BIDEN’S BLUNDERS – PART 2
“Infrastructure”
The $3.5T Build Back Better bill is completely unaffordable, even if you could justify it based on the “needs” of people for freebies. Right now, the US debt equals for $68,400 per citizen and $183,000 per taxpayer. The United States currently has $125 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Imagine having that bill sent to you. Now, imagine it being so much higher. But Biden believes two things which he cannot prove. That all this is infrastructure. And that the egregious tax increases will cover the cost.
Definition of Infrastructure
“The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.”
Biden (and the radical socialists prodding him) is not alone in redefining terms to stack the deck in favor of his policies. Terms get redefined all the time, but this only matters if the majority of the public get behind the redefinition. As an example, in the movie “Soylent Green,” attractive women “owned” by rich men are referred to as “furniture.” This doesn’t make us look to Ethan Allen or Wayfair to buy women. No one is fooled, and perhaps Biden doesn’t care. But unfortunately for him, some key people in Congress do care that those words mean what they are supposed to.
Free college isn’t infrastructure. Subsidized childcare isn’t infrastructure. They may be good things, but they don’t qualify under any stretch of the definition. And in fact, for those who care about their lives, the failure of our real infrastructure could kill them. Now, which has priority?
The Cost
This isn’t the first time our government has proposed unfunded spending. It happens all the time. All the CCP virus bills were unaffordable (and a seriously wrong-headed approach given that many people didn’t actually need the checks, and others simply spent it on items they didn’t really need). The increase in unemployment money has demonstrated what we already knew from Obama’s increase in the length of benefits. For too many people, unemployment looks better than working. We now have many unfilled jobs and delays in supply chains, attributable to an increasing belief that work is optional. If people don’t work, they don’t pay taxes.
But let’s look at taxation. In 1964, JFK introduced a huge tax reduction act which lowered the top marginal rate from 91% to 70%. Still an outrageous tax rate, it had the effect of actually bringing in more tax money. Rich people have always had a variety of ways to avoid taxes when they appear too high. Witness Warren Buffet’s admission that he pays fewer taxes than his secretary. The idea that raising the tax rate will always reap huge windfalls for the government is disproven by history.
Inevitably, this means raising taxes on those who are middle class (most lower-class people don’t pay taxes). Did you vote for this? If you struggled to pay tuition, or couldn’t afford to go to college at all, do you want burdensome taxes so that others can go for free? If education adds lifetime value, it should be paid for by the one who benefits. And what is a “fair share?” As this vague term is defined by people in the government who already duck their fair share of taxes, don’t trust it. There is no such thing as a “fair share.” Inevitably, when people get to keep less of their hard-earned income, they will seek to make less to get out of that trap.
At some point, the incentive to work hard is completely demolished. We already see this with the huge number of people no longer seeking work. A diminishing number of workers will incent Democrats to call for even higher taxes on the remaining workers. This translates to fewer people willing to work. Most of us are happy to provide for ourselves and our families, but less happy to provide for those who are feckless and lazy. You want a home, food to eat, etc.? Get a job! No one owes you anything.
There is no credible evidence that Build Back Better is affordable. And when the US begins to fail to pay the interest on our debt (which is all we do now), the cost of that debt will inevitably rise. We may even risk the dollar being the standard currency. This will lead to a significantly lowered lifestyle for everyone and abject poverty for many.
There is No Free Lunch
When you purport to extract money from unwilling citizens to give to those who just want “free stuff,” you set the country on the road to disaster. If everyone has to look to the government for their basic needs, you become the USSR. And look how well that worked for those starving citizens, waiting in breadlines and living 10 to a room. Capitalism isn’t perfect, but it’s far better than any other system proposed to date.
When you get a “gift” you didn’t pay for, someone else paid for it. That’s just a fact. It doesn’t matter what it is. Washington doesn’t have a money tree, except for the Federal Reserve. But when they print money, that makes every dollar you have worth less.
I may sound hard-hearted, but the few who are so disabled they can’t work could be helped with a very low tax rate on the rest, taxes the majority would be happy to pay. But when the bar has been lowered and you can choose not to work with some excuse, that’s a different story. How many of us spent our career enjoying every minute of work? None? That’s probably true. But work helps to give our lives meaning and everyone possible should engage in hard work for the majority of their years.
We disable people by not helping them engage in work. Years ago, my father’s company sought to hire people with mental challenges to package medicines. They had found that those with a normal IQ found the work boring and thus, got sloppy. But those who found it challenging were incredibly careful and also, felt a huge sense of accomplishment at having a way to pay for themselves. No surprise. The US Government wouldn’t let the company offer these jobs to a group badly in need of employment. That facility now operates successfully in Canada.
It’s time to get back to work!
