LETTER: Biden’s reckless spending and inflation
It’s easy to blame COVID for the high inflation we are experiencing. But the real problem are the emergency responses to COVID. There were three, the first two of which occurred in 2020 with bipartisan support. These two ($3.1 trillion) actually addressed the COVID problem, but were unfunded and came from debt.
The third piece was the nail in the economic coffin. This was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that President Joe Biden and the Democrats pushed through right after his inauguration through the reconciliation process, with zero bipartisan support. With no funding and only debt, this bill threw free money into the economy. Prices shot up as supply could not keep up with demand. This was the perfect example of Nancy Pelosi’s mantra to never let an emergency go to waste.
Inflation will soon have a double whammy effect because the Fed will have to raise interest rates to try to control it. This means that the interest on the future national debt will skyrocket and take a bigger share of the budget..
When the debt increased from $8 trillion to $29 trillion under Barack Obama, Donald Trump and now Mr. Biden, the interest payment didn’t grow very much because of the low interest rates. Wouldn’t you take a $1 billion if there were no interest and no need to actually pay it back?
The Build Back Better program is another reconciliation ploy that will be partly paid for by taxes on wealthy people and corporations, who will simply pass those taxes back to us consumers and regular folk. Most of it will be funded by more national debt and ever more expensive interest payments. We cannot afford this boondoggle just because Mr. Biden has a catchy slogan.