The late satirical writer P. J. O’Rourke claimed, “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”
Remember the “Affordable Care Act,” affectionately known as “Obamacare”? Since its controversial passage in 2010, how affordable has your healthcare been? Well, if news reports are true, the millions of illegal aliens invading our country are getting free healthcare, as well as their free flights, hotel rooms, meals, etc.
But if you’re a native-born or legally-naturalized US citizen? The government’s message to you is: Pay up, sucker!
And if you’re honest, you’ve noticed prices on almost everything else in addition to health care being up as well. We’re being seriously gas-lit. When the Dems and legacy media (two heads of the same monster) tell us “prices are down,” what they mean is, down from, say one year ago. But if you compare prices to January 2021, when “Orange Man Bad” left office, prices on almost everything are up.
Gas prices “dropped” here around Roanoke to around $2.70/gallon or so during the winter, but are now up again over $3.00. Remember when Trump left office? It was about $1.89.
For the past year or so, hamburgers in most restaurants are around $11-$15. For a hamburger. A survey from wallethub.com claims “46% of Americans say inflation is affecting their Valentine’s Day plans.” A Salem resident was recently looking for rolls of transparent tape, the kind that used to be a dollar or less per roll. She found a 4-roll pack…for about $9.00. I’m sure you have your own stories.
Looking on the bright side, Bidenomics have made me a body-builder. I can now carry $100 worth of groceries with only two hands!
As a wise man in his 20s told me tonight, when I asked him why he thought prices were so high, he responded: “It’s probably a combination of factors, including the wars now, because everything’s connected.”
That’s true, and a big part of our high inflation now is our US National Debt. On usdebtclock.org (top left corner), you’ll see it’s now over $34 trillion. Unlike most of the media, which usually ignores the debt and instead focuses on passing this or that huge new spending bill, The Roanoke Star has actively reported on this growing crisis. Here’s one from May 2023, only nine months ago…(the time for a baby to develop, as long as the Democrats don’t abort it first)…when the debt was under $32 trillion. When this column was written in July 2018, the late columnist Dick Baynton was bemoaning a debt of over $21 trillion.
Columnist Robert Maronic pointed out what many experts are saying, but few are heeding: our national debt is our biggest national security threat. Not China. Not Russia. Not North Korea. And despite what a ranting Biden might accuse, it’s not even “MAGA Republicans.” It’s our own, enfeebled condition brought about by our uncontrolled spending.
To be fair, BOTH parties have contributed to this crisis.
For example, control of the White House and Congress has passed back and forth between the two parties, but the national debt keeps going up, and in this century, skyrocketing up.
Conservatives celebrate Ronald Reagan, but the US debt passed its first trillion mark during his administration (1981-1989). Put another way, Americans in their 40s and older remember the Reagan years, so from then till now the debt has ballooned from $1 trillion to over $34 trillion!
At this point, the interest payments only on the debt are around $1 trillion a year, and those interest payments are about as big as our nation’s defense budget.
Basically, the more our government goes into debt and “creates” money out of thin air, each dollar we possess is worth less. And as I often told my students, when your money is worth less, it eventually becomes worthless. That’s what inflation is. Too many dollars chasing too few goods. Each dollar can buy less. So prices on everything go up.
The usdebtclock.org has a “time machine” at the top left. You can see how in 1980, Democrat Jimmy Carter’s last year in office, the debt was about $940 billion. No one knows the future, but going at current projections, by 2024, we’re projected to be at $46 trillion.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D), who has always voted for bigger budgets and debts, is running for re-election this year. Will Virginia voters reward his bad behavior with six more years?
As some claim, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Since we opened with P. J. O’Rourke, we’ll close with him too: “No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.”
– Scott Dreyer