Dakota Beacon

            The Wuhan flu, Chinese flu, coronavirus, covid-19 or whatever you wish to call it is a bad illness. Many patients survive, some with lasting effects. Other folks succumb.

            Here is the conundrum. The federal government told people not to go to work, to stay at home, and to limit personal contacts. The intent was to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. This effectively shut down the economy. In doing so, the federal government incurred responsibility to repair the damage. This led to enacting the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The crisis is at hand but most people have not thought about what happens after the stimulus kicks in. It surely comes with a financial and possibly a political price.

            Proceeding, Democrat legislators tried to make up for the 3 1/12 lost years of legislative time wasted on Russia collusion, Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti, Ukraine quid pro quo, impeachment, the Mueller Report; anything to damage President Trump.

            Never letting a good crisis go to waste, Nancy Pelosi flew back to Washington on March 22 after a week-long Congressional recess and destroyed days of Senate emergency relief work. She inserted items of the Democrat platform into the CARES Act demanding covid-19-irrelevant items be added. These included advantages to Democrat vote garnering, corporate racial mandates, environmental studies and mitigation, and $15 minimum wage.

            Additional non-coronavirus funding included $75 million for National Public Radio down from the $300 million originally requested, $25 million for the Kennedy Center down from the $35 million requested, and $75 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities down from Pelosi’s original request of $300 million for each.

            With all the delays imposed by Pelosi and Schumer, it was conservative Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) who took the thrashing on the pretext that he was holding up the national relief vote. Massie was denounced for merely calling for a recorded vote rather than a voice vote as a matter of Constitutionality and accountability. “If we push this back 24 hours there will be blood on Thomas Massie’s hands…” Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) boomed the sentiment of many Republicans and Democrats. Give me a break! It’s a shame there wasn’t more bipartisan outcry when Speaker Pelosi flew back from California to stuff the CARES Act with more pork than pig’s butt. If the stimulus package works well, everyone will take credit at election time. If not, no one will claim responsibility for its failure. For the swamp, it is win-win business as usual.

            The public, however, is stuck with the tab when the bill comes due. Over $2.2 trillion isn’t small potatoes. The short term effect will be remarkable. Individuals and businesses will be rescued. The long term effect may encounter never intended consequences. The conundrum is not resolved until both sides of the equation are fixed. Currently, unanswered questions remain and the answers will determine if the cure is worse than the disease.

            We have to have an economy we can come back to. Would recovery equate to the same standard of living we’ve always enjoyed? Where does $ 2.2 trillion come from? Traditionally, the US government prints extra money and risks inflation resulting in a devalued dollar. Or, the US government can issue bonds selling our debt to the highest bidder. China already holds much of our debt. With a devalued dollar, would China wish to buy more of our debt? We’re barely able to pay interest on today’s debt. The Chinese Yuan may yet become the world’s reserve currency.

            Before the CARES Act the national debt was $21.5 trillion. Our debt now stands at $23.7 trillion. That is 23 thousand billions! Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is considering offering bonds with maturity dates of 50 to 100 years – Century Bonds. With interest rates at 1% the treasury is seriously entertaining the idea. However, if our national proclivity for spending is not modified, Century Bonds won’t be a fix. Only a band aide.

            We will defeat the Wuhan flu. Defeating our financial crisis looms large on the horizon. What will the camel look like whose nose is now under the tent?

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).