The Biden White House Is Lying About the Democrats' Spending Bill
For Biden, "build back better’" apparently means eyes on everything in the economy.
Bernie Sanders wants better press coverage of the Build Back Better bill? Ask and you shall receive, Sanders. Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Nick Gillespie detail the most egregious parts of this giant pile of potential spending. Plus we talk about the Jones Act, all on this Monday's Reason Roundtable.
Discussed in the show:
1:05: The Roundtable sets the record straight after the official White House Twitter account claimed the "Build Back Better Agenda is $0."
33:07–: Weekly Listener Question: I am a Jones Act mariner. While I, and many other American merchant mariners, are pretty libertarian, the Jones Act is the third rail of the maritime industry and turns many mariners away from the libertarian
movement (Cato, Ronald Reagan, and John McCain are not popular among Jones Act Mariners). While I agree with many reforms, like removing the U.S. shipbuilding requirement for Jones Act (that is, domestic) trade, I do not agree with removing the cabotage rules for domestic trade. Airlines, trucking, and trains all enjoy cabotage protections for domestic trade, but it seems that the sights are always on the Jones Act unfairly and the American Merchant Marine. What say you?
39:03: William Shatner went to space!
44:20: Media recommendations for the week.
This week's links:
- "Biden Says $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Bill Has a Price Tag of 'Zero.' That's Dubious," by Eric Boehm
- "Biden to GOP: 'Get Out of the Way, So You Don't Destroy' the Country," by Matt Welch
- a concerning tweet from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
- "Heaton Fixes the Jones Act" (video)
- "Bret Easton Ellis on American Psycho, Hollywood Hypocrisy, and the Excesses of #MeToo" (video)
- "How Government Devastated Minor League Baseball," by Matt Welch
Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.
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Audio production by Ian Keyser
Assistant production by Regan Taylor
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve