, this is actually 640 fewer than in 2011. In St. Louis County, just 3.9% of the 865 bridges received a subpar grade. Those 58 bridges in need of repair carry an average of 789,000 vehicles per day. However, the bridges in many other parts of Missouri remain in a serious state of disrepair. In five counties, more than 30% of the bridges are structurally deficient. Phone your Senators, folks. Sure, they're Republicans and it likely won't matter but hey, we have to try.

On America's Corporate Taxes

"Don't listen to Republicans in Congress when they say corporate taxes are too high.

The United States collects less corporate taxes as a percentage of economic output than any other industrialized country." --Robert Reich @RBReich Support the Aemrican Jobs Plan. #Taxtherich

Two Important Pieces of Legislation Congress Should Pass

Presently, there are two big and important pieces of legislation we, America, should pass. First, President Biden's American Jobs Plan Next up, the For the People Act. So important and great for Americans and America. Contact your Congressional representatives, folks! Tell them to support these 2 important pieces of legislation! Thank you in advance!

Fantastic News for the Nation, for the People Today!

Yes sir and ma'am! Check out this fantastic news today: Record number of people now identifying as Democrats while GOP backing slumps. A double whammy of good news.

Democrats up, Republicans, understandably, down. More: The nine-point boost to Democrats is the largest since 2012. And the thing is, the Republicans are, thank goodness, doing it to themselves. They have wildly unpopular ideas for our people and nation and then, those ideas and the political party are so bad, so poor, so unpopular, they want to do all they can to disenfranchse us, keep us from voting or being able to vote, fellow taxpaying citiaens just so they can either get or stay in government office.

Fantastic, I tell you. Excellent. There are nothing but good words for these developments. Good on you, Americans, America. You can see these people for just precisely who and what they are. Kudos, y'all. Keep up the great, great work. Oh, and end vote suppression. And the filibuster---end the filibuster.Then, support the For the People Act and the American Jobs Plan. Let's do this! All of it!

Perfect Example of Republican Party Strategy

For Republicans, perhaps especially Kentucky's Senator Mitch McConnell, it's always political party first and last. Forget the people, the nation, even Democracy, literally, at different times. Herewith, an excellent example.

Here's hoping our own Senators Blount and Hawley don't follow this example when it comes to President Biden's American Jobs Plan but I believe they are planning to vote against it.

We Need to Tax the Rich -- Here's Why

Yes, we need to tax the rich. Robert Reich spells out why and then how, too. This would be an excellent way to support and fix our infrastructure. Just look around the city, at, say, Ward Parkway, Wornall Road, 63rd Street, all across town and you can see how and where we need this. Let's do this, America.

Missouri's Sad State of Infrastructure

I've written about Missouri's sad state of infrastructure here before. Our roads and streets and bridges, not just here in Kansas City but statewide.

It seems clear, with Republican-led government, on the state or national level, either one, we--read: they--just don't want to fund the basics like education or, again, infrastructure. Millions and billions for perpetual war in foreign countries but far too little for our own nation.

So along comes this study:

Bridge safety: It'll take More Than 80 Years to Repair the 47,000 Structurally Deficient Bridges in America, Report Finds

Check out these statistics from the article:

More than 47,000 bridges in the United States are in crucial need of repairs, says the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, or ARTBA. The group, which advocates for investment in transportation infrastructure, analyzes data from the Federal Highway Administration and releases an annual Deficient Bridge report.

This year's report, released Monday and based on 2018 data, found:

• There are 616,087 bridges in America
• Of those, 47,052 (nearly 8%) are "structurally deficient" and need urgent repairs
• 235,020 bridges (38%) need some sort of repair
• Americans cross structurally deficient bridges 178 million times a day, including such landmarks as the Brooklyn Bridge and the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge over the San Francisco Bay
• The average age of a structurally deficient bridge is 62 years

Now, check out our own state of Missouri’s ranking in all this.

The states with the highest number of compromised bridges are:

Iowa (4,675)
Pennsylvania (3,770)
Oklahoma (2,540)
Illinois (2,273)
Missouri (2,116)

We're one of the worst, one of the top 5 states with bridges in poor repair in the nation.

Meanwhile, this is our current status:

“President Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to upgrade America's crumbling infrastructure. Even though some Democratic leaders have expressed a willingness to work with him on a plan, little progress has been made on the issue.”

We need to demand more, much more from our legislators, in Jefferson City and Washington, both.

We've been in Afghanistan, either blowing things up or building schools for 18 years.

Even Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has pointed this out.

Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma Says the US Wasted Trillions On Warfare Instead of Investing In Infrastructure

What part of that makes sense?

Let's get back to taking care of the important things.

At home.

We can't be strong over there if we're weak over here.

Links:

Falling apart: America's neglected infrastructure - CBS News

Why do Republicans really oppose infrastructure spending?

Stupid State Republicans

Once again, a bunch of mostly all white, old men, Right Wingers, Republicans, all got together, in spite of their claims of being "small government" advocates and ruled one more time against women's and couple's individual reproductive rights. This time, it was out of our own Jefferson City.

New Abortion Restrictions Head To Missouri Governor's Office

And they spent yet more state money in special session to do it, "Conservatives" that they are.

Are the roads and bridges and highways and sewers and all our infrastructure fixed?

No!

Is I-70, from Illinois on the East, all through the state, to Kansas on the West, upgraded and improved and modernized and made safe?

Again, no.

Is our own Missouri Department of Transportation, MoDoT, fully funded and functioning?

Absolutely not.

But are women and couples' private, personal, again, reproductive rights yet more limited even though, as we know, abortion is legal and has been since 1973?

YES!!

And they spent yet more state money, that they say we don't have, to do it!

For them?

SUCCESS!

I've said it before but why any woman would vote Republican is beyond me. Far beyond me. Well, unless she's a Right Wing, "Christian", anti-abortion zealot, of course.

But then, why any Black person, Hispanic, Latino, gay, physically-challenged or elderly person would vote Republican also baffles me completely. (Unless that elderly person is already filthy, stinking rich, of course. Then I think they have to vote Republican, don't they? Isn't that a law?).

Keeping in mind, this is also the state political party that just voted lower wages for Missourians into law, too.

Yay, us.

Link:

Missouri legislature sends right-to-work bill to Gov. Eric Greitens

Republicans, Ignoring Our Infrastructure

Dave Helling, at our own Kansas City Star, penned a terrific, maybe even important article in the paper yesterday about our government representatives and their seemingly complete ignoring of our infrastructure.

While Washington fiddles, Kansas City’s infrastructure crumbles

A little from the article:

This spring, Kansas City voters agreed to raise their taxes to pay for bridge and street improvements over the next 20 years.

Now those same voters are contemplating a $1 billion proposal to build a new airport terminal. Jackson County may soon consider a $300 million jail project. The Buck O’Neil Bridge may need a $150 million upgrade. Multibillion-dollar water and sewer repairs are underway.

It’s a familiar tale: Crumbling infrastructure, ignored for far too long, must be repaired or replaced at enormous cost.

Kansas City isn’t the only city facing these problems, of course. It’s almost a cliche: Harbors, the electric grid, highways, rail transit and water systems across the nation are falling apart more rapidly than ever.

In March, the American Society of Civil Engineers claimed the U.S. must spend $4.6 trillion by 2025 to make needed repairs to dams, highways, airports and other public facilities.

How did we get in this mess? The answer seems obvious: Repairs that should have been finished years ago were delayed or dismissed, the victim of anti-government, anti-tax fervor.

To govern is to choose, and some projects necessarily had to wait. Not everything can be built at once.

But costs never go down. Each year of delay means more expensive streets and sewers and jails and airports, as Kansas Citians know all too well.

As usual and ever, Mr. Helling is so right. Republicans in Congress, specifically, have been making sure all through the Obama years that little or no money was spent on infrastructure for fear that--gasp--the economy might improve under someone other than a Republican in the White House. Other than hating government spending of all kinds, they're no excuse to not spend on our infrastructure now.

CBS News and their "60 Minutes" program did a terrific segment on it. It was 3 years ago, in 2014.

Falling apart: 

America's neglected infrastructure

What Mr. Helling didn't go into in the article, no doubt due to space limitations, was that it's also Republicans in our own Missouri statehouse in Jefferson City that are keeping us from repairing, improving and modernizing our infrastructure, specifically our highways and bridges.

And sure, very Republican, Right Wing, "tow the line" Senator Roy Blunt has given infrastructure spending some verbal support now and then but to date, nothing from him or Congress or his political party. The following is from 2015.

Senator Blunt Gives Lip Service to Our Infrastructure and the Work It Needs

The fact is, there is no finer or better example of needing infrastructure work and spending than right here in Missouri. Take this, for starters. It's from 2015.

MoDOT: 600 Missouri bridges 

are in poor to serious condition

In the meantime, MoDoT hasn't been able to do much but "catch up" work, the barest of upkeep on our bridges because of Republicans lack of work in Jefferson City on this issue.

Then there is our statewide Interstate 70. It, too, is a perfect example but for both the state and nation.

Our I-70, running as it does all across the state, from the Illinois border on the East to the Kansas border on the West and right through Columbia, is old, outdated, neglected and literally dangerous.

Missouri home to 4 of nation's 

deadliest highways

It's so big a story and subject, it's even gone international

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma says 

the US wasted trillions on warfare instead of 

investing in infrastructure

Besides the fact that they are, we are, neglecting our infrastructure, making travel more dangerous and even difficult, to put off the repairs only costs us more, later, when we finally do fix the roads and bridges and highways and sewer systems, etc.

Then there's the fact that improved infrastructure helps business, helps commerce. It makes that business easier to conduct because we're more productive, we can travel easier and with less cost. It also naturally helps leisure travel, driving up business.

Then there's the fact that this kind of infrastructure spending reverberates through the economy, through the nation, creating jobs as well as generating new and more business.

Invest in Infrastructure to Boost Jobs 

and the Economy

There have been studies on it, too, of course, on infrastructure spending.

Every $1 Of Infrastructure Spending 

Boosts The Economy By $2

For our safety, for jobs, for growing business, for a growing economy, all, at the very least, there is every reason in the world to boost infrastructure spending both in Washington, at the Federal level, as well as in Jefferson City, on the state level.

Now I'm just hoping our local PBS station, KCPT, gets a bunch of middle-aged and older, Right Wing white men together on one of their weekly news programs to discuss it.

Links:

No urgency on I-70 from anywhere

Inaction from Jeff City

A desperate note to our representatives 

in Washington and Jefferson City

Senator Blunt Said WHAT???

The Insanity of Not Funding Our Highways and Infrastructure

No expansion projects for the next five years, says MoDOT

Pressure Building for the Nation's Infrastructure--

and Maybe for the People

America's rotting empire: Billionaires galore 

and a crumbling infrastructure

Austerity and why we need a jobs bill from Congress

Austerity Won't Work if the Roof Is Leaking

What Will It Take to Get Congress to Give Us an Infrastructure Bill?

MoDOT: 600 Missouri bridges are in poor to serious condition

I-70 Westbound Lane Closed After Crews Find Crack In Bridge Beam

Missouri Roads Face Funding Crisis

Congress Chooses Austerity Over Job Creation and Economic Growth

It's the Austerity, Stupid: How We Were Sold an Economy-Killing Lie

Why we need a jobs/infrastructure bill from this Congress

Question for Republicans in 2017

A question now, for Republicans in Washington, D.C., now that you're got the President-elect (I still shudder, thinking about that one) and both the Senate and House of Representatives.

You famously, publicly declared a policy of blocking and obstructing our twice-elected President from getting anything done, from getting any of his goals achieved while he was in office.

Fortunately, through hard work and time, we still got things done for the people, not least of which was the ACA, "Obamacare" and a list of others.

Now that you will have control of virtually all of Washington, are you going to make our government work, in general?

More specifically, are you finally, at long last, going to write, propose and pass a jobs/infrastructure bill in the coming year?

Our infrastructure needs the updating and improving and modernization and sorely, as we all know.

Additionally, the nation, we Americans, need the jobs and heaven knows the economy needs the boost.

Since it will now be on "your watch" and any success on your hands, are you going to work together and get this done?

Sure, we know you want to dismantle Obamacare and the EPA and other programs. (It would be nice if you'd dismantle the Republican boondoggle called Homeland Security you all created during the George W. Bush adminstration).

But could you, would you, will you now, at long, long last give us this jobs/infrastructure bill, please?

It's the least you can do, it's positive and it would and will help the nation in at least the 3 ways I described above.

Please. We're begging you. Do this one, big, great thing.

On This Republican Congress--And This Coming Election

Meanwhile, Back In Washington

As this Republican Congress is STILL out on vacation.

Congress Actually Does Something

I see that, today, from an post on Senator Roy Blunt's Facebook page, he's congratulating himself and our other Senator Claire McCaskill, for getting something done in Congress this week.

Blunt-McCaskill Bill to Make Ste. Genevieve a National Park

Great. Another National Park. In an election year. A National Park that, next year, when the election is over, Republicans won't fund. 

$11.49 Billion Park Service 

Maintenance Backlog

Meanwhile, the Senators and all of Congress are about to go on a 7 week "recess." 

Read: vacation.

But have they worked on the national budget we need?

I doubt it.

And one thing they absolutely HAVE NOT worked on, nor will, is an infrastructure/ jobs bill for the nation.

Sure, our nation's infrastructure--our roads, bridges and highways, at minimum--have been underfunded and neglected and ignored now for some years and they all need repairing and improving and updating but are the Republicans in Congress going to give America and Americans an infrastructure/jobs bill?

Oh, heck no.

Forget that we need all those repairs and updates. Forget that I-70 is an unrepaired, far-too-narrow dangerous threat of a main artery that cuts across our state. Forget that Americans need the jobs. Forget that the economy could use the boost. Forget that it would make Americans safer in our travel. Forget that it could make even business easier to make happen. Finally, forget that improved infrastructure actually makes the nation stronger, healthier while war spending, Defense spending is money down a rat hole that weakens us.

What's important is that the Republicans in Congress, in the Federal and state governments, too, across the nation, take care of themselves and their own offices and their own sources for campaign contributions first, and Americans and America, second, if even then.

It's Republican Party first, make no mistake.

I love how they call it "recess", too.  Note they don't call it vacation. Can you imagine if you had a job where you had multiple times off work, that you created yourself, and one of them was seven---count 'em, 7---weeks long?

We should be so lucky.

And we Americans tolerate this nonsense.

Links:  Lawmakers to go on recess without addressing Zika

US Congress Preps for Long Recess

Congress to take months-long recess with no action on gun control

Congress eyes the exits in dash to recess

How Republicans Run Governments

This, ladies and gentlemen, though only from a statehouse, Missouri's Jefferson City, shows precisely how Republicans "run government."

No money to repair Missouri's bridges can mean closures

The fact is, they don't legislate and they don't do their jobs, these Republicans.

MoDOT says it doesn’t have the money to fix or replace hundreds of bridges around the state — including the Lincoln County structure — meaning some spans must be closed rather than risk carrying traffic.

But the cash-strapped state agency is still paying off debt it assumed for a round of bridge work a few years ago and says new funding sources must be found to make the necessary repairs and replacements.

Already, three bridges statewide have been shut down indefinitely since the beginning of last year. And 641 — 50 more than a year ago — of MoDOT’s roughly 10,400 bridges have been determined to be in critical condition, the lowest ranking a bridge can earn before being shut down...

That list is expected to grow to 1,500 in the next decade. It currently includes 36 bridges in St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson counties, as well as in the city of St. Louis.

The same thing is taking place nationally, with the Federal Government, in Washington:

Highway funds in jeopardy as House and 

Senate differ

And since 2008, when a certain President was elected to the White House, nary a jobs/infrastructure bill in sight.

The State of the Nation and World

Kim Jong Un and North Korea are threatening South Korea with attack.

China's economy is in freefall.

The Dow dropped nearly 1000 points the last 2 days.

The Mexican peso--in next door Mexico, of course--just hit a record low against the US dollar.

Wealth inequality in America is getting worse by the year with the already-wealthy getting richer and the middle and lower classes getting poorer.

Greece just nearly avoided a total bankruptcy of the nation.

Our infrastructure is falling apart.

Our Highway Fund needs funding from Congress.

All this and a lot more but Donald Trump and his disconnected, childish, really, musings on America and the world put him, somehow, somehow, "most popular" right now, number one in the polls of Republican candidates for president in next year's election.

This is no way to run a country.

The Insanity of Not Funding Our Highways and Infrastructure

Right now, neither our own Missouri state legislature nor our national, Federal, Congressional legislature are funding the maintenance, repair and improvements of our infrastructure--our highways, etc. This just broke in the last week:

No expansion projects for the next five years, says MoDOT

No Missouri Department of Transportation expansion projects, such as new lanes, interchanges or bridges, are planned over the next five years. That represents a first in the department’s history, the result of a bleak funding outlook.

The belt-tightening comes as MoDOT braces for lean years after the death of a gasoline tax hike in the Legislature and rejection by voters of a sales tax increase that would have provided about $5.4 billion over 10 years for roads and bridges as well as ports, railways and public transit.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission this month approved MoDOT’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program report, which covers plans for fiscal years 2016 to 2020.

Steve Miller, chairman of the commission, said in a post on MoDOT’s website Monday that the plan is a “glimpse to a future that no Missourian should want.”

He also said the first contract awards of the new fiscal year, which began this month, were the lowest in memory and bad for Missouri contractors, who are now seeking work in our neighboring states with brighter prospects.

But wait. It gets better. worse.

Some contractors already are leaving the road business to focus on railroad work, or leaving the state entirely, said Len Toenjes, president of the Associated General Contractors of Missouri.

“Our folks are at their wits’ end with what’s happening, or not happening, in Jefferson City and are going to work elsewhere,” he said.

Without any growth in state revenue, Missouri will not be able to match available federal transportation funds by fiscal year 2017. Missouri can match $1 of state funds with $4 of federal funds.

Then it gets downright stupid:

MoDOT has reduced its workforce by 20 percent, disposed of more than 750 pieces of equipment and sold 124 facilities since 2011 for savings of more than $605 million, the department said.

MoDOT estimates that $885 million of federal reimbursements in fiscal year 2016 will drop to $491 million in fiscal year 2020 due to declining construction because of “insufficient state revenues.”

By 2018, the state could lose $400 million in federal funds, even though Missourians will still be paying federal gasoline taxes that won’t fund Missouri projects.

We're turning away money. We're turning away, then, Federal dollars because we don't keep up our end of the investment bargain. And at the same time, we're paying into the "Federal pot" but not able to take what we should back out of it.

To whom but Right Wing, "Conservative" Republicans does this make sense?

And this is just on the state level. For anyone following highway funding on the Federal level, in Washington, we know there, too, the Right Wing Republicans, just like our Missouri representatives, are blocking any increase in this funding. It's ridiculous. And this on top of the fact that gasoline costs are at their lowest in years. This should make their job of raising these funds, the gas tax, all the easier. But then, these are Republicans.

They haven't raised the gas tax in years--since 1992--we drive less, as a nation, than we used so that also shrinks the fund and we need more and more repair and updates to our highways and infrastructure. It's insane. It's certainly fiscally irresponsible.

Think about this, too.

If Congress, in Washington, were to pass a good, reasonable gas tax, as they ought, so we can get money to and in the Highway Fund and then were to pass a good, true, workable, comprehensive jobs/infrastructure bill---translated: DO THEIR JOBS---we could give more Americans jobs and get more Americans to work, improve our infrastructure and boost the economy, all three. Three total, huge wins. For anyone and anywhere else, this would be a no-brainer. But then we're dealing with Right Wingers. And Republicans. And people who don't want this president to be successful.

So screw you, America. You have to wait.

You have to wait until there's a Republican back in the White House.

If even then.

God forbid.

Links:  Mo Rage: No urgency on I-70 from anywhere

 Falling apart: America's neglected infrastructure - CBS News

Why Congress Can't Solve America's Infrastructure Crisis

The Race to Rebuild America's Infrastructure 

Quote of the Day -- On Paths Forward

This, Out of Jefferson City, Is Inexcusable

I saw this article and link yesterday, online:

Legislative session came — and went — with no highway fix

One of the most important things our state legislators at the state capitol needed to do this last session, the one just ended, was to have found some way to fund and pay for the infrastructure work and repairs we need all across this state on all our roads, bridges and highways.

They didn't touch it.

It's made all the worse by the fact that the Federal Government in Washington is playing the same seeming fiddle they are.

Leaving the Highway Trust Fund High and Dry

Congress has bought the U.S. two more months of highway funding – through the end of July. Just like last summer, Congress has left major uncertainty about federal funding for our nation’s highway system for debate during the height of the summer travel season.

We need about $50 billion a year to maintain the nation’s highways, but the main revenue source for that maintenance, the federal gas tax, hasn’t been increased even to adjust for inflation since 1993. Currently it brings in about $34 billion a year, leaving a major funding shortfall.

So each year, Congress finds itself passing short term stop gap measures. Each year, this process takes time and attention from other matters. Since 2008 alone, Congress has enacted 33 temporary fixes for the highway fund.

Proposals exist for more permanent solutions, but despite the seeming common sense of raising the gas tax after more than twenty years, lawmakers each year choose to continue underinvestment and uncertainty for our nation’s infrastructure. It’s part of a larger pattern of underinvestment in infrastructure, and we can do better.

And we've known we've needed these repairs and updates for years. We know we can't have good, smooth roads and bridges without upkeep. Nothing works like that, let alone our thoroughfares.

More on what needs to be done:

CBO: Highway Trust Fund would need $3 billion through Sept. 30

Adding to the insanity of the current situation is that with gasoline prices having dropped so precipitously in the last year or two, it surely seems easy and clear that we should maybe add at least some, a bit, to our gas tax as a way to pay for it all. Gasoline has gone from over $4 per gallon 2 years ago to now just over $2 per gallon. Surely we can agree there's some room in there to raise the gas tax--it hasn't been raised since 1993, for pity's sake--so we can fund our transportation repairs.

America used to work. We used to be able to do things. We used to be able to do these things. It's how we built our national highway system. It's also how we built a thriving middle class and a strong, even robust economy.

Sure, the Republicans stand in the way of tax increases but we have to find a way forward on this issue and, of course, others.

Our choices are to start having our  roads, bridges and freeways become toll roads--no one likes those-- or we can continue to let them fall apart.

Surely we can all agree we don't want to be that kind of nation and people.

We need to get our legislators to act, on the state and federal levels, both.

Congress Needs to Undo "Offshoring" Profits

For anyone who's paid attention, we know companies can make profits here in the US, in their home country, and then legally "offshore" that profit, those profits and end up not paying taxes on them.

It's disgusting.

It's certainly unpatriotic. And deeply ungrateful, for that matter.

Sure, the leaders of the corporations give great, wide and long lip service to ours being "the greatest nation on Earth" and then they do this, offshore profits.

It's the lowest of the low.

Unfortunately, again, because of "campaign contributions", the leaders of these corporations slipped their Congressional representatives--you know, OUR representatives--a little money, sometimes as low as, say, $5000, and voila! They got this as law, making it legal.

It's insane and stupid and certainly fiscally irresponsible on everyone's part.

The subject came up again Sunday in the New York Times in a short article in the business section:

Piles of Overseas Profits Investors Can See 

but Not Touch

It has become a $2 trillion question. Why don’t companies have to make clear exactly how much of their profits are generated offshore each year and not taxed in this country? Why must investors engage in jujitsu to estimate these figures and the risks associated with them?

Companies, like individuals, do everything they can to minimize their tax bills. And as long as it is legal to do so, companies that book profits in overseas jurisdictions with beneficial tax treatments are perfectly within their rights to keep those earnings out of Uncle Sam’s clutches as long as they can.

The problem is, accounting rules don’t require a company to record a deferred income tax liability on these profits, as long as it says it intends to reinvest earnings in the foreign jurisdiction where they were generated. So the money piles up, contributing mightily to reported corporate profits.

Untaxed foreign earnings disclosed by companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index last year climbed to more than $2.1 trillion, according to Jack Ciesielski, president of R.G. Associates and editor of The Analyst’s Accounting Observer.

Last year, Mr. Ciesielski said, 322 of these companies generated $182.4 billion offshore, an estimated 19 percent of their total net income.

We need to push our representatives in Congress, for starters, to take these laws off the books. It should no longer be legal to offshore profits.

It's not as though this would be a true increase in their taxes paid. This offshoring is just a big, ugly shell game and it cheats America, it cheats Americans.

How else do they have access to what are supposed to be the world's biggest and best markets if they don't help pay for the infrastructure we all need for it to function?

Yes, it's long since time we need to undo these offshoring tax laws. 

It can't be undone soon enough.

Please contact your members of Congress. Tell them to make offshoring corporate profits illegal:

Contacting the Congress: A Citizen's Congressional Directory

Senator Blunt Gives Lip Service to Our Infrastructure and the Work It Needs

I saw this, earlier this week, on our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt's official page:

              Stop right there! There will be no jobs bill.

Senators Blunt, Casey Continue Working To Support Bridges, in Need of Repair in MIssouri and Nationwide

I almost choked.

Not once in the last 7 years has ANY Republican in Congress, in either house, written, proposed or attempted to pass a true, good, strong, helpful jobs/infrastructure bill. Not once. Not one. 

Not one Republican representative, not one bill.

Now, Senator Blunt is trying to rewrite short-term history by saying something different--the opposite, in fact.

Senator Blunt supports infrastructure work like he and his political party show support for our nation's Veterans. Proof? This is from February, last year, 2014:

U.S. Senate Republicans block veterans' 

health bill

And this is from just this last December:

GOP senator blocks veterans' suicide 

prevention bill

The thing is, they don't.

Here's the truth on the infrastructure/jobs bill they could be writing and proposing and that should already, long ago, have been done:

Republicans Have Passed 0 Jobs Bills During Their First 138 Days Running Congress

In their first 138 days in control of Congress, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have passed zero jobs bills. Instead, Republicans passed budgets that would give big tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.

All the while, our infrastructure is famously/infamously, it's known, is crumbling and needs updating and improving.

On top of that, as if that weren't enough, Americans need the jobs.

On top of that, all that, the economy needs the boost. We all know all this.

But Republicans?

They'll be damned if they'll have this nation have a successful, thriving economy while they're not in the White House. Nation be damned.

Meanwhile, there's this, not coincidentally:

And who can blame us?

But screw you, America, the Republicans are clearly saying. They're going to do their damnedest to make sure there's no such jobs or infrastructure bill--or good economy--unless or until a Republican is back in the White House.

God and heaven forbid.

I would love to have them prove me and this wrong--and as soon as possible.

Don't bet on it.