The angry voices on the Left have been shrieking non-stop since the passing of Trump’s spending bill. They’re complaining about many things. Some real and some imaginary. Among the imaginary things are claims that the bill will lead to millions of deaths. Apparently, Alligator Alcatraz and other anti-illegal immigration programs will cause death and destruction to be rained on the heads of all kinds of good people. I listened to a video where an unhinged middle-aged woman ranted for about ten minutes in a deranged strangling snarl full of obscenities and bile about how Alligator Alcatraz was a Nazi death camp. Now granted, there was a certain entertainment value to her act. But that wore off after about a minute and a half. So, the fake complaints about the bill are somewhat tedious.
One of the real complaints is that this bill will add three trillion dollars to the debt over ten years. Now this is a true statement. This bill will not reduce the deficit. Our country is spending much more money than it takes in from taxes. This growing debt is a very serious threat to our future. But Trump like every other politician knows that even balancing the budget (never mind paying down the debt) would throw the economy into a recession. So, he plays the same game as all the rest of them. He stimulates the economy by increasing the debt. And he’s right. If the economy stalls the Republicans will be voted out in the House and Senate and the Democrats will regain power.
So, is our problem insoluble? It seems so.
The only way I can see to fix the problem is to reduce government expenditures drastically and then pay down the debt over the course of decades. But how can the Republicans remain in power for decades? They can’t. I guess we could default on the debt but that would bankrupt not only countless American citizens but would also plunge the global finance system into worse than chaos. It might even cause a world war.
So, what we are left with is the current status quo. The debt will continue to grow until it becomes so unmanageable that hyperinflation solves the problem for us. The dollar will become worthless and nobody will want to buy bonds from us. Problem solved. Of course, that will also spell doom for whichever party is in power when that happens.
I wonder what Donald Trump thinks is the solution. Maybe he’s got an idea about making a deal. He’s a man who used “too big to fail” any number of times to renegotiate debt on his shaky business investments; casinos and hotels. What if Trump tells China and Europe and anyone else holding our debt that unless they renegotiate the interest rates we will simply default on the whole damn thing? What could they say, no? I bet they would take the attitude that half a loaf is better than nothing. Combined with a balanced budget amendment could be a permanent solution to our debt problem. Maybe this is his big beautiful plan. After all America is the ultimate example of too big to fail. Maybe all we need is the art of the deal.