Commentary: The Real Cost of the Debt-Ceiling Deal

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spent weeks of negotiating to authorize $4 trillion in new deficit spending over the next two years. This means that our national debt will be $35 trillion in 2025. The interest cost will be up to $1.4 trillion annually, only a small amount less than the current cost of national defense and Social Security combined. This staggering debt undermines the future prosperity of every American.

Federal spending contributes to a sense of entitlement, including for every person receiving federal largesse. Think of the adverse impact of federal student loans. President Barack Obama promised that government-granted student college loans would be more efficient, but these loans have, in fact, ballooned the cost of college. Concurrently, colleges have reduced quality outcomes and propagandized students, undermining our society because many students are hopelessly in debt. Now, progressives in Congress want to terminate the provision requiring repayment of student loans. For many of our young workforce, the burden of high student loans precludes marriage and buying a house.

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Commentary: Insane Deficit Spending Is Immoral

In Armageddon, Bruce Willis blows himself up on an asteroid to save his daughter and all of humanity. (Sorry for the spoiler, but the movie is 25 years old.) That theme—parents providing for, and sacrificing for, their children—is the deeply moral and moving story that Americans used to love. 

I say “used to,” because something troubling has happened. We now accept that young people should be worse off for a lifetime in order to benefit those who have already lived full, comfortable lives. We saw this during COVID-19, when an elderly leadership class locked children out of classrooms, playgrounds, friendships, and sports, and wiped out jobs, training, and mentorship for young workers.

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Pennsylvania Budget Secretary Defends Governor’s Budget That Lawmakers Say Overspends

Gregory Thall

Pennsylvania’s House Appropriations Committee ended hearings on next fiscal year’s budget on Thursday, with the governor’s budget chief defending a plan that many lawmakers fear significantly overspends.

Governor Tom Wolf (D) has asked the Republican-controlled General Assembly to consider a Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget that spends $43.7 billion, an increase of 16.6 percent over current expenditures. His proposal assumes the state will enjoy a revenue intake that surpasses that predicted by the nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) by $762 million.

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