It seems that for President Biden, what’s going on abroad is far more important than the needs of the American people. When Donald Trump championed the patriotic slogan “America First!” during his 2016 campaign and his presidency, the media called him a “racist,” “a White nationalist,” a “Nazi”…etc. while all he was promoting, maybe not necessarily for altruistic purposes, was to prioritize the needs of the American people before those of America’s allies.
President Trump understood that prioritizing the needs of the Americans over those of its allies would reduce government spending, spending that he found to be unnecessary. This does not mean that the federal budget did not increase under Trump. At the end of fiscal year 2020, the national debt was $26.6 trillion. Indeed, President Trump added $6.7 trillion to the debt between 2017 and 2020, which resulted in a 33.1% increase. This dramatic increase was mainly attributed to the coronavirus.
Unlike President Biden, President Trump did not increase government spending to assist foreign countries. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the United States spent more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support. And now the recent conflict that erupted between Israel and Hamas incentivizes President Biden to also provide funds to Israel.
With the conflict between Israel and Hamas that is intensifying, President Biden asked Congress for a $100 billion aid package to assist Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the southern border.
The largest portion of the request, $60 billion, would go to Ukraine to help the country continue its fight against Russia. The funding would be used to provide Ukraine with additional military and humanitarian assistance, as well as to replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles that have been depleted by the war. The remaining $40 billion would be divided among a number of other priorities, including $10 billion for Israel to help the country defend itself against threats from Iran and other adversaries; $10 billion for border security; $10 billion for disaster relief, to help communities recover from recent hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters; and $10 billion for other initiatives such as global health and food security.
The question is, where would these $100 billion come from? Given the urgency of the funds requested, it is very likely that the federal government will borrow these $100 billion by selling government bonds to the Federal Reserve, and other lenders. And the result of borrowing these funds is a considerable increase in the national debt, which is already at $33 trillion, an increase in government spending, and therefore an increase in federal deficit. All these increases will lead to an increase in inflation and interest rates
Let us not forget that inflation is an increase in the price of goods and services. And what triggers inflation is an excess of money printing and government borrowing. When inflation occurs, the standard of living of ordinary people decreases because everything becomes unaffordable.
The Federal Reserve believes that inflation is still too high for it to cut interest rates. Thus, with this new $100-billion request, which will be likely approved, the fight against inflation will be delayed since these funds will keep inflation at its high levels as well as interest rates. This will make it even harder for consumers and businesses to borrow, goods and services will remain unaffordable for middle-and-low-income households, and the overall standard of living will keep declining due to such unaffordability. The American people won’t be the ones to benefit from this $100 billion; Ukraine and Israel will be the main beneficiaries. In other words, President Biden prioritizes the needs of foreign countries at the expense of the American people. And the American people will have to pay the cost of such avoidable and unnecessary expenses.
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