Your Opinion: Biden's spending plan

Mike Barnhill

Ashland

Dear Editor:

Several known columnists have voiced their opinions on President Biden's spending package involving American Jobs Plan and American Family Plan. Here are a few quotes to explain the pros and cons you may never hear of on local news channels.

Joshua Jahani says on NBCNews.com: "It's delusional to think that the U.S. can increase taxes so significantly without costing the country in competitiveness and growth." Big business and the ultra-wealthy will dodge those taxes by keeping their profits offshore, and so only the small- and medium-size businesses will feel the pain.

James Downie says in the Washington Post: "Republicans aren't engaging in serious negotiations over infrastructure." Their $568 billion counteroffer is even smaller than it seems because it features "just $189 billion in new spending." They claim any corporate tax hike will be a job killer. "Never mind that the 2017 Trump tax cuts, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, had little economic benefit."

Nathaniel Rakich says on FiveThirtyEight.com that bipartisan or not, Biden's plans are remarkably popular. Polls show that 68 percent of Americans back the key components of his infrastructure proposal and 64 percent approve of the main parts of the Families Plan. If Biden does somehow ram through $4 trillion in spending, "he will at least be able to claim public opinion is on his side."

These opinions are often debated on news sources that offer more than just 30 minutes of TV viewing. These important opinions are often overlooked due to 30 minutes of news normally shared with either world or local news reports.