Democratic leaders are evidently figuring out that criticizing President Donald Trump’s tweets and fantasizing about Russian secret agents camped out in the Lincoln Bedroom aren’t helping them regain power in Washington. But having already exhausted efforts to win elections with the help of the bathroom-choice bloc, the party must now attempt to focus on actual political issues. They say they’ll offer voters a “Better Deal” on things like infrastructure and the economy.
Well, they haven’t actually said it yet– the “Better Deal” pitch, according to POLITICO, is still being polled in midterm battleground states. But the Democratic Party’s old leadership is preparing to roll out the new message any day now.
The premise of the “Better Deal” talk is this: Trump says he’s a great negotiator. But we can do better than his proposed robust and privately-backed infrastructure improvement– we’ll do it better. And we’ll do it without having a single negotiation– we don’t have to negotiate with taxpayers or future Americans.
The Democrats’ “Better Deal” hinges on offering up an infrastructure improvement package similar to Trump’s proposal in size, topping out at around $1 trillion in proposed spending, but one that’s funded entirely by federal spending. Because private industry is bad.
Democrats have repeatedly railed against Trump’s infrastructure proposal, dishonestly suggesting to voters that the president is going to allow for outright “privatization” of government services. In reality, the White House plan would cap federal infrastructure spending at around $200 billion, to be leveraged against another $800 billion in private sector investments. The plan could more accurately be described as a public-private partnership. And if managed well, it could turn out to be a great deal for all involved parties. Unlike the federal government, most private investors aren’t in business to lose money. But Democrats are worried that private investment infrastructure improvement will mean rural areas in need of government help will miss out as private investors seek to fund only projects that will recoup investments via tolls and use fees.
Another “Better Deal” proposal from the left is a $15 an hour federal minimum wage.
Earlier this year,  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) promised to pass  mandatory minimum wage hike legislation within “100 hours” of re-establishing a Democrat majority.
“I’ll tell you one thing for sure: we win the election, in the first 100 hours we will pass a $15 minimum wage,” Pelosi told supporters at the time.
As I noted at the time, the party would do so in spite of evidence that it’s unworkable:

Forget that cities already trying out the sort of hike Pelosi is promising are finding it an unworkable solution to poverty.
And forget that there are countless studies, from both public and private entities, which tell us government-mandated minimum wage hikes do more economic harm than good.
Even The Feds Admit Minimum Wages Cause Unemployment
Study: Mandatory Minimum Wage Increase Will Lead To Layoffs, Hiring Freeze
Research reveals that minimum wage hikes actually hurt workers
Artificial wage inflation is bad for everyone

And that really gets to the heart of what the Democrat “Better Deal” is all about. It’s the same old deal Democrats have pushed for years now: Consequences don’t matter and everyone should have everything they want regardless of their talent or willingness to work hard.