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?