Neighborhood Ministries

Democrats are telling people that Republicans don’t care about people because they are turning down continuing funds to extended unemployment and Medicaid benefits but the fact is Republicans are turning them down because people have become lazy and don’t want to go back to work because they are making more on unemployment. The funds were supposed to be temporary to help the States get over the bump of unemployment due to Covid. That has long passed  but many people refuse to go back to work and many industries and businesses are desperately seeking workers but very few people want to work. It is forcing wages up to try to attract workers and that is continuing to fuel inflation. Democrats want to continue the programs so they can get those people to vote for them. We need to get people back to work to get the economy going again but we also need to get them to work because we cannot sustain an economy with a large portion of able-bodied people living off the people who are working. It isn’t fair to those who are working to have to support a lot of people who don’t want to work.  Democrats are pushing for a socialist society where the government collects everything and doles out to everyone equally and that has failed wherever it is tried. If people cannot gain anything from working over the minimum, they will work the minimum and if they can get the same from not working as they would from working, they would rather not work.  Even communist countries like China and Russia have had to allow a small amount of private enterprise to keep their country’s economies afloat.

President Biden has authorized more student loan forgiveness. It makes no sense. He has already authorized 600 Billion dollars in loan forgiveness in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional because all government expenditures have to be authorized by Congress and Congress has not authorized any of it. That is more than all that the government pays for education in K-12 grades. In addition, it will lead many people to go to college with the idea that the government will pay off their loans and there is no guarantee of that. We already have a lot of kids going to college without a clear goal of what they are going to do and many of them are eventually choosing career paths that do not require a college degree.  College has been billed as a necessity to get a good paying job but while some jobs like doctors and lawyers are high paying, many jobs requiring a college degree are falling behind many jobs that do not require a degree, such as jobs in business and the trades. It is drawing many students into college under the impression that they can get loans for it and push paying it off down the road. If they think they can get away with not having to pay it off at all, it will encourage even more to go when it isn’t needed for what they want to do. That leaves them heavily in debt for something they don’t need, with no clear way to pay it off.

President Biden is at it again. He just forgave the student debts of more young people, in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that he  did not have the authority to do so. He continues to work hard to drum up votes for his failing administration. Young voters are particularly vulnerable to bribery. Anyone would be a fool to vote against someone who just forgave you of a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt.. President Biden is not really forgiving the debt, he is merely transferring the debt to the American taxpayers. You and I are paying for encouraging young people to vote for President Biden. The administration has been consistently handing out “free” money and other benefits to various groups to get them to vote for him and then claim that Republicans are against them because they oppose such giveaways. In addition, Democrats have been very vocal in claiming that  Republicans are planning on canceling Social Security and welfare benefits to get those people to vote for him. Social programs once designed to help people in need are being used to influence the election and it is being paid for by all of us, even those who do not support him. While they had to pull back on welfare because it was becoming multigenerational as children growing up realized they didn’t have to work but could stay home and collect welfare, other programs continue to discourage working. The free flow of money during the Covid crisis has resulted in millions of people who refuse to work because it would interrupt their benefits. While student debts are becoming a serious problem, simply paying them off is not the solution. My  wife and I paid off our college debts as did millions of other students. My wife and I both had to interrupt our schooling mid-way and pay off the accumulated debt before going back and finishing, but we did it because we felt it was worth it to get better jobs. When I taught college, I found many students who were on welfare scholarships often put in very little effort while expecting  to get credit for the course. We often value things more if we have to work for them than if we just get them for free, but many kids today are growing up with the feeling that the world owes them a living.

Liberal politicians have been claiming that “shrinkflation” is the result of greedy corporations trying to cheat the consumer.  Shrinkflation is when a manufacturer reduces the amount of product without reducing the cost. Since the correct weight is listed, it is not illegal, but requires the consumer to check the weight when comparing prices. They claim we need to increase taxes for corporations to force them to pay their fair share. While that sounds logical, it ignores the facts.   Higher taxes and increased regulations imposed by liberal politicians have greatly increased the cost of manufacturing. In addition, inflation fueled by reckless spending by liberal politicians has also added to the cost of raw materials and labor. As a result, many corporations are facing massive increases in cost and have to make up the deficit somehow. They can only increase prices so much without driving away consumers. As a result, many have had to reduce the quantity to cut manufacturing costs. By increasing corporate taxes, politiciansare only adding to manufacturing costs and further forcing corporations to find ways to cut costs. However, liberal politicians refuse to accept responsibility for their actions and continue to use it to justify their reckless spending and increased taxes. We will not see any reduction in out of control inflation until they cut spending, reduce taxes, and unnecessary government regulations. Government officials who have no business experience have no business regulating businesses. Voters need to vote out the reckless politicians and vote in people who are experienced in business and can help businesses thrive. While some regulation is needed to prevent fraud and price gouging, the free market is very powerful in regulating businesses. Consumers vote with their dollars and businesses know they need to respond if they are going to stay in business. President Trump showed what a businessman can do in spite of all the hindrances he faced from liberal politicians who wanted to continue their reckless spending.

The liberal politicians are always talking about taxing the rich corporations more. They imply that the rich aren’t paying their fair share of the taxes. While that sounds reasonable, it ignores reality. A corporation takes money in and spends it on raw materials, wages, and returns to stock holders, in addition to taxes. If taxes increase, it must get the money from somewhere. The only source of funds that it has is the income from what it sells, so it must pay the increased taxes by raising the price of what it sells. As a result, the corporation doesn’t really pay the increased taxes, it passes the cost on to consumers. As a result, the increased taxes actually fall on consumers. The rich can afford to tighten their belt a little and  reduce the luxuries they purchase, however, the working class and poor cannot. Those increased costs must come from cutting back on necessities like food and utilities. If those increased costs are too much, they may threaten the person’s ability to obtain food, utilities, and shelter. We are seeing this in California where excessive taxes and government spending have resulted in run-a-way inflation, which has resulted in the largest homeless population of any State and a large number of residents are leaving California to find somewhere else to live where taxes and the cost of necessities is lower. If our federal government continues to follow California’s example, it will spread the burden over the entire country and there won’t be anywhere else in the United States to go.

Liberal politicians are again screaming about how they need to increase taxes to pay for all the spending they tell you is necessary. Unfortunately few people today understand economics and accept what they say. It is easy to think that raising taxes will help reduce the debt but it is not simply a matter of receiving money and passing it out. Raising or lowering taxes has a great effect on the economy. Liberal politicians are spending money to buy votes with liberal give-a-ways to various groups. They give money to Blacks to get their vote, to Senior Citizens to get their vote, to labor unions to get their votes and contributions, to Planned Parenthood to get their contributions. They are always giving money to someone to further their political ambitions. People like free things but fail to realize that nothing is free and someone has to pay for it. Many of the things they give away, the people could get far cheaper purchasing them on their own if they didn’t have to pay so much in taxes. Everything the government buys is at an inflated price. In addition, that money has to be handled through government channels and government workers are paid for handling it. In the end, only about one dollar out of every four dollars that goes to the government ends up being returned to the people. People could buy four times as much if they had only one fourth of the taxes. In addition, while they say the taxes are needed to cover the cost of operating the government, they always increase spending when they get more taxes, rather than use it to pay off the present bills. As a result, we are going more and more in debt with each tax increase. In addition, the increased tax burden depresses the economy because people have less to spend. As a result, businesses lose sales and have to lay off workers.  As a result,  businesses pay less taxes and fewer people are paying taxes so raising taxes actually results in less taxes being received. On the other hand, if expenses are cut, it would leave more money for people to spend and it would increase business sales. As a result, the businesses would be paying more taxes and it would enable them to hire more people who will be paying taxes. As a result, the taxes received would increase, so they would get more taxes by lowering the tax rate. However, it also requires them to tighten their belt and reduce the reckless spending. They have continued to drag Donald Trump through the courts looking for irregularities in how he spends his money yet President Trump did not accept a salary while he was President, he donated it all to charity. Neither President Obama or President Biden have done that. While they continue to hound Donald Trump about how he spends HIS money, it is only to distract the people from the real problem, which is how they are spending OUR money.