President Biden’s American Rescue Plan would be more aptly named “The Era of Big Government is Back.”
Government created the problem, namely shuttering the United States economy, fearing COVID-19. This national shutdown has caused enormous damage to American small business, our economy, and, most importantly, our citizens.
Many of the shutdowns were precipitated by the fear-mongering and gross incompetence of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC is funded with billions of taxpayer dollars to protect public health, but the agency was unable to provide accurate information or testing for COVID-19. The Washington Post separately confirmed that Food and Drug Administration officials concluded that the CDC violated its own laboratory standards in making the testing kits. Biden should have terminated the CDC leadership for incompetence. Instead, he flew to Atlanta to praise them as pandemic war heroes.
The governors of New York and California will likely lose their jobs by year’s end because they shut down their states, causing enormous economic harm.
The nation’s children are suffering mental and physical decline because they have been essentially quarantined in their homes for over a year. The only education these students have received has been virtual, an approach that has been ineptly implemented by the public school system. Many of these students will never recover academically, and this harms their future and our country. School choice has saved many students academically, with most private schools operating at capacity. And home schooling expanded from two to five million students.
Restaurants have been mostly shuttered — even outdoor dining, which is proven to be much safer than indoor dining in often poorly ventilated spaces. More than one in six restaurants have closed or gone bankrupt, destroying employment and small business.
Thankfully, America has some courageous leaders, including Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota. There were no mandated shutdowns or masks required for South Dakota residents.
Because Gov. Noem declined the federal, weekly $600 unemployment supplement, South Dakota has the lowest unemployment in the United States. Schools have been operating, and students continue to achieve on par with their grade level, while maintaining their mental health.
Gov. Ron DeSantis also exercised good judgment by minimizing disruptions in Florida. Schools are open, business is booming, and citizens are making a mad rush to move to Florida from the high-taxed, blue lockdown states in the Northeast.
Unfortunately, our Congress does not share the shared wisdom of Govs. Noem and DeSantis — nor does President Biden.
The federal government solution of spending $5 trillion of borrowed money — increasing the national debt by 20 percent in a single year — is grotesque and moronic.
The damage from $5 trillion in COVID relief spending cannot be exaggerated. At 3 percent interest, it permanently adds $150 billion to the federal budget.
Also worrying is that states, individuals, schools, and bloated pensions are receiving free money, creating a moral hazard. If states accept the federal funds, they are not allowed to reduce taxes until 2024 — another example of statist laws. The free lunch is wildly popular, but morally corrupting.
Think about the plight of endlessly taxed, working-class Americans, as our federal government lavishes massive funds on poorly managed states, agencies, large industries, and school systems.
Economist Steve Moore points out that every American could have enjoyed a tax-free holiday in 2021 for far less negative impact to the federal budget. If you want to grow the economy, provide incentives to business and workers, not to bureaucrats working virtually and states that refuse to live within the tax revenue generated.
The Moore plan would have restored economic growth and seed capital of many small businesses.
But under Biden’s plan, the productive and working class are punished, so politicians can grow state power, which makes our nation less productive and more vulnerable to adversaries, such as China and Russia. The federal government is borrowing money to corrupt and regulate America’s most important industries, including education and medicine.
And the Biden spending spree is just beginning. Soon, the administration will introduce an infrastructure proposal, which should be known as the Green New Deal, aka AOC’s curse, a very bad deal for Americans.
Green energy may be desirable, but it is expensive and, worse, it is unreliable. The green movement will always be in denial: Texans died this year in a small part due to the failure of green energy. By the way, the world is not coming to an end in 10 years, but massive federal spending will inflict severe harm on Americans.
It should be noted that the “COVID relief” bill will include one of the largest tax increases in American history. Regardless of tax rates, the federal government never collects more than 18 percent of GDP, but the Biden administration is determined to spend up to 40 percent of the GDP this year, compounding our national debt crisis.
The Federal Reserve Bank is the enabler of fiscal deficits by keeping interest rates low. This Fed policy is inflating the price of capital goods, such as homes and stocks, which always ends in a financial meltdown.
Congress needs to stop spending and begin addressing the urgent needs of Americans by deregulation and downsizing of the federal government to 18 percent of the U.S. GDP.
Hard-working Americans supported by entrepreneurs, inventors, financiers, and scientists will improve the quality of life in America, but creativity requires freedom, not onerous strictures and regulations.
