By Michael Every of Rabobank
The Construct-It Show
“It's time to face the music; It's time to tax at new heights; It's time to finally build stuff, on the Construct-It Show tonight;
It's time to put pigs in makeup; It's time to dress it all up right; It's time to raise the curtain on the Construct-It Show tonight;
Why do we end up here?; I guess we all should know; Will it really be a kind of torture; To have to watch the show?;
And now let's get things started --Why don't you get things started?-- It's time to get things started;
On the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, infrastructurational; This is what we call the Construct-It Show!”
(Gonzo blows his trumpet pathetically)
Roll up, roll up! Today is the day when the White House releases its infrastructure plan. Will it be USD3 or 4 trillion over 10 years? As Professor Bunsens and Beakers do the number crunching, I will be more of a Statler and Waldorf. What I can say from my box seat is that there are several huge questions and implications associated with this Construct-It Show.
Could it pass? Even using reconciliation for a second time this calendar year, it would take ALL Democrats to back it. Is that possible? It seems a stretch – but not necessarily impossible. Of course, if it doesn’t pass, then all we have is the current sugar high…and then the post-sugar crash.
If even some of the proposed tax hikes (corporate taxes up from 21% to 28%; taxing offshore corporate profits; making the wealthy...