Who says bipartisanship is dead?
America’s two major political parties proved yet again that they always agree on one thing: the need for more spending.
Sure, one side says it wants to put an end to runaway military spending and the other says it wants to put an end to runaway social spending, but then they compromise by granting higher spending to both categories. Checkbook balancers, these are not.
It happened again on Monday when President Donald Trump, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer—who get along about as well as a badger, a bear, and a boa in a bag—announced they’d struck a bipartisan budget deal by following the least creative path possible. It feathers the military nest and tosses cash to the masses, no belt tightening in sight.
Never mind the distracting trillion-dollar budget deficit. A trillion ain’t what it used to be, which was a thousand billion. It’s now a mere fifth of five trillion, and five trillion is a whole 21 years away at the 8.2% compound annual rate of deficit growth since 2008, according to data from the Office of Management and Budget. Twenty-one years hence, AOC’s proposed 70% tax rate should be in effect, and all of this will cease to matter anyway, so why worry?
Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted the new budget deal wasn’t perfect, but said “compromise is necessary in divided government.” Such compromise—where nobody gives up a thing but just votes for more spending across the board—has proved remarkably popular in non-divided government as well. “More money! More money!” is as evergreen a chant as you’re likely to hear.
And it worked this week, garnering a federal spending jump of $320 billion and the suspension of that pesky debt ceiling until the end of July 2021, nearly nine months after the next presidential election. Just think of the spending “compromises” they can dream up in the freedom of infinite borrowing capacity.
It’s like receiving along with your new no-limit American Express Centurion card a second no-limit American Express Centurion card. What the heck, why not get one for each member of the family?
In Washington, the massive federal debt might give some pause but everybody knows debt gets easier after the first $22 trillion. Additional trillions just roll off the pen. Whoo! Once the zeros can’t fit on calculator screens anymore, innumerate voters will stop watching anyway. Oh wait, that already happened.
Watch for Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase as a campaign slogan one of these cycles: “To Infinity and Beyond!” captures the spirit of political debt addiction. We might as well embrace it.
Washington’s idea of bipartisanship has made our politicians the Buzz Lightyears of borrowing.