“If we can put a man on the moon,” went the old 1970s saw, we can do . . . well, fill in the blank.
Anything!
Man, can that “anything” get really expensive. And when promoters of big government drive the program, anything quickly serves as a first-stage rocket to everything.
During the 2016 campaign, a Democratic Party activist knocked on my door to express confidence that Democrats would provide greater healthcare benefits. “Can we afford that?” I asked.
The question caught her off-guard, but after reflecting on the affordability for a brief moment on my step, she decided, what the heck, surely the great “we” can swing it.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the conscience of the Democratic Party (that he refuses to join), likewise ponders healthcare. Sans cost, again, focusing exclusively on bestowing benefits.
Sanders has introduced legislation mandating that the federal government provide Medicare for All.
Fortunately, the folks at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University are not so arithmetic-averse, calculating the price tag for the socialist senator’s bill to be a whopping $32.6 trillion (with a “t”) over ten years.
In fiscal 2019, the U.S. Government plans to spend $4.4 trillion, borrowing a trillion dollars of that to keep the federal spigots spewing cash. So, Bernie suggests nearly doubling annual spending, placing a giant $3.3 trillion cherry on top of the current fiscal pig-out.
And who in Washington has any credibility left to argue against the socialist urging evermore deficit spending on top of massive debt and gargantuan liabilities?
President Trump? Republicans in Congress? The very architects of annual trillion-dollar deficits for the foreseeable future?
That “lunacy” refers to the moon? Mere coincidence.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
