The problem with free money is that it leads to an addiction much like an addiction to drugs. In the case of the $1.9 trillion “relief” bill that has no Republican support, Congress is the supplier, while those on the receiving end become increasingly addicted to government and less self-reliant.
In my lifetime, the U.S. has gone from a creditor nation to a debtor nation. History shows that massive national debt is a major cause of decline, even extinction, of nations that refuse to live within their means. The quickest way to help the economy is to re-open businesses utilizing pandemic precautions re-opened businesses have taken.
The bill includes, in addition to the usual unrelated pork, $1,400 checks to individuals (what happens when that money runs out and why should the well-off be getting any?), $130 billion for public schools (many of which teachers’ unions won’t allow to open despite the science that kids can be kept safe), $350 billion in aid to state and local governments (most of which have been poorly run by members of guess which party?), and a lot of transfer payments.
A Wall Street Journal editorial quoted from a House Budget Committee report: “$1 trillion from last year’s bills hasn’t been spent, including $59 billion for schools, $239 billion for health care and $452 billion in small business loans. State and local governments added 67,000 jobs in January. They don’t need more federal cash.”
Increasingly positive economic news, the Journal editorial says, “suggests that the economy is poised for a strong rebound as the pandemic eases even without new federal spending.”