$3.5 Trillion for Build Back Better Agenda Is Less Money Than You Think
Fundraiser 3,302 views Premiered Oct 5, 2021
The Intercept
If there’s one thing the corporate media has told us about the Democratic Party’s proposed Build Back Better agenda — the major initiative of the Biden administration, featuring significant investments in education, welfare, and more — it’s that it involves $3.5 trillion.
Left out of the coverage, though, is one key issue: How much money is that, really?
$3.5 trillion certainly sounds like a lot. Human brains aren’t equipped to understand numbers of this magnitude; in our regular lives, we never encounter 3.5 trillion of anything, let alone actual dollars.
But the reality is surprisingly modest: $3.5 trillion is just 1.2 percent of the U.S. economy over the relevant time frame.
The fact that the media has resolutely failed to provide this context is an act of true malfeasance. It contributes to public ignorance in general and supports the right’s favorite narrative of wild liberal profligacy. If the Build Back Better plan fails, or is significantly reduced in scope, the media’s behavior will be a big reason why.
"They're willing to tank the entire US economy just to 'own the libs'...... 3.5 trillion over 10 years is a drop in the fucking bucket compared to our military budget."
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”