BROWN COLUMN: We must address the national debt

Published 10:30 am Saturday, October 16, 2021

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

As we closed out the current Federal Fiscal Year on Sept. 30, 2021, our national debt is more than $28 trillion! It has been borrowed from funds for Social Security, Medicare and military retirements; countries like China to whom we owe over $1 trillion and others! President Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary Yeltsin is already warning of possible defaults.

Totally ignoring this are the Democrat Senate, House and President. They are maneuvering, think “reconciliation,” to spend $3.5 trillion more on “social policies.” In my studied opinion, many of these policies and expenditures are gigantic steps toward far more socialism.

Thank goodness at least one Democrat Senator may oppose it. This would take our present 50 Senate Democrats and 50 Senate Republicans where the Democrat Vice President Harris votes in a tie to 51 opposing the bill.  Regardless, do not be surprised if trillions wind up still being spent on much of this unless there is a public outcry. You are that public!

I have looked at some of the thousands of pages of expenditures for this bill and doubt that we really need much, if any, of them. If there are truly any absolute must haves, look to the states and local governments where these supposed needs exist. Further we have charitable giving that will exceed $500,000,000,000 this year. If these sources result in less money than is really needed why not look to the federal government for this shortage? However, require cuts of an equal amount from present wasteful spending in the federal budget of which there are hundreds of billions of dollars.

Lurking in the background is a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that will pass if any semblance of the $3.5 trillion bill passes. Interestingly, if you look at this bill, you will see that less than half of it is for infrastructure. If any of it is really needed, see my suggestions above. Another alternative to the $12 billion for Schumer’s New York City tunnel is to charge tolls and create a revenue bond.

Bear in mind that since President Biden was sworn into office over eight months ago our national debt has increased by over $2 trillion.

Meanwhile, the unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare exceed $100 trillion! Nonetheless several components of the $3.5 trillion bill call for adding new and VERY expensive Medicare programs.

President Biden, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Schumer are assuring us that due to new sources of revenues called for in the two bills there will be a minimal increase to our debt.

As I look back at such claims the revenues almost always fall far short of the projections, the expenditures generally exceed what was initially stated and the fact of life is many of these expenditures become entitlements. In that regard, you rarely see our elected officials ending/reducing entitlements but instead adding to them. Finally, such policies and expenditures rarely accomplish the promised results.

Additionally, much of Biden’s projected funding comes from significant increases in corporate taxes. Please remember you and I pay these taxes because businesses pass them on via increased prices.

Therefore, another problem with these 2 bills is they will add to our rapidly increasing inflation rate such as the above which most hurts the working poor. The inflation rate since Biden was sworn in has exceeded 5% which is almost 3 X higher than the average inflation rate of 1.91% during the prior 4 years of Former President Trump.

Yet another inflation factor is Biden’s abandonment of our energy independence and policy changes that have taken the average cost of gasoline on inauguration day 1/20/21 from $2.38/gal to $3.27 on 9/27/21 which is a 37% increase and growing.

If you share my concerns please become more knowledgeable, talk to your friends, share my article and/or something better such as information put out by the Concord Coalition and discuss better alternatives. The Democrats are counting on ignorance, narcissism, ill-thought-out compassion and silence. Don’t let them play you!