The US federal government is spending money like a drunken sailor.
And that’s probably unfair to drunken sailors.
In November alone, the US government reported a $139 billion deficit.
The middle class is not getting tax relief under the Senate plan currently under consideration. It’s getting big government on a credit card.
Here’s a fun fact. Did you know virtually all of the individual tax cuts in the Senate version of tax reform are temporary?
Indeed, what the Senate giveth, it also taketh away. Most of the tax cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 under the Senate plan.
So what’s the reasoning behind sunsetting the tax cuts?
Every once in a while, a mainstream news outlet publishes a piece about the national debt. Here and there, politicians trot out the surging debt as a talking point to make some political hay. Now and then, an economist will wave the red flag. But by-and-large, the national debt just kind of looms over us.
We’ve gotten used to the shadow it casts, and we generally don’t give it much thought. It’s kind of like people living at the foot of a volcano. They know it’s there. It might cause some low-level anxiety. But they really don’t pay much attention to it – until it erupts.
So, just how bad is the national debt? We all know it’s pretty bad. But would you believe it’s actually worse than you probably think?
During a recent interview with Investing News Network, Peter Schiff reiterated something he’s been saying for the last several months. The stock market is still a big, fat, ugly bubble, and misplaced optimism continues to blow it up.
[Pres Trump has] accomplished blowing more air into a stock market bubble that already existed before he was elected, as he rightly identified the market as a bubble as a candidate. But you know, his policies have not altered that. In fact, he’s now championing the stock market. He’s the biggest booster. He’s actually claiming credit for the market rising. And I do believe that part of the fuel that has caused the bubble to get bigger is the enthusiasm that Trump will reduce taxes and that these taxes will mean more corporate earnings – certainly after-tax earnings because they cut the taxes – a more robust economy, more growth. And so there’s a lot of optimism. But I think the optimism is misplaced because I believe the added deficits that will result from the tax cuts and the increased government spending will do more harm to the economy than whatever benefit we get from paying lower taxes.”
Some mainstream analysts agree with Peter, warning that the Republican tax cut proposal will balloon the deficit, minimizing its positive economic impact.
