If you are wondering why Americans can’t have nice things in their public works, you can thank the kind of anti-government mindset and propaganda put forth by this Cavuto On Business panel as part of Fox News’ “Cost of Freedom” block.
The discussion was based on President Obama’s proposal to spend $300 billion on roads and rails. But host Neil Cavuto smeared it from the get-go. His introduction called the plan a “runaway spending train.” In a "fair and balanced" introduction, he said: "Even though we’re essentially out of bucks. Charles Payne is wondering what the (pause) buck. …Charles Payne, what’s going onnnnnn?"
Predictaly, Payne replied with more smears:
To quote Ronald Reagan there you go again. You got to be kidding me. …The reality is, is that it’s really nuts. I wonder sometimes if the President is just delirious. I mean, he’s just throwing these numbers out there and these game plans out there. We had an infrastructure project, it was a grab bag of money. …It did nothing for local communities. It did nothing for the great of country.
Spain had a program like this that was outrageous. They built the second longest high speed rail in the world, brand new highways, 42 airports, they’re the brokest Western European country in the world now. It doesn’t work. …You might buy votes, but it hurts the country in the long run.
Cavuto insisted that it’s a money and accounting issue, not that he doesn’t want to improve our infrastructure. “What are you doing with the $120 or so billion you’re getting through federal sources, state sources, local sources to address our roads and bridges? …I’d like to see you account for the pennies I’ve already given you, and they don’t do that,” he said.
Adam Lashinsky was the lone voice of dissent. He said, “My assumption is that the $120 billion isn’t enough. …An additional $300 billion of spending on infrastructure, which is the subject, is an investment in ourselves.”
But, obviously, Fox is not interested in investing in ourselves. Cavuto said impatiently, “That money is not accounted for. …I’m happy to address these ills, but I’m not going to compound the sin by adding more money to the money that’s already disappearing.” Not that Cavuto provided any evidence that any money has been misspent.
Charlie Gasparino piled on. “This notion of infrastructure spending to spur the economy has never worked. It has never worked. …It didn’t work during the Great Depression, the $800 billion stimulus package didn’t work.”
Payne chimed in, “You go back and you look at Eisenhower’s, the highway project, look at the job creation, not really necessarily moving the needle on job creation.”
Lashinsky countered, “This is infrastructure spending to improve infrastructure, not to improve the economy, not to create jobs.”
Gasparino reiterated, “This stuff never works.”
But while Fox News pundits were dissing the stimulus package off the tops of their heads, Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist Michael Hiltzik has data and a chart to show that the stimulus worked and should have been bigger. But don’t expect to see him on any of these Fox News business panels any time soon.
Meanwhile, if your roads are crumbling and your bridges and tunnels are disintegrating, just chalk it up to the “cost of freedom.” If you’re a Fox News fan, there’s just no price too high to pay for it.
