Breaking America’s Bank…Without A Care
Regrettably, the first of the huge debt bunker-busters for current taxpayers and those of future generations, the so-called “infrastructure” bill passed the House last night, thanks to some in-name-only-Republicans voting with the Democrats, giving the administration something to gloat about following months of its super-costly errors, both at home and abroad. While, yes, America needs road, bridge, rail, and other associated transportation repairs/replacement, peeling back the layers reveals the fine print of items not related to physical infrastructure; oh, my what a surprise, coming from the socialist-take-over brigade. One provision that sticks out, despite the administration’s best efforts, is a $42-billion broadband funding provision to be administered by the Commerce Department that appears to be firmly sealed against FOA and other open records inquiries. Raises questions about the intent of shielding this major chunk of taxpayer money from public scrutiny. Government types very quickly seem to forget the actual source of what is, too often to them, merely their expendable play money.
But despite the size of this “infrastructure” fiscal whale, with apparently many potentially unrelated parts stuffed within, the real upcoming issue, now delayed until after Thanksgiving for more accurate cost assessment by grown-ups (CBO), thankfully, is the administration’s “Build Back Better” $3.5-trillion (or $1.75-trillion or whatever it ends up being by cutting years, which is pure deception) fiscal monstrosity that certainly appears to be jammed full of Progressive-Socialist hand-outs vs. programs that America, in general, actually needs for national improvement (vs. national dependency), the latter which the pro-socialists are intent on imposing on our citizens for the long-term. Rather than Build Back Better (ironic in that President Trump already had the nation’s economy running on all cylinders!), in the interest of long-term honesty, the administration’s program should probably be titled “Bankrupt America Better.”
Potentially destroying portions of the American economy to make it “better,” this gigantic spending bomb has been described as the “new Green Deal in disguise.” “Green” special interest groups are in for $34-billion in subsidies. And, believe it or not, an additional $8-billion is set aside for the creation of a (here it comes) “Civilian Climate Corps.” The intention is for Democrat activist youth to receive salary, housing, medical care, food, and education grants in return for their “climate” advocacy. Advocacy whose primary mission would be to “wage war on American oil, natural gas, and coal production.” Hire folks to carry the “climate” banner, while joining with adult advocates to destroy high-paying jobs in the energy industry. Realists admit that the CCC youth will have zero impact on climate improvement, so that’s a whole lot of money wasted over several years for no admitted realistic (or positive) environmental accomplishment. If such mitigation is really possible to begin with, since the issue, if it could be reliably identified, isn’t the total fault, or within the total control of humans to cure to begin with, despite Progressive belief.
Reportedly, this ridiculously huge Progressive-Socialist bill contains a total of $550-billion for “climate change” projects. And unbelievably, ignoring genuine public health interest, after coming through almost two-years of a deadly virus nationwide, it contains only $3-billion for future “pandemic preparedness,” far, far less than the dollars included for the ‘crusade’, much of it fantasy (or even economically destructive), against perceived climate issues.
And recall that the reality of producing electricity is that America (and the world) will be dependent on fossil fuels for many decades to come. And especially so as government types continue to purposely ignore the most reliable, dependable, and cleanest of the fuels: natural gas and nuclear. Meanwhile, let’s just go ahead and disrupt the world’s best energy industry (and our overall economy) so that we are no longer energy independent (as President Trump produced) and must beg OPEC, Russia, and others to supply us with more fossil fuels, while we spend millions on unreliable, unrealistic, wind mills and solar panels in search of naïve, undependable, ineffective, insufficient wind and sun solutions long-term. Said Texas Republican Representative Michael McCaul: “In their tax spend-and-spree plan, they want to penalize our oil and gas industry by tacking on harmful fees and handcuffing domestic production.”
And this boat-load of horrible expenditures, to be funded by massive tax hikes on corporations, businesses, and individuals, contains other really troubling provisions, we’re told. And therein lies a huge problem, as well. This massive bill effectively conceals much buried in the fine print. Even opposing legislators don’t fully know all that it is alleged to contain. Shades of the famous Pelosi line: “We’ve got to pass it to see what’s in it.” Trouble is that these dollar amounts are so massive (excessive) that we literally cannot afford to simply take a chance and assume that all will be fair and well. It won’t.
Try this ridiculous one on for size. There is currently a provision included that guarantees four weeks of federal paid medical and family leave. OK, so is there anything else here? Why yes, there is. Unbelievably and ridiculously, this four-weeks of paid leave includes both those working and persons unemployed!! It’s said to be spelled out on page 1,065 of the bill. Oh, and Mr. Biden is said to have originally wanted a full 12-weeks of paid leave!
Then there’s the illegal immigration provision that would offer “parole” to longer staying illegals. Such would allow “some 6.8-million immigrants who entered the U.S. before January 1, 2011, and have continued to live in the country since, to obtain travel and work permits, plus driver’s licenses or state identification cards. Such would also shield those individuals from deportation. Can the right to vote then be far behind?
And there is the current talk, originally denied by Mr. Biden, of actually compensating some illegals who may have been separated from their children at the border. And the original sum publicized by the news media was huge: $450,000 each, up to a possible $1-milion per family!! Politely, this is called “wealth transfer.” And it makes zero sense. Provide a large sum of money to someone(s) who broke our immigration laws, entered our country illegally, and now feel that they are due payment to compensate for their “psychological suffering” due to child separation? This is perhaps the epitome of destructive Progressive thought. Defending the indefensible, unless you are a moon-beam Progressive, Mr. Biden is actually quoted as follows: “If in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration (you remember, the one that controlled our border), you coming across the border, whether it be legal or illegal (the policy only affected the latter illegals), you lost your child (separated and detained, not taken and killed!), you deserve some kind of compensation no matter what the circumstances.” Well, instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars, how about if you are simply reunited with your child, and then not sent to jail, or back to your home country, for illegally entering our nation? And how you entered does make a whale of a difference, at least to patriotic, law-abiding Americans.
This potential action, together with the stay-in-America-free card outlined above, provide ample incentive for more and more illegal migrants to stampede to, and overwhelm, our southern border states. It’s an invitation to come here, and word will continue to spread. Our southern border crisis is an absolute disgrace, and this administration simply does not care about the damage, short and long-term, this influx is doing to significantly harm our nation, socially, financially, medically, educationally, and security-wise.
There are many other noxious provisions tucked deep inside this awful mega-measure, but its time to talk about taxes. According to one source, by 2027, more than half of all families earning between $75,000 and $100,000 a year would pay more in taxes. Taxes would even rise on families making less than $20,000 a year.” And on the subject of taxes and national debt, a just-released study of the incorrectly named “BBB” program clearly indicates that the “cost” to American taxpayers would not be “zero” as famously charged by Mr. Biden, but rather, in disgusting, but at least refreshing reality, the net cost of this mammoth legislation, as currently presented (even if whittled down) will burden taxpayers with an additional $2.42-trillion in national debt.
So that famous selling point of “zero” cost to American families has been false since it was first erroneously presented. Stated a New York Post editorial, “The Build Back Better bill builds nothing but the federal debt and the size of the government. It is fiscally irresponsible, will drag down the economy, and only fuel more inflation. Massively expand the welfare state, hide the true cost, and hope that more people getting ‘free’ money means more votes for Democrats.”
Huge government handouts like these are intended to satisfy two Progressive needs. First, to substitute “equity” for equality. That is, forget about the front end of opportunity (equality). Concentrate on the tail end, that is, the results, making sure they are equal (an impossibility), meaning in today’s jargon (equity). And the second objective of this outlandish spending, that is, handouts, to only Progressively-selected groups and individuals, is to further individual dependence on government money. The most recent example of how destructive to the economy this can be was the extended pandemic-caused government payments to individuals and families, which went on far too long, and created huge worker shortages, as the Feds made it attractive and possible for workers, who so chose, to simply stay home and not work. Businesses and our economy suffered as a result. This whole “free-money” routine, actually redistributed income, from those who work to those who don’t (after the Feds take their share) fosters dependency, which then longer term, develops naturally into an expectation of being taken care of by government money. Ultimately, it can easily become an addiction.
To that latter point, wrote business commentator Brian Brenberg: ‘The real problem with the legislation isn’t the exorbitant headline cost. It’s the addiction to government cash that follows, resulting in irreversible growth in economy-crushing spending, debt, and taxes for decades to come.” Not only will taxes across the board have to increase continually to try to stay up with spending, but so will borrowing, that is if individuals (bonds) and nations continue to buy our paper as America’s credit worthiness continues to inevitably diminish. The cash-well is only so deep and fluid for so long.
We simply must hope that this “Build Back Better” Progressive-Socialist insanity, this potential ultimate bankrupting of America, can be stopped in either the House, or last hope, the U.S. Senate. Communicating your thoughts with our legislators would be helpful and suggested. The vote will likely come after the Congressional Budget Office analyzes actual costs, and before the Christmas break. Defeating this measure, no matter how falsely or fraudulently it appears to be whittled down by government magicians (reducing years up-front, but few provisions actually ever end!), is critically important for the economic future of our free nation.
ADDENDUM: As more and more of the slow-to-be-identified parts of the ridiculous “Build Back Better Act” continue to appear from the mist (now said to be priced at $1.75-trillion, but only by cutting program durations, not by actually dropping socialist goodies). This one reportedly promised a pool of $150-billion in federal (i.e., taxpayer) grant money to cities, counties, & towns who can be bribed with those federal dollars into revising their zoning codes to permit multi-family apartment units (low rise to high rise, no doubt) to be built in previously protected single-family zones. The objective: Break up the single-family housing suburbs to bring in government-subsidized, multi-unit housing.
Long considered white-dominated, in recent decades, as minority individuals/families have earned more affluency, the suburbs have long since ceased to be whites-only. Regardless, the current government cannot bear to think of white-dominated anything, even though its no longer true in terms of suburban housing. So, with gobs of federal money dangling before city councils, the objective is to destroy single-family zones. Hopefully, caring city councils, aware of history sand tradition, won’t snap up the bate and start peppering (ruining) traditional single-family zones with endless, let’s be honest, low-income, subsidized apartments, likely buildings, from single story to high-rise. Watch for this one to hopefully get even more attention. Suburbanites, as most legislators are, should not be happy about this shadowy Progressive move.
(Broadband funding provision stats via dailycaller.com, Ailan Evans, 11-2-21; Civilian Climate Corps data/quotes via foxnews.com, Senator John Barrasso, 10-31-21; Money for climate vs. future epidemics via foxnews.com, Joe Schoffstall, 11-6-21; Representative McCaul quote via foxbusiness.com, Caitlin McFall, 11-6-21; Parole & non-deportation protection provisions via foxbusiness.com, Audrey Conklin, 11-5-21; Potential payments to separated illegal families via breitbart.com, John Binder, 10-29-21; Biden defense of child separation payments via Breitbart.com, Charlie Spiering, 11-6-21; Tax increases stats via dailycaller.com, Rachel Greszler, 10-22-21; Wharton tax consequences study via breitbart.com, Wendell Husebo, 11-4-21; BBB fallacies quote via nypost.com, Editorial Board, 11-6-21; Addiction quote via foxbusiness.com, Brian Brenberg, 9-30-21). (Addendum data on federal housing proposal via breitbart.com, Penny Starr, 11-8-21)