President Biden and the Democrats led by Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, self-avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders, have proposed an unbelievable $6 trillion budget for fiscal year 2022. This budget would have the federal government spend more as a share of the economy than at any other time since World War II when we were fighting for our survival as a country. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, this level of spending would immediately slash economic growth while killing tens of thousands of private-sector jobs. This is fine with the leftist Democrats in Washington.
The fiscal 2022 budget request, the first of Biden's presidency, lines up all the socialist programs of the Democrat Party. The $2.5 trillion American Jobs Plan and the $1.9 trillion American Families Plan are incorporated into Biden's $1.6 trillion request for annual operating expenditures for all government agencies. This represents nothing short of a complete transformation of government’s role in the economy. The long-time goal of Socialist Bernie Sanders is finally being realized; government dominance of the American economy.
Despite all this new government spending, the Pentagon is a mere afterthought. A dwindling budget will force the Navy to cut construction of next-generation warships and weapons, according to a memo by acting secretary Thomas W. Harker. Proposed cuts in the defense budget, will put much-needed upgrades for the Navy on the back burner. The proposal forces the Navy to cut 11 battle-ready ships and shrinks funds put aside to build boats and weapons by more than 5 percent. These cuts come at a time when the Chinese are massively building up their naval capacities. The budget signals a complete reversal of President Donald Trump's plans to grow the fleet significantly, with one Trump administration plan calling for 500 vessels by 2045. Defense is of so little importance to Joe Biden, that he has not yet announced whom he will nominate for Secretary of the Navy. The Biden administration instead of protecting our homeland wants to invest in domestic programs such as universal Pre-K.
As is the mindset of today’s Democrat, Joe Biden has never seen a tax that he did not want to increase. His budget proposal calls for the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world. He also calls for higher capital gains taxes and the reinstatement of the aptly named death tax. This tax will prohibit family farms and small businesses from being passed on to the next generation. This is not a problem to the progressive Democrat Party that favors socialism over capitalism.
Under Biden’s programs, even with massive tax increases total public debt will soon surpass the annual value of GDP. This is what happened to once-prosperous Venezuela. No economy in history has ever recovered when debt exceeds output. As Senator Lindsey Graham stated: “This tax and spend budget will break the back of our economy and will destroy future generations’ ability to achieve the American dream.”
We must do everything in our power to stop this insanity in the 2022 election cycle. If we do not, we will be at the point of no return.
Perry O. Hooper Jr. is on the Republican State Executive Committee, is a former State Representative and a 2020 Trump Team Leader.
