Category: Goobermint

There’s a new sheriff in town

By Frank Liberato
There’s a new sheriff in town and he cares not a whit for you, your family, or your country. The rescinding of the “public charge” rule was the latest domino to fall in the Biden administration’s abandonment of all Trump-era measures to restrict immigration and protect the border.

People breaking into our country, now do so with impunity. They are still breaking the law but there is no enforcement in the wokeisphere.

In the old America, if you wanted to become a citizen, you had to show proficiency in English, a basic understanding of American civics, and the ability to support yourself. Then you would get in line with all the other applicants.

The impact of those requirements would now appear to be negligible with most immigrants coming here illegally. The Biden administration sees only votes and will promote any law or take any executive action that makes it easier to enter the country.

Once they’re here, Biden wants to ease and shorten the path to citizenship. This will provide the left with an endless supply of Democrat voters and undermine the fabric of the American culture that they so loathe. Two birds with one stone. Welcome to wokeworld.

Illegal immigrants enjoy a special status that American citizens do not. They are largely ignored or protected in many states and municipalities, and they are eligible for benefits they have not paid for. The vast majority work hard and simply want a better life for themselves and their families, but the fact is that they broke our laws to come here. In Biden’s woke America, they will be rewarded for it.

This situation is not sustainable. With open borders and open benefits, the millions that are coming today will soon be tens of millions. With such an abrupt change in demographics, the American culture will likely start to dissolve under the pressure. When foreigners can come into the United States with little more than an obligation to attend a hearing two years down the road, and over ninety percent don’t show up, then we have no border. If we have no border, we have no country.

The last great migration to America ended around 1920. This was almost entirely legal immigration, so we knew who was coming and how many. It took a forty-year cooling-off period for the country to absorb the new immigrants and for those immigrants to assimilate into American culture. They’ll be no such luxury this time. The new numbers dwarf the last wave, and they will only be accelerating.

Even the “wokest” of western nations understands the necessity for a secure border. Most, despite the boatloads of refugees they take in each year, are quite strict in administering and protecting their borders. How is it that America has come to forsake its own security and that of its people?

The answer lies with America’s leftist elite. They are a caste of preening, narcissistic, would-be-aristocrats and they need an ever-burgeoning underclass to keep voting for Democrats to support their lifestyles and egos.

They import voters from third-world countries and tear down America’s middle class while claiming to be their champion. They build walls around their houses. They build walls around their communities and now they have built a wall around the capital. All this while fiercely opposing a wall at the southern border where all varieties of turpitude and criminality are imported into the United States.

The rank hypocrisy is hiding in plain sight. The new Marxist elites can live behind walls but average citizens are left to fend for themselves. The woke folk have armed guards and state of the art law enforcement while community policing is defunded and our Second Amendment rights are threatened with new restrictions and taxation. There is increasingly nowhere for the average person to turn to for justice and security.

The Cloward- Piven plan from the 1960s called for overwhelming America’s social welfare system to topple capitalism and usher in a new utopian, socialist government. With the backdrop of an overtaxed citizenry, massive illegal immigration, a rapid increase in violent crime, endless wars, endless crises, and an exploding national debt, the pieces are all in place for large-scale social unrest. Just the way they planned it.

Rep. Andrew Clyde’s Big Idea: Restore Second Amendment and eliminate all taxes on firearms.

The Big Idea is a series that asks top lawmakers and figures to discuss their moonshot — what’s the one proposal, if politics and polls and even price tag were not an issue, they’d implement to change the country for the better?  

Georgia GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde brings to Congress a deep understanding of federal firearms laws, as a licensed gun store owner for the last 30 years.

Clyde’s real-world experience has convinced him federal government regulations have gone way too far by infringing on the Second Amendment. The Navy combat veteran now wants to lead the charge in Congress on restoring gun rights and rolling back century-old laws that tax firearms.

“I’m very passionate about the Second Amendment, not just defending it, but restoring it because we’ve lost a lot of ground,” Clyde told Fox News.

While House Democrats on Thursday passed an expansion of gun background check provisions, Clyde takes the opposite approach. He campaigned in 2020 on the “complete elimination” of the background checks established by the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and wants to start a “conversation” in Congress on revising the system with a greater onus on the government to prove a person is legally prohibited from having a gun — and not the other way around.

“I really think the Brady background check system is looking at it backwards,” Clyde told Fox News. “We need to be looking at it from the point of the Second Amendment is an inalienable right.”

The freshman member is kicking off his gun-rights crusade by introducing legislation to speed up the background check waiting period from three business days to three calendar days.

In the longterm, Clyde is working on a landmark proposal to eliminate all taxes on guns and ammunition arguing that the Second Amendment is a constitutional right, much like voting rights, which cannot be limited by cost restrictions.

“If you can tax a constitutional right, then it is truly not a constitutional right,” Clyde said.

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Maternity Flight Suits and Other Admonitions.

Just about the first thing Lloyd Austin did after being confirmed as Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense was to issue a service-wide order mandating a one-day “stand down” within sixty days to “address extremism within the nation’s armed forces.” “What extremism?” you might be asking, and you would be right to ask.

No matter what Lloyd Austin or the media tells you, the trouble with the U.S. Armed Forces is not political extremism but the enervating rust of political correctness. As Victor Davis Hanson has shown, the upper echelons of the U.S. military were purged by Barack Obama. If they are politicized today, it is firmly in the direction of the woke ideology of identity politics.

Thus we have the commander-in-chief, Joe Biden, speak about the “intensity of purpose” that will be devoted to “designing body armor that fits women properly, tailoring combat uniforms for women, creating maternity flight suits, updating requirements for their hairstyles.” This was not a joke—or, rather, it was not said in jest.

Perhaps the Biden means to prepare the distaff side for a different sort of Battle of the Bulge. True, he would be modestly more reassuring about the U.S. military if he could remember the name of his defense secretary or the name of the building where he works. “I want to thank the—former general . . . the guy who runs that outfit over there.” Oh, dear.

Meanwhile, the Army is about to revise its standards for physical performance downwards so that women will be able to compete more effectively with men. Once upon a time, the Army’s slogan was “Be All That You Can Be.” Today, it might as well read “Be Whatever You Want.” Among the avalanche of executive diktats signed by Joe Biden in his first weeks in office is a directive approving sex reassignment surgery for active duty personnel.

Who pays for this madness? Why you, the taxpayer, natch, and at $100,000 a pop to turn Donna into someone you can call Dan you can bet it is going to add up to a pretty penny.

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TL/DR: if traders were worried that inflation expectations are already soaring (and taking rate hike odds with them), just wait until it becomes common knowledge that Biden is hoping to more than double the funding needs for more government stimmies in just a few months…

What’s Next: Here Comes Biden’s $2 Trillion Infrastructure Package

Earlier today we published a recap of Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan from Rabobank’s Philip Marey in which he observed that “the Democratic approach may have spoilt the mood for bipartisanship in the near term. Republicans claim that the Democrats were not serious about finding a bipartisan consensus.” In short, since not a single Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan and centrist Democratic senators have shown that they are willing to use their leverage in the 50-50 Senate. “this will increasingly anger progressives as their left wing agenda continues to be watered down by senators of their own political party. Therefore, if Biden does not proceed with caution, this could already have been the high point of his administration.”

That would be the rational view. Alternatively, in a world where a flood of new debt is the only option left to perpetuating a failed status quo, one can also argue that record polarization notwithstanding, it will be in the best interest of both republicans and democrats to push the current spending spree to its absurd limits.

That’s where Biden’s upcoming boondoggle – his infrastructure plan – comes in, and as Marey concedes, “if you think that $1.9 trillion is a lot of money, this does not mean that Democrats are going to stop their spending spree here.”

Below is the Rabobank’s strategist preview of what could be the next big thing from the Biden admin: the $2 trillion infrastructure deal.

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If This Week You Learned Biden is ‘Hopeful’ And Tucker Carlson Is Evil, Congratulations, You’ve Been Lied To

“Biden Tells Nation There Is Hope After a Devastating Year.”

“Hopeful Biden Says, ‘I Need You.’”

“Biden Sets Vaccine Goal That Would Allow Americans To Gather By July 4.”

These headlines, from the covers of the printed New York Times, LA Times, and Boston Globe, greeted Americans Friday morning, 51 days into the Biden presidency and a full year into the beginnings of America’s long lockdown experiment.

“Seven Takeaways From Biden’s Prime-Time Address” topped CNN’s site. Chris Cillizza’s first two “takeaways”? “Donald Trump dug the hole” was number one. Number two? “A return to empathy.” Chris Cillizza, it’s worth noting, is a 45-year-old man and does not work for the White House.

“Last night is why Joe Biden won the presidency,” Politico Playbook opened with a straight face.

If you hadn’t watched the president’s prime-time address, you might think it was something — anything — other than the most depressing, defeated, and resigned speech since President Jimmy Carter held the office. You might think he hadn’t devoted his third sentence to a baseless attack on his predecessor, and the entire rest of his address to death, sadness, loneliness, and despair. You might think he hadn’t literally threatened the American people, warning, “We may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track, please, we don’t want to do that again.”

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U.S. Citizenship Act Next On Biden Agenda

[Thursday], Joe Biden signed into law the 1.9 trillion dollar slush fund being billed as a Covid relief package. Next on his agenda is the U.S. Citizenship Act. Biden broke the border. His next legislation isn’t going to do anything to fix it.

During the 2020 Presidential Campaign, Biden promised to reverse the cruel Trump Administration program of “ripping children from their parents’ arms” and putting them “in cages”. On December 16, the New York Post reported:

Well, that didn’t take long. A border crisis is brewing before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Migrant caravans are forming in Honduras, where residents were hit with a pair of devastating hurricanes last month, adding to the economic hardship caused by COVID-19. Faced with ruin, many Hondurans have ­decided to defy local travel bans and head north.

On his first full day in office, Biden ended Trump’s stay in Mexico policy. Three months later, there is a crisis at the border. Thank you very much, Mr. Biden. The Border Patrol personnel is overwhelmed:

The Department of Homeland Security documents show that more than 3,400 children were in custody as of earlier this week and that the number of children being referred to Health and Human Services is growing almost three times faster than social workers are able to find appropriate homes for the children.

Many children can’t even get transferred to more hospitable shelters that can have bunk beds, video games, classrooms, medical facilities and ball fields because those are already at 94% capacity. That backlog explains why kids are staying on average 107 hours in the sprawling and sometimes jail-like Border Patrol facilities — longer than the 72 hours allowed by law.

And, that doesn’t even speak of the drug smuggling:

Mexican President Lopez-Obrador is not well-pleased with Biden:

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Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Federal COVID-19 Bailout Prohibits States From Cutting Taxes
The measure could also make it illegal for states to create new tax credit programs, such as those used for expanding school choice.

Buried within the $1.9 trillion emergency spending bill that Congress sent to President Joe Biden’s desk on Wednesday is a provision that could effectively block states from cutting taxes if they accept federal bailout dollars.

That provision, added to the bill by the Senate last week, could put a halt to several states’ plans to cut taxes this year as a way to stimulate economic growth following the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on how the text is interpreted, the measure could also make it illegal for states to create new tax credit programs like the ones that have become a popular mechanism for expanding school choice. Critics say this expansion of federal control over state policymaking is murky at best, and potentially unconstitutional.

First, the basics: The COVID-19 relief-bill-that-isn’t-really-a-relief-bill contains $350 billion earmarked for state governments, local governments, and Native American tribes. That money is supposed to help governments fill temporary budget holes created by the pandemic—even though the funding vastly exceeds actual state and local budget shortfalls, as Reason’s Christian Britschi has previously reported. States are in such non-dire straits, in fact, that about $150 billion of the state aid distributed as part of last year’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act hasn’t even been spent yet.

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I Am Really Freaking Sick of Anthony Fauci.

Why should you get vaccinated against COVID-19?

This isn’t a rhetorical question. It’s a question the people who are trying to convince you to get vaccinated need to answer. Here are just a few valid answers:

  • “So you don’t get COVID and die.”
  • “So you don’t get COVID and live, with horrible symptoms that linger for months or possibly years.”
  • “So you can hug your loved ones.”
  • “So you can reopen your business.”
  • “So you can try to get back to something resembling your normal life before you were told to lock yourself down and lead a bleak, isolated existence for an entire year.”

Anything along those lines would be acceptable. Pretty much anything that gives people hope! That’s called an incentive. When you’re trying to convince folks to do something they may or may not want to do, it’s a good idea to give them an incentive.

Instead, the people in power who expect our trust keep hemming and hawing. “Well, don’t get too excited! Just because you get vaccinated, that doesn’t mean you can actually do anything. Yes, you absolutely should get vaccinated, and also no, we’re not going to give you any upside to getting vaccinated. Just sit there where you are, don’t move, and await further instructions. Which will be more of the same, every single time.”

I am really freaking sick of Anthony Fauci. Nobody has done more over the past year to debase the name of science than this clown. Just look at this crap:

“When you don’t have the data and you don’t have the actual evidence, then you’ve got to make a judgment call.”

What? I need to look at that again:

“When you don’t have the data and you don’t have the actual evidence, then you’ve got to make a judgment call.”

Yes, Anthony Fauci actually said that. On national TV. Well, on CNN, at least.

Isn’t that great? Hey now, don’t worry about all those pesky numbers and all that confusing technical jargon. Just trust the guy who knows what he’s talking about because he says he knows what he’s talking about. Who do you think you are, anyway? Are you a scientist? No? Then shut up and do as you’re told.

This isn’t science. This is religion. Fauci has styled himself as the Pope of COVID, and his enablers in the media have been more than happy to confer him with papal infallibility. He’s established himself as the only true mediator between the unwashed masses and God Science. And whenever he says something that doesn’t make sense or he contradicts himself, well, don’t you fret your little head about it. You just need to have faith. Pope Anthony the First would never lie to you.

Well, except when he lied to you about masks. (“Absolutely do not wear a mask. On second thought, you must wear a mask at all times. You know what? Make that two masks! Would you believe… three masks?”) And when he lied about herd immunity. And whatever else he’s lied about that he hasn’t admitted lying about yet. That was different, because you just weren’t ready to hear the truth. You couldn’t handle it. And Pope Anthony’s impeccable judgment in protecting you from reality is all the more reason for you to trust him.

Don’t you see how easy it is when you just stop thinking and believe in science?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m no anti-vaxer. The messaging on this has been awful, and Fauci has destroyed his credibility, but that doesn’t mean I’ve taken leave of my senses. I’m getting vaccinated as soon as I can. And then you know what I’m gonna do?

Whatever I damn well please.

St. George Tucker, a member of the Continental Congress, an officer in the Virginia militia during the revolution, and a professor at the College of William and Mary, before becoming a state and then federal judge, wrote a book about the Constitution, where he observed that people in government  were working as hard as possible to evade its restrictions almost before the ink was dry.
Is it within reason to legitimately conclude that the Constitution was ‘inadequate’ from the start?
Could be……….

BLUF:
If morality is the defining quality for our form of self-government, we may no longer be qualified to self-govern.  The Framers understood this.  Our new immorality is the prescription for the constitutional system to fail.  It is not that society cannot be formed by immoral people.  It certainly can.  However, that society’s governance will reflect the people’s (im)morality, and that rule will be centered on command and control without a moral basis.  It will be tyranny.

Are we still a moral people capable of self-governance?

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” —John Adams

John Adams was not alone in understanding that our Constitution functions only if people have a shared morality derived from Judeo-Christian principles.  James Madison wrote that our Constitution requires “sufficient virtue among men for self-government”; otherwise, “nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.”  It’s not clear that 21st-century America has that necessary virtue.

The Ten Commandments are at the center of Judeo-Christian moral teaching.  (I have written before about the connection of virtue and morality as it relates to First and Second Amendment rights.)  Even non-religious people once understood that these principles are useful guides for moral living in a functioning society.  Much has changed in just a few years, though.

The first few commandments are about man’s relationship with God and are not relevant to this discussion.  What matters here are the commandments that concern our relationships with others, which define morality as our Framers understood it.  They have societal value independent of the precepts about the relationship to God.  No religious beliefs are necessary to accept their value as moral principles.  It was this morality that the Framers saw as essential to constitutional self-government.

Today, many on the left no longer consider these principles a standard for moral behavior.  They have become a standard to avoid.  A significant part of our society believes we should actively defy the moral truth of these principles.  This belief has serious political implications.

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Bu, bu, bu but ghost guns can’t be traced!

4 Men Accused of Buying ‘Ghost Guns’ to Sell in Philadelphia
Four men are accused of buying “ghost guns” from a gun show in Berks County, Pennsylvania, with the intent of illegally selling them in Philadelphia. It’s part of a trend that’s fueling the city’s gun violence epidemic

Police said Najaye Davis, 19, of Philadelphia, purchased multiple 80% receiver-made gun kits with large amounts of cash at the Morgantown Gun Show in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, back on Feb. 27.

After buying the weapons, Davis and a second suspect left the venue and drove eastbound towards Philadelphia, according to investigators. Agents with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG) believe the two men were illegally making and selling ghost guns in Philadelphia. Davis is prohibited from purchasing or possessing a handgun in the city.

OAG Agents obtained a search warrant for Davis’ Philadelphia home and executed it Friday. During the search, they found three fully functioning unserialized ghost guns, one 80% receiver, $8600 in cash, additional firearm parts, including trigger assemblies, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and multiple extended magazines, both loaded and unloaded, officials said

Biden sued by 12 states over climate executive order: ‘Enormous expansion of federal regulatory power’
Lawsuit argues that Biden does not have the authority to set a ‘social cost’ for greenhouse gases

A coalition of 12 states is suing President Biden’s administration over a climate executive order that they claim has the potential to have a serious economic impact across the country through the expansion of federal regulatory power.

The suit, which is being led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, was filed on Monday. State attorneys general from Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah also joined the action.

It alleges that Biden’s Executive Order 13990, titled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” does not have the authority to issue binding numbers for the “social cost” of greenhouse gases to be used in federal regulations.

The breakdown of the social costs shows $269 billion for carbon dioxide, $990 billion for methane, and $8.24 trillion for nitrous oxide – totaling approximately $9.5 trillion, according to the lawsuit, which cited interim values determined by an interagency working group that was created by Biden’s order.

Schmitt said that those potential regulations will stifle manufacturing and harm agriculture in Missouri, where state figures show that hundreds of thousands of people work in those industries.

“Under President Biden’s executive order, which he didn’t have the authority to enact, these hard-working Missourians who have lived and worked this land for generations, could be left in the dust,” Schmitt said in a written press release.

But the suit claims that the impact from the $9.5 trillion “social cost” of greenhouse gases will stretch farther than just Missouri.

“In practice, this enormous figure will be used to justify an equally enormous expansion of federal regulatory power that will intrude into every aspect of Americans’ lives— from their cars, to their refrigerators and homes, to their grocery and electric bills,” the suit states.

The lawsuit argues that Biden’s order does not have the authority to set values for the social costs of carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide that will be used by regulatory agencies.

“It will be used to inflict untold billions or trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S. economy for decades to come,” the suit states.

In claiming that Biden’s order cannot set these values, the suit claims that the action violates the separation of powers, “the most fundamental bulwark of liberty.”

And now something of interest to our friends in Sudamérica

Deadly Funnel: The Darien Gap

Michael Yon:

Capurgana, Colombia—Dicey place. Don’t come here. This a funnel-mouth from the world, North to America.

Many people from countries like Bangladesh, around Africa, and the Middle East, cannot get any closer to America without visa than South America. Specifically, someone from India or Nepal may first transit Dubai, Netherlands, then down to Chile. Bus through places like Peru and Ecuador, then to Colombia. There is no road at all connecting Panama and Colombia, thus the infamous Darien area is called the Gap. Or the Darien Gap. Reminds me of the Desert of Death in Afghanistan, only this is mountains, jungle, and murderers. And so, they must go on foot for roughly 4O miles and six days. Many are arriving wearing sandals and carrying small children on hip. Parents often die along the way.

The osmotic human pressure has dramatically increased since January. The Biden administration established a Green Zone in D.C., unfurled a welcome-to-hell carpet across our Southern border, and now people are flooding through Darien. Communist Guerrillas and drug smugglers, along with naked tribesmen, fill the Darien. Even the Armies stay clear.

After Inauguration, I was down on the Texas and New Mexico borders, and across the border in Mexico. Wall construction stopped even as America marches into civil war. These brave souls coming north need help. This is not the way to do it.

Some are criminals heading north just as American criminals head South. Others are simply good people brave enough to bring children to a better place. Even if they make it to Darien, and through Darien, they face more struggles every step. Panama , Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala — a fine tour through Communism—and into the dangers of Mexico.

Baited by Washington. Sick, sick Washington. When they land by boat here at Capurgana, they are sprayed with foul smelling “disinfectant.” Even the children.

The photo of woman holding baby was made by my friend Chuck Holton yesterday. I made the rest. We are here with intrepid Japanese journalist Masako Ganaha. She will take this news back to Japan. Meanwhile, the communists in neighboring Venezuela have destroyed what could be one of the nicest countries on earth. Venezuelans have flooded into Colombia where they ply every trade to eat, including mass prostitution. While Washington baits children through hell instead of helping in place.

I gotta go. Sorry for no editing. I don’t even have computer with me. This all on phone.

Thank you for all help. I need it, too. After Colombia, may go to Panama to interview those who make it through Darien. And then back to Texas.

Terrible situation.

They’ve always been the ‘tax and spend‘ party, so nothing’s new here.

Democrats Just Snuck a $1 Billion Tax Hike on Workers Into Their COVID Bill
A tax expert warned that IRS penalties ‘can destroy a person’s life’ and said many gig economy workers won’t be able to afford this sudden tax hike.

When the economy is struggling to recover from a pandemic and crushing government lockdowns, that’s probably the worst time to impose $1 billion in new annual taxes on the working class. But that’s exactly what a new provision quietly slipped into the Democrats’ sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID legislation would do.

“A last-minute insert by Democrats looking to offset the cost of their coronavirus aid package would send tax collectors into the gig economy, eventually costing Uber and DoorDash drivers, Airbnb hosts and others about $1 billion annually,” Roll Call reports.

Under current tax law, earnings data for gig economy workers only needs to be reported to the IRS once it reaches $20,000. This means that small earners pursuing gig work to supplement their income aren’t hit by crushing federal taxes. However, the Democrats’ provision would nearly eliminate this benchmark, and instead require all income above $600 to be reported to the IRS.

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GOA, Defense Distributed and JSD Supply, open letter to President Biden.

Wayne is still the story, thus he still needs to go.

Wayne at CPAC

Best line from the CPAC conference?
Gov. Kristi Noem: COVID Didn’t Crush Economy, Government Did

Hailing her state as the only one in the U.S. that did not declare shelter-in-place orders, mask mandates, business closures, or defining essential business, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem fired back at the national failing of U.S. health experts during the pandemic.

“I don’t know if you agree with me, but Dr. [Anthony] Fauci is wrong a lot,” Noem said during her CPAC speech Saturday, pointing to the top U.S. infectious disease expert who told her South Dakota would get up to 10,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in a day.

Her state never got over 600, she said.

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The Federal Reserve Is Taking Us into Uncharted and Deadly Waters

At the Federal Reserve semi-annual testimony before Congress this week, Chair Jerome Powell should have been asked whether the Fed has become the national Reddit.

The Reddit stock frenzy created a pool of motivated buyers, irrespective of the value of the underlying company.

For more complicated reasons, the federal government is the biggest Redditer of all, Reddit on crack cocaine.  Instead of billions, the government plays in the trillions. Instead of a handful of small cap stocks, it has hijacked the entire stock market.  But the mechanism is the same.  Flood the market with funds, and for good measure force interest rates to zero, eliminating alternative investments.  The recent congressional Reddit hearings are parody in comparison to the government’s role in driving market prices, in particular the Fed.

Let’s make it specific.  When Joe Biden promises to spend $1.9 trillion, where exactly does that money come from?  Beyond that, even excluding the $1.9 trillion, how does the government finance four years of deficits, which the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated at $5.9 trillion?  That’s an expected one-term cumulative deficit of $7.8 trillion.  Where indeed does this money come from?

The wrong answer is tax receipts.  In FY2020, federal budget revenues — i.e., tax receipts — totaled $3.4 trillion — $1.6 trillion from income taxes; $1.3 trillion from payroll taxes; $0.2 trillion from corporate taxes; and the balance of $0.3 trillion from excise, custom duties, estate taxes, and miscellaneous.  Spending, on the other hand, totaled $6.6 trillion, versus the pre-COVID budget of $4.8 trillion.  The result is a record $3.1-trillion deficit.

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