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The Greatest Financial Swindle of All Time
Townhall.com ^ | December 14, 2021 | Stephen Moore

Posted on 12/14/2021 5:22:15 AM PST by Kaslin

One of the most popular provisions of the 1994 Contract with America was a rule requiring Congress to live by the same laws that families and businesses are subject to.

So, why doesn't Congress live by the financial and accounting standards required of the rest of us?

I'm speaking of the multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better law, a giant financial masquerade. No one knows what it costs. None of the Democrats in Congress who are hellbent on passing it seems to care. That may be because, as the House Budget Committee chairman has pronounced, "We can pay for whatever we want to pay for."

Uh-huh. Don't hire this man as your accountant.

The bookkeeping gambits in this bill are so brazen that it's hard to believe they think they can get away with it.

One of the tricks is to hide the actual cost by counting 10 years of revenue to pay for five years of new spending programs. But, amazingly, even with this sleight of hand, they can't make the numbers add up. Another is to assume that Congress can pass the most significant increase in U.S. history and it won't hurt the economy.

The Congressional Budget Office has to score whatever Congress sends its way, so it shows massive deficits in the first five years of the Build Back Broker bill and then, magically, the next five years generate significant surpluses.

Is there any human being on the planet who believes these surpluses will emerge or that these new entitlement programs will disappear? They won't. Congress is planting seeds in the budget that we know from experience will grow into mighty (expensive) oak trees. We will let the children worry about that in 10 or 20 years. CARTOONS | Tom Stiglich View Cartoon

Yet, President Joe Biden still reads off the teleprompter that the bill "costs nothing" and it "won't raise the debt by a penny." I wonder if he even believes that.

It is closer to a $4 trillion tax, spend and borrow blitzkrieg with honest accounting, not $2 trillion. Under the process of reconciliation, legislation typically expires after 10 years unless Congress votes to make such provisions permanent, as it did, for example, with former President George W. Bush's tax-cut bill. Using reconciliation allows the president and Democratic leaders to mask the actual cost of BBB. As former President Ronald Reagan said, "Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this Earth."

If a CEO of a major corporation or the manager of a small business did accounting the way Congress does, they would get thrown in jail. Bernie Madoff doesn't hold a candle to the Democrats in Congress. And for full disclosure, Republicans pull from this bag of tricks, too.

The one man who can rescue us is West Virginia's Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. He's been calling out his colleagues for their chicanery.

But will he stick to his guns and force Congress to use generally accepted accounting principles and real numbers? We can only hope. If he doesn't, he too will be a co-conspirator in one of the greatest financial swindles of all time.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bidenadmin; idiotbiden; residentbiden

1 posted on 12/14/2021 5:22:15 AM PST by Kaslin
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“Yet, President Joe Biden still reads off the teleprompter that the bill “costs nothing” and it “won’t raise the debt by a penny.” I wonder if he even believes that.”

He couldn’t balance a checkbook with the help of 2 CPAs, so what does he know?


2 posted on 12/14/2021 5:34:21 AM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: Taxman

Ping


3 posted on 12/14/2021 5:39:24 AM PST by Taxman (SAVE AMERICA!)
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To: Kaslin

Biden’s Bolshevik Bullshit.


4 posted on 12/14/2021 5:59:03 AM PST by beethovenfan (Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: Kaslin

You can get a house for free with this one simple trick. Just whisper (creepily) that the house does not cost anything.


5 posted on 12/14/2021 6:08:58 AM PST by pas
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To: Kaslin

Our Congressmen and women understand finance much better than you and I.

The typical congress critter arrives in Washington without two quarters to rub together. Within a few years they are multi millionaires. Their investment skills outshine the finest Wall Street houses, as our beloved speaker Nancy Pullaski has beaten every known hedge fund for decades. Obviously they are simply extremely smart.

Therefore, I am certain that we can trust them on this one. They are simply doing what is best for America, and our coming generations.

If, on the outside chance that this deal isn’t on the fair and square, the American Press, the great defender of our Republic, would raise a cry to alert us to the dangers.


6 posted on 12/14/2021 6:42:30 AM PST by AlbertWang
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To: Kaslin

Even a Keynesian would admit an increase in government spending increases inflation, which is the last thing we need right now.


7 posted on 12/14/2021 7:30:26 AM PST by FormerFRLurker
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To: Kaslin

the Republic is hanging by a manchin thread


8 posted on 12/14/2021 7:51:15 AM PST by joshua c (Dump the LEFT. Cable tv, Big tech, national name brands)
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To: joshua c

Machine is already a very rich man, so why is it so hard for him to do the right thing.


9 posted on 12/14/2021 9:58:34 AM PST by robowombat (Orthodox )
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