Dear Friends,                                    Government spending is out of control!!!!!!!

Aaaaaaaaagggghhhhhh!!!! The fate of mankind [sic] is at risk, one more cent … wait, there aren’t going to be anymore cents, one more nickel, well, man!, just kiss goodbye to everything you’ve known. Ok, ok, I know you’re upset. Take a deep breath, calm down, or, as my children used to say, take a chill pill (does anyone say that anymore? I liked it).

So, first, what on earth are you talking about? I’m talking to you, Republicans and passionate believers in “fiscal responsibility”. Your bill, ok that’s not fair, it’s the bossman’s bill, but you know you’ll go for it in the end, even if you have a quite smart goatee … is going to raise the debt by … how many trillions? Hey, it’s your bill, you should know, I’m just a humble taxpayer.

Let’s talk about government spending. Government spending is not simply an amount of money: is it too big? is it too small? It is an amount of money spent on specific things. What are those things? How much money should be spent on them?

One big thing is defense spending. I’m putting that aside: I’m a child of my time, we dreamed of a time when defense spending = 0, that’s still my dream, but I understand that it’s complicated. So I’m putting it aside.

Instead, what about spending on the well-being of the people? At what point is such spending “out of control”?

Is provision of at least minimum healthcare for low income households “reckless spending”? Is working towards the normal state of healthcare – adequate and affordable healthcare for all – in all other advanced capitalist countries “reckless spending”? Are we so poor, are they so rich?

Let’s say that we agree, We, the People of the United States of America, that ordinary well-being is our right, the right of all, and of all that live within our borders. The government, local, state, federal must play a role in achieving this goal.

On the other side, what pays for government spending? All together now! TAXES! And we all pay taxes, don’t we, all together? Yes, and don’t we all love it? All together, but not exactly in the same amounts, or, more precisely, at the same rates.

Republicans accuse Democrats of endlessly increasing debt and deficit through their tax – spend dogma. Well, first, that spending is actually for something, though you guys are usually against it – anything that improves the availability of healthcare, for example. But, and the data here are really clear, debt and deficit increase more under Republican administrations. How could this be? Are they secret bleeding hearts who somehow, without anyone knowing it do things for the people’s good? Well, no, actually.

They increase debt and deficit by an odd kind of spending, non-spending through creation of non-revenue through lowering taxes on billionaires and corporations.

The United States of America is not an impoverished nation. It is perfectly capable of spending enough money on all kinds of social services that will multiply its productive potential. A lot of corporate leaders know this, although it goes against their inner Ayn Rand.

Government spending on basic social services, on education, on healthcare is necessary spending. It is necessary first, for the well-being, the pursuit of happiness, of those who need it. Second, though, without it aggregate effective demand declines, leading to a negative multiplier effect on aggregate investment (the key variable for the state of the economy). This is simple Keynesian theory, I’m going to add to it with Dispatches, and with posts to other categories.

So what spending is reckless, what spending is necessary? A Republican senator, in the continuing, and incredibly boring, saga of Republican contortionist attempts to save their seats while also kissing Trump’s … hey, this is a family friendly blog … said that he was “extremely worried about” the House version of the bill: “We are mortgaging our children’s future. It’s wrong. It’s immoral. It has to stop.” (Ron Johnson, R Wisconsin) Hey, isn’t that great, he’s standing up for our children! He must be opposing the catastrophic cuts of healthcare! Um, sorry, no … he’s referring to the bill’s trillion dollar increase in the deficit: how does he want to remedy that? Cut health spending even more. Sorry, kid, you should’ve been born in 2040, though I wouldn’t count on it.

Republican justifications of cuts to Medicaid are almost beyond belief. Mike “everything I say comes from the Bible” Johnson, House Leader, says that most Medicaid recipients are frauds and don’t deserve it, so Trump’s cuts are moral. He knows that that is a lie. I’m a better Christian than he is and I’m an atheist. The work requirement thing, a Republican bonanza, is against all empirical evidence, yes, but is against the very purpose of Medicaid: people need healthcare, and they need it right now.

The US system, if it can be called that, distinguishes between “normal” people, and people who are somehow unable to provide for themselves: Medicare, Medicaid. Does any other healthcare system in advanced capitalist countries make such a distinction? The capitalist mode of production necessarily creates a hierarchy of wealth, and there is a point on it below which provision by individuals and families for their own healthcare is impossible, no personal choice. This is the system, the mode of production under which we live.

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby