With all the rhetoric about war with Iran, impeachment and border wall funding, no one is talking about our national deficit. The combination of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts ($1.5 trillion), and the recently passed 2020 U.S. budget have set us up for a grand bankruptcy. Under Trump our annual budget deficits have ballooned from $585 billion in 2016, to $804 billion in 2018, to a projected $984 billion in 2019. Almost $1 trillion last year alone, a 68% increase since 2016!
What are Trump and Congress thinking? Do they think we could just make a great deal on refinancing with the banks? Do they think the Chinese will keep buying T-Bills forever?
When the Chinese decide they’ve had enough with this trade war and stop buying, everything falls apart: Our overinflated 401ks, the social safety net (Social Security and Medicare), and the overall economy. The real problems, like climate change, will be much more difficult to address. History tells us what happens when we’re promised “a chicken in every pot” (The Great Depression), as the recent budget has promised. This will affect everyone.
Wake up folks, we need the missing deficit hawks more than ever.
John Kennington
Cottonwood Heights