President Biden has not formally unveiled his "Build Back Better" infrastructure spending proposal yet, but economists are already praising it based on what we do know about the proposal.
While we know it will cost between $2 to $4 trillion, economists at Standard and Poor's (S&P) say the amount of economic activity it generates will far exceed the total cost.
"Stimulus helps build the bridge for the recovery to reach the other side, but an investment in infrastructure is the fuel to jump start the economic engine," Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global, says in an email.
S&P predicts Biden's infrastructure plan will create 2.3 million jobs by 2024, inject $5.7 trillion into the economy — which would be 10 times what was lost during the recession — and raise per-capita income by $2,400.
Passing all or part of Biden's proposal will almost certainly require using reconciliation to bypass a Republican filibuster, but the proposal is going to sell itself to the public through raw numbers and Democrats shouldn't be afraid to repeat these big numbers.
The public is more or less inured to large, trillion dollar spending bills at this point and if you tell people you're going to inject billions into their communities, they're going to be in favor it. A majority of self-identified Republicans told pollsters that they approved of the American Rescue Plan and the latest round of stimulus checks. And that did not compel Republican in Congress to vote for it, of course, but that will be their loss in the midterm elections.
The next session of Congress won't be seated for nearly two years, but I'm certain this is the best path to retaining control of both chambers.
Pass the bills. Spend the money. Run on the results.