Like many Americans I will appreciate the splash of cash that will come my way from the latest Covid-19 stimulus bill.  However, the vast majority of this mind boggling bailout is going to a variety of governmental entities and government employees who have only belatedly discovered that destroying lives and livelihoods has a negative effect on their tax revenues.  Excuse me if I’m a bit less than impressed with the underlying intent of this legislation, which should more properly be entitled the Government Salvation Act of 2021.  It’s just another incredible and expensive example of what is wrong with our country today.

However, this $1.9 trillion money dump does at least have the benefit of clarifying the priorities we will see for the next couple of years while Democrats desperately try to revive our moribund economy: Joe Biden and his administration may profess to like regular people, but they really, really, really like government employees a whole lot more.

Consider this one telling fact: The average recipient who is not employed by the federal government will receive $1400 total—that’s it. However, every federal government employee who is unable to go to work because their child is not yet attending an in-person school will receive $1400 to stay at home—each week for up to 15 weeks. If you’ve ever wondered what privilege and arrogance look like when they are combined, you now have your answer. The Swamp takes good care of the denizens of The Swamp, and we are foolish if we presume otherwise.

In addition, the boatloads of cash being dumped on state and local governments—or those groups that count on government as their primary benefactors—demonstrate that the survival of all forms of government and government-sponsored programs, regardless of their cost or lack of discernible utility, is the paramount concern of those who crafted this self-interested bailout bill disguised as a selfless rescue.  We are also seeing an example of the circular logic of today’s government by the government and for the government: My desk job in Washington is super-duper important, so every other government job is obviously super-duper important too.  Therefore, it is my job to rescue government employees before I rescue the Americans whom I claim to care for.  Got that?

The practical effect of this incredibly skewed and bizarre priority is, in effect, exactly what would happen if a ship was sinking, the Captain and his officers piled into all the available lifeboats, and they paddled happily off into the distance while the passengers wailed and drowned.  Women and children be damned—my safety comes first.  This is neither heroic nor reasonable, but it is the hard reality of what this latest effort to save government from its own failures turns out to be when we look past the partisan press releases extolling the supposed rescue it provides for average Americans.  Enjoy clinging to a piece of floating timber in shark-infested seas, you idiots!  And aren’t you lucky we’re taking such good care of you?

The harsh reality is that 20 million Americans are still receiving jobless benefits, and further securing the employment of our nation’s army of government employees will do little to help those private sector saps who are still struggling to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.  Perhaps we can ascribe this foolishness to the undying and idiotic belief that top-down government control is the best system for creating jobs, an idea beloved by left-wing academic economists.  However, those who believe that a healthy economy can be grown by those who are wholly unfamiliar with the realities of working in the private sector have a boundless—and misplaced—faith in the ability of government to create actual economic growth.  

If our elected officials in Washington were determined to hand out a stupendous amount of magically conjured cash to help Americans recover all that they have lost during the Covid-19 shutdowns and lockdowns that stabbed our nation’s economy straight through the heart, it would have been far more effective to give the money to individual Americans and small business owners—no strings attached and based on reported personal or business incomes—in order to create a bottom-up economic revival that would be both organic and sustainable.  This would also help to replenish state coffers through the taxes generated when people are allowed to make real life decisions about their spending that do not require the approval of a government employee waving a 25 page application form.

If Americans had been given every cent of this $1.9 trillion dollar honeypot, some individual or small business spending might, of course, have been poorly conceived or simply silly.  However, just how much waste and fraud do you expect when the federal government is now committed to disburse or spend $43,000 every second of each day for an entire year in order to blow through all the money that they are now borrowing on our behalf?  

All we know for certain is that 2021 is going to be the happiest of hunting grounds for well-connected insiders, social engineering charlatans, and outright crooks, and the future of our nation is being brutally mortgaged to pay for what is certain to be the biggest fraud and idiocy fest ever unleashed on our struggling citizens.  

This is going to be a supremely ugly, confusing, and stupid period in American history, which is somehow both sad and appropriate.  This past year has, after all, been an exercise in demented government overreach that has destroyed our nation’s well being under the guise of saving us, the net result being that America has been protected right into the poorhouse.  Why not cap it all off with an insane spending spree of unprecedented proportions?  It makes as much sense as all the other government lunacy we see today.

Add to this other ill-conceived government programs and policies that are driving up the costs of food, fuel, and housing for reasons that range from the befuddling to the absurd, and this gargantuan government bailout plan is almost understandable.  We can, sadly enough, readily foresee that the daily lives of the majority of Americans will be little improved by the actions of President Biden and his Democratic allies—and they might even be worse.  

However, the faithful, who are blissfully oblivious to the long term consequences of fiscal irresponsibility, will sing the praises of borrowing and spending to their flocks, which is both expected and depressing.  The selfishness and self-interest that went into building this frightening Frankenstein monster of obscene legislative malfeasance is fantastic for those who are busily dreaming up new and wondrous way to spend other people’s money, but it really won’t do the rest of us much good at all.

But aren’t we so very glad that our local, state, and federal governments now have been granted a cornucopia of cash that will be paid for by you and future generations of taxpayers?  I will presume my own sarcasm is clear to all, but I know there are many who are ecstatic that a massive cash drop is now in progress.  This is just one more example of the divide between reality and fantasy that now splits our nation in two.

Enjoy watching your hard-earned tax dollars spent, America.