Week Six

Perhaps the most egregious aspect of the new administration is their blind pursuit of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of the population. The tax bill/budget passed by the U.S. House last week proposed $4.5 Trillion in tax cuts to be offset by $2 Trillion in cuts to programs Americans depend upon. In other words, the House wants to borrow another $2.5 Trillion to fund tax cuts. The Senate majority seems poised to go along. I don’t know anyone, including my conservative friends, who want the federal government to borrow more money to fund tax cuts.

Think of it like our family budget. As I wrote earlier this month, I re-negotiated how we interface with our internet and television provider. The savings per month worked out to about $120. Should those savings be used to fund other new things, or should they be applied to reduce short term debt? Obviously short term debt should be as close to zero as is possible to make room for emergencies. That’s where the savings should be applied. Assuming household finances are stable, that’s what I will do.

The idea that household finances will remain stable is a bit off. We rely on Social Security and Medicare in retirement. It now appears Team DOGE is planning to fire as much as half the staff at the Social Security Administration. There are two determinants of how things are going at the SSA: how well they manage the trust fund, and whether our monthly pension payments arrive on time. Whether they can manage to create the same service with half the staff is doubtful. If nothing else, the SSA has proven to be well-managed, an example of efficient government operations. In February the payments arrived as they normally had. There is uncertainty over whether that will continue to be the case.

Why is there uncertainty? In case you missed it, in week six, the Trump administration is running an amateur hour on most aspects of its management of our government. My feeling is Trump doesn’t really care for the job and all it entails. He outsourced work he should be doing to Elon Musk in an arbitrary appointment as his “special adviser.” Musk obviously has no clue about how the federal government operates. His statement this week, “We’ll make mistakes, won’t be perfect,” at the initial cabinet meeting was far from reassuring. Exactly the opposite. He expects inexperienced billionaires in the cabinet to go along with the slipshod way he is attempting to manage change in governmental agencies. I have to ask where was Trump during his cabinet meeting?

Since the November election, the ultra rich have come out of hiding to loot the treasury. What do I mean by that? On Thursday, 880 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees were fired, and the process of dismantling the agency Americans (and the rest of the world) depend upon for accurate weather forecasting began. NOAA and it’s parent agency the Department of Commerce stiff-armed news reporters about what was going on. The sudden firings raised more questions than they answered about Trump’s approach to government. People need accurate weather forecasts. If under the president’s direction NOAA goes away, some private company may have to take over to provide the service. I guess that is the point of this administration: give all the money to private businesses and the wealthiest among us.

Robert Reich suggested in his Feb. 28 substack article, “An important aspect of the era we’re in is that a record share of the nation’s wealth is in the hands of a small group of people who are now revealing themselves to be remarkably selfish, shameless, and insensitive to the needs of America.” Seriously! Key billionaires were lined up next to the podium at Trump’s swearing in ceremony! The idea people do not like the wealthy is not new.

If the administration tampers with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as they seem intent on doing, regular folks will rise up against the wealthy class. As I’ve written before, “Providing tax cuts to the well-off in Iowa and in the country at the expense of programs less well-off people depend upon is the wrong direction.” If there is a disruption in these three agencies, you don’t need Jeane Dixon to predict an open revolt.

I follow Republican Victoria Spartz from Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. In a recent newsletter, she wrote, “If the GOP does not have the backbone to start fixing healthcare in reconciliation, we have to start a full government takeover now – before we completely bankrupt our country and our people.” In the end, she voted to raise the debt ceiling and borrow another $2.5 Trillion to give to the wealthiest Americans. What Spartz means by “fixing healthcare” isn’t the same thing I, or any normal person, means. Since the GOP does not have any perceivable backbone, it will be up to the rest of us to start a full government takeover, and soon.