If Republicans Save Us Any More Money, We'll Go Broke

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

What's left of the Republican Party under the sporadic and tempestuous leadership of Donald Trump says they are busy saving us money and filling the treasury, the epitome of fiscal responsibility.  Well, that's the talk, anyway, but it sure as hell isn't the walk.  All the GOP has actually been doing is directing money away from the middle class and those in need while feathering the nests of those who already have too much.

The GOP says they are fattening our US Treasury through import duties (tariffs) assigned to countries that sell various goods in the United States.   They add a percentage to the cost of goods as they enter the United States. and then hope we believe that somehow that increased revenue is coming from the countries sending in the goods, when any junior high Walmart shopper is smart enough to know that if our government adds a cost to the price of imports, it is American consumers who pay the extra costs.

Every time Trump farts out another tariff, it is Americans who pay it.  It's not rocket Science, it's just how business works.  US companies sell goods with the aim of making a profit, and it is US companies - and then American consumers - who pay the added costs of tariffs.

Another example of the GOP "saving" us money is with the "free" gift of giant 747 jumbo jet (known as the "flying palace") from the Qatari royal family to Donald Trump - a personal gift that he plans on keeping when he leaves office.    Trump says that eventually the plane will be on display in his presidential library for all Americans to gawk at, so he gleefully accepted the gift, which Trump says will be his new Air Force One.

The Trump administration officially accepted the gift and on behalf of the US Air Force, and the Air Force will transfer it to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation shortly before he leaves office.  The plane initially cost the Qatari's $400 million.  The entire plane will have to be striped down to its bones to make sure there are no bugs, and then rebuilt and retrofitted with all the bells and whistles necessary for an Air Force One.  The cost of the retrofit is classified (of course it is!), but smart estimates are in the neighborhood of $1 billion dollars.  It cannot be made ready quickly and most, if not all, of Trump's term will have expired by the time it i ready to be used as Air Force One - and then he will fly off in it when he leaves office.

Here are the problems with that:

• Trump describes the gift as "free," saying that is why he so readily accepted it.  It its initial cost was $400 million and the costs to turn it into an Air Force One is $1 billion, then that appears to be a net loss of $600 million.  What a gift!
• Qatar has, according to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, given "significant" financial and political support to Hamas for decades,  and has ties to China and Iran.  This "gift" would have the appearance of giving a rogue nation influence with, and access to, an American President.
• The US government currently already has contracts with Boeing for two new Air Force Ones, and the construction process is ongoing.  Does a US President really need a fleet of Air Force Ones - and can the nation afford that luxury?
• Why should a billion dollars (and probably more) of our tax money go to providing Donald Trump with a luxury jet to use in his retirement.  Other Presidents had to fly commercial when they left office.  Will this become a required perk for presidential retirements?

And here is one more example that I saw in the news today of our government spending our money in crackpot ways:

Vice President JD Vance celebrated his 41st birthday last weekend by taking his family on a float trip on the Little Miami River in Ohio.  The Little Miami feeds into the Ohio River.  JD's Secret Service detail thought the effort would be better served if the Little Miami had an increased water level, so they arranged with the Army Corps of Engineers to open some gates and make that happen - and the result was a water level in the Little Miami that was described as "ideal" for floating.  Our tax dollars in action!

Cutting health care and food assistance for those in need, defunding public schools,  and firing government workers without cause may sound like good economic moves, but those actions aren't being coupled with savings - they are literally funding tax cuts for the wealthiest people and corporations in America, gifting sky palaces to blowhards, and keeping dilettante politicians and their body guards from having to get out and drag their canoes and kayaks across low spots in the river.

The Republican politicians who are currently running our great nation should be ashamed of themselves, and the rest of us should be ashamed of them, too.  If they keep saving us money and lavishing it on themselves and their rich friends, we'll go broke!