In the halcyon days before the COVID-19 virus, the United States government was nearly $25 million in debt and was projected to spend $1.1 trillion more this year than it collected in taxes.
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Now, in the last two months, Congress has approved about $2.4 trillion in four relief bills to alleviate the collapse of the economy from stay-at-home orders due to the virus. For perspective’s sake, $2.4 trillion exceeds the individual economies of Italy, Brazil and Canada. And $240 trillion in $1 bills would stack 140 bills high on the 68.3 miles that comprise Washington, D.C.
But, wait. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats want to spend more than the combined total of the first four bills on a fifth bill, a $3 trillion package that would add more more money to projects in the previous bills and tack on additional pet projects.
This from the party that only a few months ago – in an irony itself – chided President Donald Trump for the increased debt incurred in his first three years in office.