Louisiana Voice

Royal Alexander, writing for The Hayride, recently penned an article in which he attacked the “gargantuan debt expenditure” contained in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ $3.5 trillion bill which Alexander claims “would remake our form of government and way of life.”

To bolster his argument, Alexander falls back on the old reliable law of supply and demand which he somehow equates to economic utopia. That would be the same law of supply and demand that has seen the costs of life-saving prescription drugs, for example, soar into the stratosphere and out of reach of those who desperately need them.

Alexander manages to claim, somewhat incredulously, that that law of supply and demand “has lifted millions out of poverty,” while ignoring the contributions of America’s labor unions on this, the eve of Labor Day.

And yes, there has been widespread documented corruption within many unions, but thanks to their clout in the days before Right to Work laws lifted the yoke of responsibility and compassion off management, those same unions gave Americans a decent wage, shorter hours, paid vacations, pension plans, sick leave, group health and life insurance plans and safer work places – all while eliminating child labor and exploitation of female workers in sweatshops.

Alexander says that Sanders advocates “exorbitant, permanent taxes including on the middle class…” He also says Sanders points to countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark when talking up socialist programs while ignoring countries like Venezuela. I would argue instead that Alexander, in his haste to condemn socialism, points to Venezuela, which is more authoritarian than socialist, while ignoring the Scandinavian countries, consistently described as homes to the happiest people on earth.

And while he attacks socialism on principle, Alexander never reveals whether or not he rejected on that same principle any of those $1400 stimulus checks doled out by that socialist Trump administration in response to the coronavirus pandemic – or whether or not big corporations should have rejected those corporate welfare tax breaks enacted by the socialist Republican Congress.

Somewhat disingenuously, Alexander attacks Sanders’ arguments against “wealth inequality” by pointing out that the median household income grew by 9.2 percent between 2016-2019 while conveniently ignoring that fact that the rate of inflation was 13.75 percent – meaning the average wage earner actually lost ground.

Working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year over a work-life of 50 years, it would take the average American worker 13 lifetimes to earn the 2019 single year’s income ($21.3 million) of the average CEO of America’s top 350 US firms – and that’s assuming a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

As Alexander wrings his hands at the prospect of Benie’s $3.5 trillion bill, let’s consider how those numbers stack up when compared to other costs:

The estimated costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including benefits still to be paid out for health care of the war veterans through 2050: $8 trillion. By comparison:

• It would take $1.7 trillion to pay off all outstanding US student loans;
• It would cost $1.4 trillion to provide universal, high-quality early care and education for all US children for 10 years;
• The cost of the war is nearly twice as much as the combined costs of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and Sanders’ $3.5 trillion bill.
• The cost of the war is roughly 12 times Jeff Bezos’s net worth of $190 billion.

Finally, it’s worth going over some facts and figures from the Congressional Budget Office.

The $5.6 trillion cumulative surplus that existed in January 2001 as George W. Bush assumed the presidency morphed into a $6.1 trillion cumulative deficit by 2011, an unfavorable “turnaround” of an eye-popping $11.7 trillion – largely the result of the cost of the Iraq/Afghanistan war and tax cuts enacted by Bush.

But it goes back even further. Public debt rose during the administration of Ronald Reagan, who cut tax rates and increased military spending – an unhealthy combination. While the debt fell during the Bill Clinton years when military spending was decreased and taxes were increased, it rose again sharply in the wake of the Iraq/Afghanistan war and the 2007-2008 financial crisis that came at the end of George W. Bush’s presidency.

NATIONAL DEBT INCREASES*

Ronald Reagan: Added $1.86 trillion, a 186% increase, almost doubling the $997.8 billion debt at the end of Carter’s last budget.

George H.W. Bush: Added $1.554 trillion to the $2.857 trillion debt at the end of Reagan’s last budget, a 54% increase.

Bill Clinton: Added $1.396 trillion to the $4.4 trillion debt at the end of George H.W. Bush’s last budget, a 31.6% increase.

George W. Bush: Added $5.849 trillion to the $5.8 trillion debt at the end of Clinton’s last budget, FY 2001, a 101% increase.

Barack Obama: Added $8.588 trillion to the $11.657 trillion debt at the end of Bush’s last budget in 2009, a 73.6% increase.

Donald Trump: As of the end of FY 2020, the debt was $26.9 trillion. Trump added $6.7 trillion to the debt since Obama’s last budget, a 33.1% increase due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic

DEFICIT INCREASES*

Ronald Reagan: Total = $1.412 trillion, a 142% increase

George H.W. Bush: Total = $1.036 trillion, a 36% increase

Bill Clinton: Total = $63 billion surplus, a 1% decrease

George W. Bush: Total = $3.293 trillion, a 57% increase

Barack Obama: Total = $6.781 trillion, a 58% increase

Donald Trump: Total Actual plus Budgeted = $6.612 trillion, a 33% increase

* (Trump and George H.W. Bush served only four years each. Each of the others were in office for eight years.)

So, in retrospect, it would seem that while Republicans love to lay claim to being the party of fiscal responsibility, neither party can stake out that claim with any degree of credibility. For the proponent of either party to attack the other for a “socialist agenda” or “fiscal irresponsibility” is intellectually dishonest.

I keep reminding myself that when I got married back in 1968, gasoline was 30 cents a gallon and my first home, a three-bedroom brick house on an acre lot, cost less than $15,000. But my full-time job that same year paid a whopping $6,500 per year, so, everything’s relative

Mr. Alexander needs to come down off his high horse and stop posturing in the guise of “good government.” The underlying cause of the runaway inflation is greed – pure and simple greed. And greed knows no party labels.