{"id":44604,"date":"2023-01-20T13:07:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T13:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/big-spender-biden-to-blame-for-inflation-and-coming-debt-ceiling-brawl\/"},"modified":"2023-01-20T13:07:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T13:07:31","slug":"big-spender-biden-to-blame-for-inflation-and-coming-debt-ceiling-brawl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/big-spender-biden-to-blame-for-inflation-and-coming-debt-ceiling-brawl\/","title":{"rendered":"Big spender Biden to blame for inflation and coming debt ceiling brawl\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In just two years of Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, our national debt has grown by $3.8 trillion. Beginning in 1929, it took the U.S. Treasury <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebalancemoney.com\/national-debt-by-year-compared-to-gdp-and-major-events-3306287#toc-debt-by-year-compared-to-nominal-gdp-and-events\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">61 years<\/a> to accumulate that much borrowing.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Biden has the temerity to call Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/3815262-biden-knocks-fiscally-demented-republicans-in-mlk-day-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cfiscally demented.\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The fight over raising the debt ceiling is just beginning, and already the embattled president is insulting those who oppose his reckless spending, which is, as I write this, crashing our economy. It will get worse \u2014 the downturn and the name-calling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>President Biden tossed trillions in unnecessary COVID-19 relief onto a fast-recovering economy, punching up inflation to 40-year highs as too many dollars chased too few goods.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reckons Biden has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/blogs\/biden-administration-has-approved-48-trillion-new-borrowing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">added $4.8 trillion<\/a> to our deficits through executive actions and legislation. This is in addition to our normal spending.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, no one \u2013 including many Republicans \u2013 has been minding the store.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now we see the beginning of the recession that the Federal Reserve deems necessary to drive down inflation. Retail sales, housing and manufacturing have turned down. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalreserve.gov\/newsevents\/speech\/powell20221130a.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has said<\/a> unemployment must go up and growth must go down in order to reach the central bank\u2019s 2 percent official inflation target.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We are, in effect, about to pay for Joe Biden\u2019s largesse \u2014 with people losing their jobs and businesses going under. When our nation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/13\/business\/bank-of-america-wells-fargo-earnings.html#:~:text=chief%20financial%20officer.-,JPMorgan%20set%20aside%20more%20than%20%241%20billion%20to%20prepare%20for,their%20cushions%20against%20loan%20losses.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">biggest banks set aside billions<\/a> to cover expected loan losses, as they just did at the end of the year, it is because they expect companies to default on loans and people to get into trouble financially. This is not an act of God; this is because our leaders spent too much money.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Republicans in the House, now in the majority, want to slow spending. To elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Speaker, a group of conservatives <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/fixgov\/2023\/01\/10\/mccarthy-paid-a-steep-price-for-his-speakership-now-what\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demanded<\/a> that he deliver a plan to balance the budget in the next 10 years, and also promise to pair any increase in the debt ceiling with spending cuts. \u202f<\/p>\n<p>The Biden White House is aghast. They want the debt ceiling increased with no concessions and, as spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre has announced, they will not negotiate on the matter. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/01\/19\/yellen-says-treasury-is-taking-extraordinary-measures-to-avoid-default-as-us-hits-debt-limit.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> last week that we would soon reach the debt cap of $31.4 trillion ($247,000 per taxpayer), causing her department to undertake \u201cextraordinary measures\u201d to keep the federal lights on.<\/p>\n<p>That moment has arrived. Her maneuvering will keep Treasury borrowings below the lid until sometime in June, at which point the government will not be able to borrow more funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Prepare for a massive public relations fight. Biden and his Democratic colleagues are already portraying GOP House members as rabble rousers and agents of chaos \u2014 ready to sabotage our economy, torch markets and bring on a financial crisis. The liberal media will broadcast that Social Security payments will cease and veterans will go hungry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Democrats do not occupy the high ground here. Even as inflation soared under their watch, they kept spending. Total U.S. debt has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-hard-reality-of-a-debt-ceiling-showdown-house-republicans-congress-gop-11673904239\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">jumped to 100 percent of GDP<\/a>, up from 39 percent in 2008. Higher interest rates and expanding deficits <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pgpf.org\/analysis\/2022\/12\/higher-interest-rates-will-raise-interest-costs-on-the-national-debt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mean<\/a> that payments on our debt are set to surpass defense and Medicaid spending in just a few years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in the just-concluded first fiscal quarter of 2023, interest payments on our debt shot up 37 percent and the deficit widened by 12 percent \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-01-12\/us-budget-gap-hits-421-billion-for-quarter-before-debt-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sobering news<\/a> indeed.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Republicans need to sell the public on the virtues of cutting discretionary spending. (Reforming our entitlements programs, which account for 64 percent of the federal budget, should also be on the table, but don\u2019t hold your breath.) They must convince people that:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ol type=\"1\">\n<li>Continued excessive spending will push inflation higher for longer;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Ongoing and necessary monetary tightening will drive up the cost of buying a car or a home;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Allocating to the government an ever-larger share of our economic pie means less productivity and slower wage growth in coming years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The public understands that you cannot endlessly live beyond your means.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Peter J. Peterson Foundation tracks sentiment about our fiscal situation. A survey conducted last month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pgpf.org\/press-release\/2023\/01\/fci-press-release\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shows<\/a> that \u201c76% of voters want the national debt to be a top-three priority for the president and Congress, including 69% of Democrats, 72% of independents and 88% of Republicans.\u201d Some 89 percent of respondents want lawmakers from both parties to work together to address our out-of-control budget.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Will the White House strike a bargain with the GOP to bend the arc of spending? They say no. They argue that the debt ceiling vote is not the place to take a stand, that raising the cap is necessary to pay for bills already passed by Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That would include the $1.7 trillion 4,000-page omnibus bill jammed through in December. The Democrats\u2019 spending package included $800 billion for domestic outlays, a 9.3 percent jump from the prior year. With soaring inflation and mounting debt, did Democrats really think we needed a 16 percent boost in \u201cLegislative Branch\u201d outlays or an 8 percent jump in Transportation-HUD funding? Or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/21\/us\/politics\/congress-earmarks-spending-bill.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">7,200 earmarks<\/a> totaling $15 billion?<\/p>\n<aside class=\"thehill-promo-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/technology\/3814620-social-media-must-balance-right-of-free-speech-with-audience-right-to-know\/\" class=\"thehill-promo-link__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\tSocial media must balance \u2018right of free speech\u2019 with audience \u2018right to know\u2019\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/white-house\/3812647-the-nixon-legacy-has-lessons-for-biden-and-todays-gop\/\" class=\"thehill-promo-link__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\tThe Nixon legacy has lessons for Biden and today\u2019s GOP\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>The enormity and recklessness of that spending bill begs for a fight. If it comes over the debt ceiling, so be it. Better a messy brawl now than continuing down a self-destructive path.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Kevin McCarthy must craft a compelling argument and keep his caucus united in the fight for spending cuts. It will be tough and ugly. But someone who survived 15 votes to become Speaker has grit. Let us hope he uses it wisely.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim &amp; Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMic2h0dHBzOi8vdGhlaGlsbC5jb20vb3Bpbmlvbi9maW5hbmNlLzM4MjA0NzgtYmlnLXNwZW5kZXItYmlkZW4tdG8tYmxhbWUtZm9yLWluZmxhdGlvbi1hbmQtY29taW5nLWRlYnQtY2VpbGluZy1icmF3bC_SAXdodHRwczovL3RoZWhpbGwuY29tL29waW5pb24vZmluYW5jZS8zODIwNDc4LWJpZy1zcGVuZGVyLWJpZGVuLXRvLWJsYW1lLWZvci1pbmZsYXRpb24tYW5kLWNvbWluZy1kZWJ0LWNlaWxpbmctYnJhd2wvYW1wLw?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In just two years of Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, our national debt has grown by $3.8 trillion. Beginning in 1929, it took the U.S. Treasury 61 years to accumulate that much borrowing. Yet Biden has the temerity to call Republicans \u201cfiscally demented.\u201d\u00a0 The fight over raising the debt ceiling is just beginning, and already the embattled &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44604"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}