Many of us have friends or acquaintances who seem to enjoy helping us spend our money.
If you are out with them, they are always eager to point out a tool we need (maybe it’s because we are always borrowing their tool). On the distaff side, it usually starts out with “that outfit is made for you.” I believe some of these people eventually go into politics so they can spend other people's money.
Most of us have noticed the increase in prices of many commodities since the election and inauguration. Gasoline at the pump is one of the most evident as prices are posted on huge electronic signs at the stations so they can change the price and at the pumps instantaneously and often.
Higher fuel costs mean higher transportation costs and everything that comes by truck. You’d be amazed just how much that really is.
This is intentional as the government is hell bent on reducing the consumption of fossil fuels whether it hurts the populace and economy or not. But the hardest folks hit in this scheme are the ones who must drive to work in an older, less fuel efficient car. They can’t change their transportation choices.
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The government believes it can ignore modern history. It took the modern world a century to transition from wood to coal. It took another century to fully transition from coal to oil, natural gas with some nuclear. No government edict can get us to total reliance on “renewable/green” energy sources.
And, in my opinion, we will have to supplement that with significant increases in nuclear sources given climatic issues.
But let’s get our arms around this next “stimulus” bill now titled the “American Rescue Plan.” To put this in perspective, the $1.9 trillion divided by the current population estimate of 326.7 million people in the US works out to roughly $6,000 per person.
Up front, the best each person gets is $1,400, which seems like chump change to me. Give every family making less than minimum wage $25,000 and then forget the rest!
The only thing that America needs to be “rescued” from is the liberal, progressive agenda whose goal is to transform America into an oligarchy with the most radical factions of the Democrat Party in perpetual power. I wish that were an exaggeration; it is not.
Admittedly, some people will get more in unemployment benefits and child care credits, with some tax credits and assistance to small businesses. But where is the rest of the money going, how much of it is really a direct benefit to us citizens and how much more is going toward people, organizations, corporations and agencies here and around the world that will have little, if any, benefit on the American people?
Less than 10% of the $1.9 trillion is going directly to citizens. One analysis I read noted that indirect benefits, depending on other factors, will go to some people bringing that percentage to about 25%. That also means 75% of that massive pot of money is going to other organizations and causes.
A small example:
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- $50 million to “unspecified” family planning organizations like Planned Parenthood.
- $500 million for museums and Native American language preservation.
- $155 billion to local governments, territories, and tribes.
- $129 billion for K-12 Education.
- $40 billion for colleges and universities.
- $1.5 billion for Amtrak.
- $5 billion to pay off loans for “socially disadvantaged” farmers (non-white?).
Another item has been titled a “blue state bailout” - $150 billion is going to states; California alone is getting $42.2 billion. Isn’t the Speaker from California? San Francisco gets a bailout. Of the 10 states with the highest unemployment, eight are run by Democrats.
And $700 billion, including 95% of the school reopening money, has been allocated to being spent between 2022 and 2031! Is this really an “urgent” need?
As Bloomberg reports, “Democrats are closing their eyes and throwing the dice. Congress is passing President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill with shockingly little information about whether the U.S. economy can safely absorb it."
Our grandchildren will be paying the bill. Don’t expect them to thank us.
Well, that’s how I see it.
