Senators Manchin and Sinema Are Modern-Day American Heroes Who Just Saved America
January 12, 2022
For the better part of the second half of 2021, Congressional Democrats in both Houses of Congress have been drafting and negotiating President Biden’s signature piece of legislation, the Build Back Better bill. If ever there was a misnomer regarding a piece of legislation, this is it.
Even though most Democrats in both the House and the Senate are in agreement with the terms of this disastrous radical left-wing spending bill, there are at least two moderate Senate Democrats who are not entirely on board and have voiced their concerns to their Senate colleagues and to the President himself.
I’m referring to Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Although there are some differences in the specific areas of this bill where they disagree, both Senators voted against this spending bill.
One of Senator Manchin’s main points of disagreement is the complete lack of transparency on the part of his Democrat colleagues in both Houses of Congress. The Senator has been more honest and upfront with his constituents and the American public as a whole than any of the radical left-wing Democrats in either the House or the Senate.
It has become quite evident over the last few months that these so-called “servants of the people” will do almost anything to get their way. They will lie, cheat, steal, and use whatever means necessary—including budgetary gimmicks—to get this abomination through Congress and on to the President’s desk for his signature.
Here are several examples of just how dishonest our President, elected officials, and unelected staffers and bureaucrats who work in government have been. The President himself has stated that the Build Back Better (BBB) legislation will cost the American taxpayer “zero.” Not only is that statement a flat-out lie, it insults the intelligence of every tax-paying citizen in this country. Does this man think that everyone in this country is stupid but him? If there is no cost to this BBB bill, then why would the country need a tax increase?
The original cost of the BBB bill was $3.5T. When you consider that the entire federal budget—without the BBB and the infrastructure bill for FS 2021—was roughly $4.8T, it shows in very stark terms just how ridiculous this legislation is. It is probably the single dumbest piece of legislation ever brought before Congress. It’s so outrageous that if I were a suspicious person I might think that the people who are pushing this bill are either on the take or are actually trying to bankrupt this country.
Key centrist Democrats Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Joe Manchin
In an effort to make this socialist nonsense more palatable to the American public, Democrat leadership reduced the price tag from $3.5T to $1.75T. The fact of the matter is that they didn’t really lower the price of this bill at all. The entire narrative of lowering the cost of this bill was nothing more than smoke and mirrors, budgetary gimmicks and misinformation.
For instance, in order to reduce the cost of this mammoth socialist giveaway, the Democrats who are revising this bill, which is supposed to have a lifespan of 10 years, are proposing limiting some of the programs to less than 10 years. This is an obvious ploy to mislead the American taxpayer. Since it is almost impossible to eliminate an entitlement once it has been enacted, the programs will simply be extended as needed over the ten-year period and probably beyond that. These extensions, if enacted, will bring the actual cost of this spending bill to roughly $5T. I believe this is the lack of transparency to which Senator Manchin was objecting.
Everything stated in the above paragraph is accurate. The lack of transparency on the part of Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and most of the rank-and-file Democrats is appalling. The reduction of the price of the BBB bill from $3.5T to $1.75T was a sham. This was all uncovered by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). They scored the actual cost of this bill at $4.75T over ten years. That is almost three times what Chuck Schumer told the American taxpayers this bill would cost. America, you better wake up and do it quickly or one day you find that we, the citizens, no longer have a financially viable country.
When I first heard that the CBO had scored this bill at $4.75T, I thought that the newscaster had misspoken. Instead I found, as we all did, that this was nothing short of blatant dishonesty on the part of Senate and House Democrats. Has this country been brought so low that our elected officials find it acceptable to mislead, or flat-out lie, to the public that they are sworn to serve?
The other part of this spending bill that these Democrats “neglected” to inform the public about is that there will be an additional $3T in government debt over the next ten years. That additional $3T does not include the added interest on the debt, which will also have to be borrowed. This entire episode is the result of dishonest Democrat politicians who push these socialist giveaways and then, when confronted by the public or the press, say that they did it “for our own good” and the “good of the country.” Thank God for Senators Manchin and Sinema.
Injecting an additional $4.75T into our economy—on top of the $1.2T infrastructure bill and the three Covid Relief bills, which totaled almost $6T—will increase the demand for the limited supply of goods and services and will devalue the US dollar, thus raising consumer prices across the board. Inflation in the US is currently running at about 7%. Injecting this money into our economy will not only increase the rate of inflation, it will also prolong it, making life more difficult for the American consumer, especially those at the lower end of the income scale.
Above, I briefly touched on the issue of our national debt. Senator Manchin shares my concerns regarding the level of this country’s debt. It is currently just above $30T and it is increasing at an increasing rate. Senator Manchin is concerned, as he should be, that interest expense on that debt is also increasing at an increasing rate. After several years of very low interest rates, the Federal Reserve has decided that it will begin raising the Federal Funds Rate, possibly as early as March of this year. It is anticipated that interest rates will increase at least three times in 2022, and possibly as many as six times.
These rate increases have become necessary because of the high rate of inflation our country currently faces. It is the hope of Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell that these rate increases will slow down our overheated economy to the point where inflation will begin to subside. These new rates would apply only to newly issued debt that is issued after the date of these rate increases. Every time old debt is retired and is replaced by new debt, the country will have to pay a higher rate of interest on that debt.
As I have stated above, our debt is increasing at an exponential rate. Over the last several years this has mainly been due to the increase in government spending. With interest rates now expected to rise over the coming months (and possibly years), the increase in the amount of interest expense paid by the US government will also play a role in the increased level of US debt. I anticipate that by the end of this decade the US will be paying in excess of $1T per year just to service its debt. Since the money to pay this interest will also have to be borrowed, the country’s debt will increase by that much more every year.
The day will eventually come when the US will no longer be able to borrow more money. China, Russia, and our other enemies are waiting in anxious anticipation for that day to come. They are all just sitting back waiting for the stupid people of the US to bankrupt themselves. I very much doubt that any of our allies will come to our aid even if they could. Senator’s Manchin’s concerns are real. I believe he knows that this can’t go on forever. He is also aware that, other than cutting spending, there is no way to stop America’s march towards self-destruction.
Senator Joseph Manchin III, former governor of West Virginia
Another concern of Senator Manchin is with the country’s ability to deal with the threats that the US and its allies will be forced to confront in the not-too-distant future. If the US is unable to borrow money, our national defense capability will suffer. At that point, our debt will become a national security issue. Put another way: bankrupt countries are unable to defend themselves.
It is the consensus of just about everyone in the State Department and the Department of Defense (DOD) that our most dangerous threat is Communist China. They have both the financial and the military muscle to threaten their neighbors in the Western Pacific and especially those in the South China Sea. Some of those neighbors are our allies with whom we have defense treaties.
There is also the threat of Russia threatening its neighbors in Eastern Europe. In my view, it is Russia’s goal to regain control of as many of the former Eastern Bloc countries of the former Soviet Union as possible. Some of those countries are now NATO allies with whom we have defense treaties. NATO’s motto is “An attack on one is an attack on all.” If Russia decides to encroach on the territory of those countries, the stage would be set for World War III in Europe. It is my hope that Russia has better judgment than to attempt any aggression towards any of those countries, especially those who are members of NATO.
We have already seen Russian aggression on the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Also, we are currently witnessing the strong possibility of a Russian invasion of the sovereign country of Ukraine, although most opinions are that nothing will happen until after the Winter Olympics in China.
The major difference between China and Russia is that Russia receives about half of its GDP from the sale of oil and natural gas. A large percentage of these energy products are sold to Europe. That being said, our European allies would have the option of lowering, or possibly even eliminating, that income stream should Russia decide to invade its neighbors. This would put a significant strain on the Russian economy.
A large percentage of the natural gas supplied to Europe by Russia could be replaced by the US, should President Biden allow that to happen. Europe would benefit, as would the US. The only question is if our President has the courage to stand up to Russian aggression and ship our natural gas to Europe.
There are two other countries that are a concern to the US, militarily speaking: North Korea and Iran. North Korea is a concern because they share a common border with our ally, South Korea. Given the size of its population, the country of North Korea has quite a large military. They also possess a significant arsenal of short, medium, and large-range missiles, some of which are capable of reaching the US. They are also in possession of nuclear weapons. My impression of Chairman Kim is that, if he feels that he is going down, he would have no qualms about using those nuclear weapons to take the lives of many innocent people with him. Some of those innocent people would undoubtedly be Americans.
President Trump had opened a dialogue with Chairman Kim and actually persuaded him to stop testing medium and long-range missiles. I just recently read in a news article that Chairman Kim has restarted his missile program. It’s unfortunate that President Biden didn’t consider this threat important enough to approach Chairman Kim and continue the dialogue between our two countries. It probably would have taken too much time away from his weekends in Delaware.
When we include the reserve forces of the Iranian military, the number of military personnel totals about one million. This is by no means a small force. When added to the large arsenal of offensive missiles, some of which are capable of hitting targets as far away as 2000 miles, Iran becomes a formidable force in their region.
Their air force is made up mainly of older US and Russian fighters. They are not nearly as advanced as the Israeli air force. Iran has Russia as an ally. The Israelis have the US and several of the Gulf states—that are occasionally harassed by Iran—as allies. Iran also has an unknown number of proxy fighters who have the capability to launch missiles into Israel and at US military bases in Iraq. Other than that, they really pose no threat to the US.
One of Senator Manchin’s concerns regarding these threats is money. Will the US become so buried in debt that we will be unable to defend against military threats to our interests and those of our allies? The answer is that, eventually, if we continue on this path of uncontrolled deficit spending, the US will become so overwhelmed with debt that we will not have the resources available to adequately fund our military. We will become a toothless tiger. This, I believe, is a major concern of Senator Manchin.
It is a false narrative of the left that the Trump tax cuts (TCJA) were weighted towards the wealthy and that those taxpayers at the lower end of the income scale did not benefit. That narrative is totally untrue.
Anyone who would take the time to analyze the benefits of the TCJA would find that the Trump tax cuts benefited taxpayers at all income levels—not just the wealthy. In fact, those taxpayers with taxable incomes between $15K and 50K received a tax reduction of between 16% and 26% starting in tax year 2018. Additionally, those taxpayers who are in the lower income tax brackets received a larger tax cut, on a percentage basis, than taxpayers having taxable incomes of $1M or more. These taxpayers received only a 6% tax cut.
In an effort to be transparent, I have to say that those people in the upper income tax brackets did receive a larger tax cut in actual dollars than those people in the lower income brackets. Obviously, this was because those in the upper income brackets had a much higher tax burden, in actual dollars, than those in the lower income brackets. Unless you believe that US tax policy should be structured to transition wealth from those in the higher income levels to those in the lower income levels, this is the correct policy.
Although both Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema have spoken out against across-the-board tax increases on individuals and corporations, there are discussions going on regarding a minimum 15% income on corporations. This tax would be based on the income reported on internal financial statements or income reported to stockholders. This number is normally different from the income reported on the company’s corporate tax return.
There has also been talk of a tax on unrealized capital gains. This tax would tax the unrealized capital gains of those investors who have assets of at least $1B, or have a net income of $100M per year or more for three consecutive years. This particular tax may actually wind up doing more harm than good. It would tax the income of investors before it is actually earned. In my view, implementing this type of tax could result in an overall decline in the value of stocks, real estate, and other valuable assets, such as art and other collectables. If these assets fail to appreciate on account of this new type of tax liability, there would be no tax due.
This tax is a bad idea and will be just the beginning. Down the road in ten or fifteen years, when these idiot politicians have squandered the revenue gleaned from these new taxes, they will be back for another bite at the apple to further punish these investors and hardworking business owners and innovators for their success. These politicians have a sickness: they experience joy when squandering other people’s money. I wonder if they actually get off by doing this.
In a previous post I broke down by income level of just who exactly pays the income taxes in the US. The top 1% of taxpayers in this country pay 40% of the individual income taxes collected by the federal government. The top 10% of all taxpayers pay 50% of all the individual income taxes paid in the US. If that’s not enough, the top 50% of all individual taxpayers pay 97% of all the personal income taxes paid in this country. This leaves the bottom 50% of taxpayers to pay the remaining 3% of individual taxes. Where is the fairness? Maybe our elected officials should possibly think about cutting spending. Do ya think?
I am including the information in the above paragraph to show that the narrative being tossed about by the loony progressive left that wealthy people are not paying “their fair share” is nonsense. I mean, really, how much do these socialists want? If the 1% paid 100% of the personal income taxes, would that be enough? My guess is probably not.
If our tax laws were written in such a way that these upper income taxpayers received a zero-dollar tax cut from the TCJA, it would be like punishing these people for being successful. These people are the investors and the innovators. These are the people who have an idea to make life better for everyone and then act on it. These are also the people who invest their money in a business with the hope of making a return on that investment. I’m talking about people like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Steve Jobs. These are the movers and the shakers. These are the people who make things happen. These four individuals alone, either directly or indirectly, are responsible for the creation of millions of jobs. Should they be penalized for their efforts? If anything, they should be applauded.
Inventors: Jack Dorsey, cofounder of twitter, and Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computer
Another false narrative being pushed by the left is that corporations are not paying “their fair share.” This is also complete nonsense. When Donald Trump became President, he was able to pass the TCJA. This legislation lowered taxes on individuals and corporations. Above I went over the specifics regarding lowering taxes on individuals. Corporations also received a tax cut. This bill lowered taxes on corporations from 35%, which was the law during the Obama administration, to 21% as per the TCJA. Many corporations left the US and relocated to other countries and took those jobs with them. This put Americans out of work and gave workers in foreign countries those jobs. Does this sound like a rational tax policy? What could be less rational than shipping jobs overseas?
Government, at all levels, employs about 15% of workers in the US. The vast majority of jobs—85%—are created by the private sector. That said, it would seem to me that the government should be working overtime trying to entice businesses to locate here in the US. This isn’t rocket science: the more businesses located in the US, the more jobs available to US workers. Here is another relevant fact regarding job creation. The more businesses in the US, the more jobs that are available for US workers to choose from. This means more competition among employers to hire the best workers. More competition among employers results in higher pay to hire the best workers. Keeping corporate income taxes at a reasonable level is good for job growth, wage growth, and growth in the economy overall. If those three areas of growth are present, tax revenue will also increase.
The above illustrates the importance of having a reasonable and therefore a more competitive corporate tax rate. If our competitor nations have a significantly lower corporate tax rate than the US, they are able to sell their exports at a more competitive price than the US. When Trump took office, the US corporate tax rate was 35%. The average corporate tax rate worldwide was just over 31%. As you can see from the above two numbers, the US was not competitive with anybody. Now we are, and very much so.
Rescinding the TCJA would hurt consumers at all levels, especially those at the lower end of the income spectrum. Raising taxes on corporations would increase costs to those businesses. Some of those increased costs would be passed on to consumers. When consumers are already struggling with the 7% increase in consumer prices due to inflation, how does a further increase in consumer prices help that situation? It doesn’t.
The United States is in trouble. With the serious issues that are confronting our country today, you would think that the elected morons that we the people have put in charge to run our cities, states, and especially the federal government would push politics aside and begin to deal with these problems. That has not been the case thus far.
In addition to the Covid-19 pandemic and our soaring national debt, our country is being forced to deal with the highest inflation rate since the 1980s. This inflation is being exacerbated by the supply chain issue, which is causing low levels of inventory and, in some cases, empty shelves in grocery stores and retail outlets across the country.
US Inflation Rate
There is also the problem of increasing violent crime in our major cities. Murders are up, carjackings are up, and gang-related retail theft has become such a problem that many retail outlets in our major cities are closing shop and have no plans to reopen. Citizens of these cities, many of them elderly, are being murdered, robbed, and beaten in broad daylight. Just recently, a woman was pushed in front of a moving subway train in New York City and was killed. The crime was caught on video so they were able to arrest the suspect. But that doesn’t do the victim much good, does it?
These ultra-liberal big city DAs are releasing these violent thugs back on to the streets with little or no bail. They are then free to go on to commit other crimes. In some cases, the offenses that are committed after their release are more serious and violent than the crime for which they were originally arrested. Is this the new definition of law and order in this country? The local municipalities are allowing this to go on. The liberal Democrat governments at the state level are turning a blind eye, and the federal government is giving lip service to the issue. I hate to say this but this is the government that the majority of citizens in these states and municipalities voted for. Those people will have another chance this year and in 2024. I’m curious to see if they learned their lesson.
God forbid that these victims, especially the elderly, should arm themselves and fight back. They would most likely be charged with carrying a concealed weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, or murder just for defending themselves. How’s that for the state of today’s legal system? If you’re not armed you are at risk of being assaulted or killed. If you fight back, you will most likely be arrested. This is the reality in today’s big cities. I wonder what would happen to the crime wave if it were legal for everyone to carry concealed?
The issue that has gotten the most press and costing the US taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars per year is the problem of rampant illegal immigration. When we include the “got-aways,” it is estimated that there are between 2 and 2.5 million illegal migrants invading our country each year. These people are coming here from at least eighty countries. There are some estimates that range well over one hundred countries. Some of these people have been found to be on the terrorist watch list. Many others were criminals in their country of origin. These criminals put American citizens at risk, and nobody in the present administration seems to care.
Why is the US so deserving of this high honor? It is because we have elected a mentally impaired 79-year-old man to be our President, who, in turn, has hired a lying, bald-headed buffoon to be in charge of our Homeland Security Department. This “public servant” has stood in front of the American people and stated that the southern border is closed. He has also said that there is no illegal immigration problem. For this, we are forced as taxpayers to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on his salary, his benefits, and his travel. What an insult to the American taxpayer.
Over the last several years, and especially in the last year or so, our border patrol has confiscated tons of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs at our southern border. For every ton that has been confiscated, I wonder how many more tons have gotten through. We are losing as many as 100K of our young people per year to these drugs, and still this administration refuses to secure the southern border. Can you say dereliction of duty?
American citizens are dying as a result of the border policies of the Biden Administration. Americans are being murdered, women and children are being raped, other Americans are being assaulted and robbed, and others still are dying from the illegal drugs that are being smuggled into this country. American citizens are being sacrificed by the Democrat Party for political gain. In their view, most of these illegals, if they ever get the vote, will vote Democrat. And so this will continue, on and on, until at least the midterms and possibly until 2024. Well, at least the funeral parlors are making money.
The US is being faced with the very real possibility of losing the respect of our NATO allies and our allies in the Western Pacific. More importantly, we are also at risk of losing the respect of our enemies, and that is a risk that we should not be willing to take.
The situations in Taiwan and Ukraine are focal points in history. If these countries are invaded and taken over by China and Russia respectively, other countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia could become the next targets of Russian aggression. Also, countries in the Western Pacific, such as the Philippines, VietNam, Japan, and even Australia could become targets of the Chinese.
The only reason why these countries have not already been taken over is because of our NATO alliance and also because of our alliances with Australia and our other friends in the Western Pacific. With the US leading these alliances, Russia and China have both been hesitant to confront any of these countries militarily.
We now have a weak, addled old man in the White House who tries to cover his weakness with bluster and tough talk. Do not be taken in by this. President Biden is not going to face anyone down and neither are his national security advisors. His weakness may actually be inviting conflict. It is a frightful reality that the world may be inching closer to a large-scale military conflict.
Finally, as I touched on above, Senate Democrats just recently tried to eliminate the Senate filibuster rule. Eliminating this one rule in the Senate could have changed this country in ways that would almost guarantee perpetual authoritarian one-party rule. Schmer and friends came within an eyelash of making that happen. It is ironic that it was two Democrats, Senators Manchin and Sinema who, in the face of unbelievable pressure from their colleagues in the House, the Senate, and the White House, were able to stand their ground and vote against this dangerous threat to our freedom. Thank God for Senators Manchin and Sinema. They really did save America.
The crises we currently face are both domestic and international. Some are military in nature, others are economic. Every single one, if not resolved properly, could end in catastrophe for this country.
The issues discussed above were not an all-inclusive list. There are other issues, such as rising interest rates which, depending on how high they go, could result in an economic downturn. That being said, would someone please explain to me why, with all the critical issues that this country is now facing, our Democrat-led government is wasting its time and our resources trying to pass a spending bill that will ultimately cost the US taxpayer almost $5T over the next ten years and result in an additional $3T in debt? These elected morons have given absolutely no thought to the negative consequences that this out-of-control spending spree will cause. Their actions are putting this country at risk.
Thank God for Senators Manchin and Sinema. They are truly modern-day American heroes.
I’m going to close with two truisms that I have put in previous posts:
The United States does not have unlimited resources.
Bankrupt countries cannot defend themselves.
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