“The Three Stooges of the Apocalypse have discovered ‘free money’ is good politics, but only in the short-term.”
President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Three Stooges of the Apocalypse, are destroying our country. They, along with every Democrat senator, and all but one Democrat in the House have discovered that giving people ‘free money’ in the form of government checks has no political downside. The fact that only one Democrat in all of Washington, D.C. rejected the bloated spending bill is a clear sign these elected officials see zero political risk to what they are doing. When politicians see nothing but upside, you can bet they will pursue that course to the end. In this case, the end will be the destruction of our country.
For the past 12 months, many Americans have lived in fear of a virus that has a survival rate of more than 98 percent. I have not been one of them. But what does frighten me, is the Democrat’s response to the virus. They are exploiting it to gain a permanent political majority in Washington by handing out ‘free money’ to every American, with the promise that there is more where that came from.
Sen. Schumer said earlier this week, “If [the American people] need more help, we’ll do another bill.” Just as Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board explained how Democrats are using this bill to turn every American into a ward of the State.
From the Wall Street Journal:
“Only a small part of what Democrats passed is for pandemic or economic relief. It’s mainly a way station on their high-speed train to a cradle-to-grave welfare-entitlement state. Most of the $1.9 trillion will flow to government unions or supposedly temporary income transfers that Democrats intend to make permanent later this year.
The $300 federal enhanced weekly jobless benefit, which will be extended through Sept. 6. Most Democrats want to detach welfare from work as a matter of principle…Most unemployed workers will still make at least $600 per week when state benefits are included and as much as they did working. Democrats also exempted the first $10,200 in payments collected last year from federal taxes for households with less than $150,000 in income. This exemption will boost their value by up to 24% depending on a household’s income and tax bracket.
All of this arrives when the Covid vaccine rollout is accelerating, the economy is recovering at a rapid pace, and the national jobless rate is already down to 6.2%. The goal of this Democratic program isn’t Covid relief. The point is to expand and solidify the role of government as the guarantor of every American’s income unlinked to any obligation to work.
- The bill sends another $1,400 to individuals earning up to $75,000 ($2,800 for couples with $150,000 income) plus $1,400 per dependent including kids in college. This follows the $1,200 for individuals and $500 per dependent in the Cares Act and $600 for each in the December relief bill. In total, most non-affluent families of four will get $11,400 in direct payments.
- Households will also get a $3,600 fully refundable tax credit for each child under age 6 and $3,000 for those up to age 17. The current $2,000 child tax credit is only partly refundable, meaning people who pay little or no taxes don’t receive the full benefit. But now people could collect more from the child tax credit than they pay in taxes and even earn in wages.
- Health insurance plans on the ObamaCare exchanges have long been unattractive for those who earn too much to qualify for premium subsidies and young adults with low health expenses. The bill tries to lure more people to the exchanges by sweetening subsidies through 2022, and Democrats will vote to make them permanent in the midterm election year.
Americans who have lost their jobs or their businesses will greatly benefit from this additional spending, and I believe they ought to get additional aid. But what would be of even greater benefit to them is if the government simply lifted all Covid restrictions and allowed people to go about their lives.
But this business of sending every American, regardless of need, a check will destroy our country. Politicians will do this again and again because it’s good politics, but only in the short term. By the time it becomes bad politics, every one of these clowns will be long gone and it will our children and grandchildren left with nothing but memories of a once great nation.
Catherine Mortensen is Vice President of Communications at Americans for Limited Government.
