The Spending Addiction

Townhall.com ^ | February 9, 2021 | Cal Thomas

[Kaslin]

The problem with free money is that it leads to an addiction much like an addition to drugs. In the case of the $1.9 trillion "relief" bill that has no Republican support, Congress is the supplier, while those on the receiving end become increasingly addicted to government and less self-reliant.

In my lifetime, the U.S. has gone from a creditor nation to a debtor nation. History shows that massive national debt is a major cause of decline, even extinction, of nations that refuse to live within their means. The quickest way to help the economy is to re-open businesses utilizing pandemic precautions re-opened businesses have taken.

The bill includes, in addition to the usual unrelated pork, $1,400 checks to individuals (what happens when that money runs out and why should the well-off be getting any?), $130 billion for public schools (many of which teachers' unions won't allow to open despite the science that kids can be kept safe), $350 billion in aid to state and local governments (most of which have been poorly run by members of guess which party?) and a lot of transfer payments.

A Wall Street Journal editorial quoted from a House Budget Committee report: "$1 trillion from last year's bills hasn't been spent, including $59 billion for schools, $239 billion for health care and $452 billion in small business loans. State and local governments added 67,000 jobs in January. They don't need more federal cash."

Increasingly positive economic news, the Journal editorial says, "suggests that the economy is poised for a strong rebound as the pandemic eases even without new federal spending."

Let's take just one component of this massive bill - aid to renters -- to illustrate why it is overkill and unnecessary. According to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, "Based on 43 million renter households, the data suggest an increase in monthly delinquencies of between 0.9 and 1.3 million each month. A $30 billion aid package ostensibly to cover costs associated with this slight rise amounts to between $23,000 and $33,000 over the course of one year for each of these delinquent units. This aid is grossly disproportionate to the apparent increase in renters unable or unwilling to make their payments."

The analysis continues: "Delinquencies do not appear to have substantially increased since the start of this extended period of COVID-19 shutdowns. The latest Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey tracking the impact of COVID-19 on financial health indicates that 21 percent of renters failed to pay rent in December. This is up only slightly from the 18 percent reporting failure to pay or deferral in the month of March 2020 -- just as the impact from the pandemic began. Data from the National Multifamily Housing Council, which tracks more than 11 million professionally managed apartment units, likewise shows only a minimal deterioration in rental payments year over year. In December, 93.8 percent of units had made a rental payment by the end of the month. This was down just slightly from 95.9 percent in December of 2019 before the pandemic."

These and other facts don't matter to Democrats, who base their strategy on feelings and intentions, not results. That's why it's good to be a Democrat. One never has to actually solve a problem, only throw money at it.

We continue to ignore the wisdom of the Founders, who consistently warned against the evil of national debt.

Scripture says it is more blessed to give than to receive. That is meant to be personal. When government gives, it becomes a curse for the giver as well as the receiver and ultimately a curse on the nation.

[facedown]

...while those on the receiving end become increasingly addicted to government and less self-reliant.

That's the idea.

[HangnJudge]

Love of Money/Power/Control... you know the rest

[ClearCase_guy]

We continue to ignore the wisdom of the Founders, who consistently warned against the evil of national debt.

I've always thought very highly of our Constitution, but at this point I have to conclude that it has failed us. I don't see how it would happen (Article V would be nice) but I think we need a new Constitution. Two suggestions: Declare that the federal government cannot borrow money or go into debt except at time of war as declared by Congress, and also -- government spending to benefit the poor, elderly, sick or newly immigrated is strictly forbidden at the federal level. Not a penny in "charity".

[Starcitizen]

...while those on the receiving end become increasingly addicted to government and less self-reliant.
———————
I’m one of those reliant on the government now. That could change if our government put Americans first instead of the Cheap Indian Labor Express.

Unable to find gainful employment because of the government love of foreign labor, I’m forced to be a gimmedat until I retire.

[HangnJudge]

... I have to conclude that it has failed us

The Constitution did not fail us, we failed it, by our leaders, we elected,
corrupting their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

[Huskrrrr]

Like an alcoholic, drinking in the morning to avoid the hangover, a painful day of reckoning will come.

[cgbg]

The Constitution was never designed to survive evil quisling rulers:

https://mountlibertycollege.org/without-virtue-there-can-be-no-liberty/

[nathanbedford]

Cal Thomas describes the fiscal profligacy which is now so blatantly out of control but he does not also account for the equally profligate monetary binge the Fed has increasingly indulged since Greenspan.

As we spend without actual congressional oversight by Omnibus Bills and as the Fed monetizes our debts by endless stimulus without any oversight whatsoever, the danger of a catastrophic reckoning is compounded.

A reckoning will come, we do not know when but history tells us that such a combination of fiscal and monetary mindlessness leads only to a Venezuela or Weimar Republic level of disintegration.

This at a time when we have no political check on the power of the progressives, no institution to pull us back from the brink, no national media that will sound the alarm, no Department of Justice which will pursue politically correct criminality, no Supreme Court to defend the Constitution, no effective opposition to the soulless tyranny of progressivism operating under the various banners of critical theory.

Add political, cultural and economic bankruptcy together and they spell, perfect storm.

[PeterPrinciple]

perfect storm.

---

and there is no safe harbor in the coming storm. Look to the USSR as a model of what will happen to us. life went on, power/corruption reverted back to the satellite countries.

but on the other hand, we hope we might escape with our lives.

Jer 45:4 “Baruch, this is what the LORD says: ‘I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted.
Jer 45:5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it! I will bring great disaster upon all these people; but I will give you your life as a reward wherever you go. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

[CVS-20]

Very well expressed H J!!!

[HangnJudge]

...Very well expressed H J!!!

Those who are faithless to Oath are below contempt,
and we put them there.

[bgill]

Did the vast majority of those covid checks go for food and rent or did it trot itself down to the corner liquor store and drug dealer?

[gloryblaze]

....Add political, cultural and economic bankruptcy together and they spell, perfect storm.

The pandemic and the reaction to it might just be the black swan. China is smiling.

[servantboy777]

The last omnibus hasn’t hit the debt clock yet. $30 trillion in debt with $159 trillion unfunded liabilities...what’s another $2 trillion, right?

Our country is in trouble in more ways than one.

https://usdebtclock.org/

[unixfox]

Our country is in trouble in more ways than one.

China has been preparing for the day and we don't even acknowledge it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IgN88aLRGg

[napscoordinator]

We’ve had a spending problem since Reagan. Nothing has changed.

[Thilly Thailor]

I agree that we need an Article V convention. My ideas:

1. No representation without taxation. Generally speaking, if you aren't a taxpayer then you don't get to vote. Anybody on welfare etc. would be stripped of the vote while they're receiving benefits. Also, no vote if you've declared personal bankruptcy in the past several years.

2. No representation without national service. If you want to vote, then you must first complete a tour of duty in the armed forces or some alternate program. You gotta serve before you can vote. The policy shall be: men fight, women support, but all serve.

3. No vote for felons. If you're convicted of a felony and are in custody, probation or parole, you don't get to vote.

4. Repeal the 16th Amendment as far at the personal income tax is concerned and replace it with a NRST.

5. All voting shall take place in person and with a valid photo ID using exclusively paper ballots.

6. Congress may not appropriate money for foreign armed engagements without a formal declaration of war.

7. Laws relating to abortion, contraception, marriage, prayer in school, racial and sexual discrimination shall be exclusively within the jurisdiction of the several States and the Supremacy Clause does not extend to state laws in those areas and all such issues are un-reviewable by any federal court.

It's a start.

[cgbg]

Unfortunately, political corruption is as American as apple pie.

My grandfather used to deliver suitcases full of cash to local politicians before almost anyone around was born yet.

[ClearCase_guy]

I like those.