Zakaria: Anyone Who Votes for Tax Cut Bill ‘Will Live in Infamy as the Country Slowly Breaks Down’

RUSH EXCERPT:

ZAKARIA: "First here’s my take. If the Republican tax plan passes Congress, it will mark a watershed for the United States. The medium and long-term effects of the plan are clear. A massive drop in public investment, which will come on the heels of decades of declining spending as a percentage of GDP on infrastructure, scientific research, skills training and core government agencies. The United States cannot coast on passed legislation forever. And we are ushering in a bleak future. It is expected to add at least $1 trillion to the national debt over the next ten years and many experts believe that the real loss to federal revenues will be much higher. We can expect big spending cuts in the near future, which would happen on top of an already dire situation. As the Brookings institution points out, combined public investment, by federal, state and local governments, is at the lowest point in six decades, relative to GDP. The United States is at a breaking point. In August, the World Bank looked at 50 countries and found that America will have the largest unmet infrastructure needs over the next two decades. Look in any direction. According to the American road and transport builders association, the United States has almost 56,000 structurally deficient bridges, about 1,900 of which are on interstate highways and all of these are crossed 185 million times a day. There is no better indication of the U.S. government’s myopia than the decline in funding for research. Research and development top ten percent of the national budget in the mid 1960s. It is now under 4%. This is happening in an environment where other countries, from South Korea, Germany to China, are ramping up investment in these areas. A new study finds that China is on track to surpass the U.S. As the world leader in biomedical research spending. I came to America in the 1980s, I was struck by how well the American government functioned. I would hear complaints about the IRS or FAA I would reply have you ever seen how baddy these agencies work in other countries? Even compared to France and Italy, many of the key offices were professional and competent. Agencies like the IRS are now threadbare. It is hamstrung by an infisht budget and has had to cancel several much-needed ittests. The list goes on and on. Are there genuine problems beyond underfunding the cost of building infrastructure in America is astronomical. Focused America’s tension, creating a bipartisan urgency to get things done. Ironically at a time now when competition is far more fierce, when other countries have surpassed the United States in many of these areas, America has fallen into extreme partisanship and embraced a no-nothing libertarianism that is starving the country of the essential investments it need force future growth. Those who vote for this tax bill possibly the worst piece of major legislation in a generation, will live in infamy as the country slow breaks down."