With a new year comes hope in the White House that Americans will eventually buy into "Bidenomics." For instance, President Joe Biden would no doubt love to pose for pictures in front of some of the new projects funded by his $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.
Unfortunately, the administration's own policies have hampered his opportunities.
CNN reported last month that Biden has privately expressed immense frustration that it could be years before he can show off any of the wonders built thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which he signed into law in November 2021.
But many of them remain years off — if they ever get built at all.
Some of the delays are beyond a president's control. "The government is simply not very efficient at doing much of anything," Reason magazine's Eric Boehm points out, "and major infrastructure projects take time to plan, organize and execute."
Yet many of the slowdowns and red tape are self-inflicted. Republicans have long advocated for removing hurdles to large federal projects. Typically such efforts are resisted by Biden's party. It also doesn't help that the infrastructure bill was filled with pork for green and union interests.
When Biden signed the measure into law, he not only renewed requirements that federally funded infrastructure projects use American-made iron and steel, but he also expanded these "Buy American" requirements to other construction materials such as lumber, drywall, copper wire and fiber optic cables. The law also included a provision limiting the ability of nonunion construction shops to bid on infrastructure jobs and "created delays by adding more paperwork and a confusing patchwork of new federal oversight for projects that sought funding," Boehm reports.
In addition, Biden's refusal to lift tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump has kept prices for much-needed steel artificially high.
Biden's "Buy American" agenda may be popular with the public, but it's also at odds with his effort to quickly and efficiently complete infrastructure projects.
Boehm correctly notes that, instead of pandering to labor unions and political allies, the president could have pushed for an infrastructure bill that focused on actually building something in a speedy, cost-effective way, by providing a path to easing red tape. Instead he did the opposite.
Maybe voters are simply smarter than the White House realizes. Maybe they have picked up on the fact that "Bidenomics" and the infrastructure bill are a mishmash of inconsistencies masquerading as coherent economic policy.
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Previously:
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US government revenues hit record highs
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Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
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Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
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Biden needs to stop the mixed messages
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The hating class as brave defenders
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Blinken only emboldens Hamas terrorists
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White House green Slush fund throwing around cash
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Biden immigration policies souring even Dems
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Dems fret as the bad news mounts for Biden
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Billions in coronavirus money still sitting around
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Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
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Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
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Chicago takes victim blaming to an absurd new low
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The utter failure of money to improve education
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Group identity drives American division
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The downside of Biden's drug price control scheme
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WARNING: Here's why top insurers are fleeing
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'They even laughed in my face'
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Red states power Biden's economy
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'If you have private insurance, you can' … OOPS!
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Ignoring the Bill of Rights when its convenient
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Hunter cops a plea --- but the Biden probes continue
• Will we every truly know the depth of pandemic fraud?
• Hello there, Big Brother! Please, come right in
• Its not perfect, but it's a start on immigration reform
• IRS wants to branch out
• Gas stove ban conspiracy theory comes true
• Biden's busy bureaucrats beef up regulatory state
• Don't even dare think of emulamating New Yawk!
• Where have all the nation's college students gone?
• Soft-on-crime policies hit hard wall of political reality
• Joe Biden and Monty Python is no comedy
• Global warming was supposed to wreak havoc on polar bears. Looks like someone forgot to tell the polar bears