Your president recently
signed the bi-partisan legislation which
brought the country’s potential default to a
screeching halt. After weeks of political
posturing and wretched wrangling over the
current $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, Joe Biden
held his signing pen up in victory. House
Speaker Kevin McCarthy beat his chest in
Republican bravado. The Dems and the GOP shook
hands over a deal that threw working families
under the bus. Again.
Apparently, both Parties like living on the edge because
there’s always debt—spending more than what’s in the treasury—and
they always raise the ceiling. There never seems to be a serious
look at the nation’s budget, changing spending
needs and wants.
The average American can’t
afford to engage in these kinds of bad
spending habits. Our budget-balancing practice
is robbing Peter to pay Paul. And when we
can’t, there are dire consequences to face.
Since 1960, the debt ceiling
has been raised 78 times. Democrats have
raised it 29 times. The party which calls
itself fiscally conservative has raised the
debt ceiling 59 times. Hypocrites!
The Republicans always demand cuts before they agree to a ceiling hike. You
don’t have to wonder long as to who’s gonna’
take the brunt of those whacks. The cuts to
balance the budget are always off the backs of
the working class.
Let’s take a closer peek at
some of what’s in the package.
The legislation took back $28
billion in COVID-19 relief funds that were
unspent. Most towns and cities across the
country still need the extra services and
programs due to the toll of the pandemic.
Communities are still reeling from the
multilayered devastation of COVID-19.
The moratorium on student
loan payments is over. People will have to
start their payments at the end of the summer,
regardless of their individual circumstances.
What’s especially wicked about this piece is
that the Biden administration is prohibited
from ever extending another moratorium.
Work requirements have been
mandated for those receiving food stamps. Any
able-bodied person from 18 to 49 years old
will be able to get food stamps for three
months out of every three years if they work
20 hours per week or meet some other criteria.
The law will raise the age requirement to 55
years old in phases. The government is raising
that age just like they’re forever raising the
age for receiving Social Security.
The Inflation Reduction Act
of 2022 allocated $80 billion to the Internal
Revenue Service over the next decade. One key
component of that law was to close loopholes
and to enforce the tax codes for wealthy
people. These are the rich folks who manage
not to pay any federal income tax, like the
trumps of the world. Add companies like FedEx,
Hewlett Packard, Amazon, Nike and the list
goes on. They engage in tax shelters,
offshoring and a number of other completely
legit American tricks to hold on to their mega
profits. They can breathe easily now, because
that money is off the table that was to hire
hundreds of agents to hold those leeches
accountable.
Because the getting was so
good, Republican Senator Joe Manchin threw in
speeding up the building of the Mountain
Valley Pipeline in his home state of West
Virginia. The move has infuriated many folks,
especially indigenous peoples and
environmentalists.
I never believed there would
be a default and government shutdown. Congress
was playing chicken. Nearly seventy percent of
the U.S. debt is held by China, Japan and the
United Kingdom. The global markets weren’t
going to stand for the fiscal recklessness of
the U.S. affecting their bottom lines.
It’s time we the People start
playing an active role in this government’s
fiscal policies and practices. These are our
tax dollars. We need to be asking our
so-called elected officials some hard
questions.
Start with two questions:
Why can’t you operate with a
balanced budget?
Why is the military budget
untouchable?
Debating these questions will
help to educate our people about finances on a
macro level. More importantly, we must align
government budgets with meeting our human
needs that strengthen families and
communities.
