Bert Dirschell,
Centertown
Dear Editor,
Annual massive federal deficits are not an income problem. President Biden's FY 2024 budget projects federal receipts of $5.04 trillion, the most in our history. In FY 2019, total federal spending was $4.45 trillion. If Congress kept FY 2024 spending at FY 2019 levels, we would have a $590 billion surplus for FY 2024, instead Biden's budget projects a $1.8 trillion deficit because he wants to spend 55 percent more in 2024 than we did in 2019.
Estimated total government spending for 2023 is nearly $10 trillion, $72,000 per US household, and Biden wants to spend even more. Piling more debt on future generations to fund handouts like those noted below is unconscionable. There are thousands of programs that should not be funded by more borrowing.
Human resources: After stripping out Social Security and Medicare, spending grew from an amount equal to $11,200/household in 2019 to $17,800 in 2024. Is this all for more free stuff?
Medicaid: In 2000, Medicaid cost us $1,100/household; in 2010, pre-Obamacare Medicaid cost us $2,300/household, and in pre-COVID 2019, it cost us $3,200/household. President Biden wants to increase the cost to $4,200/household for 2024. Control of welfare spending should be returned to state and local governments.
Amtrak: Taxpayer subsidies fund nearly half of its costs. The taxpayer subsidized fare for my wife and I to take Amtrak from Jefferson City to Sacramento, California, is $500; no meals included, trip takes more than 50 hours. The cost and travel time is about the same as for Greyhound.
Farm subsidies: Nearly 20,000 farm "entities" have received taxpayer-funded federal farm subsidies or disaster relief payments for 37 consecutive years. From 2008-17, the top 10 farm subsidy recipients each received an average of $18.2 million, $35,000/week. The Deline Farm Partnership in Charleston collected $14.1 million during that period. From 1985-2021, Parker Brothers Farms in Sikeston collected $12.7 million. The Government Accountability Office reports almost a quarter of farm subsidy recipients did not provide personal labor on their farms.
The only magic money tree in D.C. is the one that gets cut down every year to feed the presses that print more paper money.