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Not a Scandal. Business as Usual.
The most important point about what follows is that it is not a scandal. A scandal is when a public figure gets caught doing something obviously naughty in private.
Nothing described below took place in secret. Each event was highly publicized. Each event was praised by many, and even today these events are proudly referred to by some as historic accomplishments.
Remember 2009? Obama’s landslide gave Democrats control of both the Senate and the House. What did they do? First they declared an economic crisis of unprecedented scale. They then borrowed and spent 800 billion dollars (almost a trillion) on infrastructure and other economic stimulus. Remember years later when Obama admitted there just weren’t as many ‘shovel-ready’ construction projects as he thought? You see, that $800 billion was spent, but it didn’t get much built.
The next time the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House was when Biden was elected. The first thing they did was declare an economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Then they borrowed and spent a trillion dollars for infrastructure and economic stimulus. They called it Build Back Better.
The next year they declared a climate emergency of unprecedented scale. Then they borrowed and spent an additional trillion dollars on climate-related projects. Because Build Back Better caused unprecedented inflation, they gave this Green New Deal legislation the Orwellian-inspired name of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Thanks, in part, to Elon Musk and his band of DOGE geeks, we have learned what was actually done with the two trillion dollars. It was doled out to Democratic Party friends and supporters in the form of grants to NGOs and climate change grifters who then spent the money while accomplishing absolutely nothing. Over a hundred billion dollars was shoved out the door between Trump’s election and Trump’s inauguration to entities who didn’t even have a plan as to how to spend it.
Just like in 2009, nothing of value was built.
Joe Biden was so proud of Build Back Better and the Inflation Reduction Act that he was going to make them the centerpiece of his reelection campaign. We now know, of course, Joe had nothing to do with these ‘Historic Accomplishments.’ These two monuments to fiscal irresponsibility are the proud accomplishments of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and every single Democrat in Congress.
There is no scandal here. This is just Democrats doing what Democrats do. Declare a crisis, then solve the crisis by throwing money at it. The amount of money is determined by politics. For the Democrats, the amount of money is important evidence of how much they care, and proving they care is the second most important point of the spending. The most important point of the spending is ensuring the money goes to the right people — Democrat donors, supporters, and constituents.
The least important point of the spending is actually solving the crisis. Most of the time, a declared economic crisis is like the flu; it feels bad, but time alone is all that is needed for it to go away. So most of the time, Democrats can declare a crisis, spend money, and declare success regardless of how the money was spent.
Business as usual.
Democrats have been doing this for generations. Republicans long ago labeled them tax-and-spend Democrats. That is outdated. They are now borrow-and-spend Democrats.
This is not progress.
G-Pub
PS: Dear reader, please don’t feel insulted by the inclusion of this postscript, but, when you fully appreciate just how much money a trillion dollars is, it is obvious how Democrats could decide to spend it without first knowing how to spend it.
Notwithstanding inflation, a thousand dollars is still a lot of money. When the auto mechanic, electrician, or plumber gives you an estimate over a thousand dollars, you wince. Imagine holding in your hands a thousand one-thousand-dollar bills. That is a million dollars.
Now, imagine the U.S. Treasury decided to print million-dollar bills. Further, imagine a large pile of such bills in front of you. Not a mere thousand of such bills (that would be a billion dollars), but a million million-dollar bills. That is a trillion dollars.
Of course there are not a trillion dollars worth of shovel-ready projects ready to go. Of course congressional appropriators did not carefully evaluate a trillion dollars’ worth of climate projects. It is impossible to prudently spend that much (new) money in one year.
Democrats did it in back-to-back years. They proved they cared. The right people got rich. No regrets. They do not consider it a scandal.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined their fortunes to amass 100 billion dollars. Bill Gates is investing a decade of his time trying to figure out how to prudently spend that fortune to improve the world.
To spend a trillion dollars in one year, Congressional appropriators must find, evaluate, approve, and spend the entire Gates/Buffett fortune every five weeks.
Not a scandal. Nonetheless, to quote Bob Dole — Where is the outrage?
Published in Economy
One thing that is impressive about the Democrats is that their politicians are willing to follow the party line, even if it is politically risky. If there is a zero vote margin, Pelosi got her bill. We know that those bills will replete with all kinds of political kickbacks and corruption and that any member at risk gets an implied promise of a golden parachute. Ruthless power hunger kleptocrats.
Better:
There are 125 million households in the US.
So $1 trillion is $8000.00 per household.
Indeed. It’s exactly how a kleptocracy works.
Kleptocracy: A form of government in which the leaders use their power to steal money and resources from the country that they rule.
I was going to get around the writing a post like this, but you beat me to it, and did it better.
I was going to call it, “A Kleptocracy, if you can keep it”.
Without taking one gram worth of disgust at that which you have described, Grandpa, I must add to your point. Our Congress hasn’t passed a budget since the first “shovel-ready” boondoggle. Our country has been operating on “Continuing Resolutions” for nearly two decades. That means the completely wasteful spending remains in our country’s budget to this very day.
I can’t disagree with a word of what you’ve said here about the Democrats, Grandpa, but surely you don’t think that Republicans are much better, do you? The current budget the Republicans are trying to pass will add further trillions to the national debt. And just wait until we buy Greenland, which is totally necessary, of course, because mumble mumble mumble emergency!
Democrats:
COVID is an emergency! (Shovel money to constituents)
BLM is an even bigger emergency! (ditto)
Transgender suffering is an emergency! (ditto)
Palestinian suffering is an emergency! (ditto)
etc.
etc.
and I didn’t even add Ukraine. Or the plight of the undocumented. Or the plight of the homeless. They don’t actually solve anything. They just move on to the next emergency.
I forgot: Campus rape is an emergency. (Remember that?) Then #MeToo is an emergency. Systemic racism. Anti-Asian violence (oops).
I have to say, I found it telling that no one in the very nice liberal church I preached at last Sunday had anything to say about the fifth anniversary of St. George Floyd’s death. They’ve moved on. It’s all about Palestine now.
I would argue this definition is somewhat limited. I would include any entity or institution, along with ordinary people as capable of scandalous behavior.
I do think you make a good argument . . .
Given the size and scope of the operation, it’s really a whole economy on its own.
And given that if it’s happening in this country it’s probably happening in a whole bunch of other countries, I’m kind’a surprised that economists in academia aren’t studying it.
But what do I know; maybe they are. I’ll Ask Jeeves:
Our Congress hasn’t passed a budget since the mid-Clinton Administration – almost 30 years.
Strange that you don’t mention the small, ugly bill passed by the Republican House at Trump’s insistence, because adding $5.2 trillion to the national debt and increasing the budget deficit by $600 billion certainly deserves some outrage. But at least the US credit rating got downgraded, so there’s that.
Any clawback of the Biden trillions in the latest monstrosity passed by a nominally Republican House?
Guessing not.
In an ideal world, Congress would be comprised of already rich people with no desire for political careers nor in need of bribes or graft who just want to do what needs doing and then go home. Lots of pain but fiscal health, a stronger nation and a freer economy.
Elon’s DOGE gave Congress a chance to surgically reduce the dependent constituency by killing billions in discrete waste and graft. DOGE did not propose killing big block grants that state governments now need to sustain their excessive spending. They did not propose cutting social security or Medicare (except for fraud). It would have been a magnificent start and the GOP wimped out. The bad stuff was served up on a plate and they could not act. Not much hope of any real cuts until the collapse and even then they will try to print money to undo the harm.
Few in federal government want to tackle entitlements (especially Trump). Until this is done, we are nibbling at the ends. This is a voter problem because if entitlement reform was popular, pols on both sides of the aisle would be pushing for it. Dennis Prager once stated that government handouts like the drug problem. Once hooked, it is hard for the addict to give up the drug.
Yup. Republicans were universally opposed to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Except now that their constituents have been receiving money from these new programs, many Republican representatives resist repealing the spending that they opposed just a couple of years ago.
I hate to say it, but a trade deficit or trade imbalance is even less of an emergency than those democrat emergencies cited above.