Photo by Tyler Nelson
Louis Fortis, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
It is great to have a president again who knows how to act like a president rather than an autocrat. We are seeing America coming back to the country we learned about in school, a healthy, vibrant democracy that actually encourages peaceful demonstrations and governed by our constitution and the rule of law. Slowly and in the usual chaotic manner of a vibrant democracy, America is again moving forward toward a more fair, equitable and just society. We, of course, have a way to go, but we are again moving in the right direction. Biden’s appointments might not be exciting to some, but right now we need a very bright and experienced team and that’s who Biden has brought onboard.
On the domestic front we are moving rapidly to get vaccines in people’s arms, and we are seeing a decline in new COVID cases and deaths from COVID. Hopefully this trendline will continue even as new variants of the virus are slowly entering the US. The economy is still struggling primarily due to the virus, and we desperately need some government stimulus to help people and small businesses through the next several months. Unfortunately, this recession has disproportionately hurt women, people of color and lower income workers quite hard.
Unlike the Great Recession of 2008 which was caused by a collapse in the financial sector, this recession will recover faster once we get to some level of herd immunity with COVID-19. We will, however, need government stimulus and we will need the $1.9 trillion stimulus package. We need some of this stimulus money to help pay for our teachers, firefighters and police; put food on the tables of some of our struggling families; enable more spending to support our local small businesses and begin to rebuild our country’s failing infrastructure. Recent opinion polls at the time of this writing show that 68% of Americans support the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan.
Playing Political Games While Some Children Are Not Eating
Unfortunately, the stimulus package has become a political game with Republican congresspeople arguing we can’t increase the deficit despite the fact that too many of our fellow citizens are becoming food insecure. Children are going without meals in the richest country in the history of the world. This is occurring while recent numbers show that the billionaire class has increased their net worth by well over $1 trillion in the middle of this pandemic.
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Ironically these same Republicans who are complaining about increasing the deficit eagerly voted for the Trump tax cut of 2017, which primarily went to the top 1%ers, many of whom are the check writers to the Republican campaigns. Also, in 2017, our economy was just doing fine and did not need stimulus; now it does. As a former economics professor, I always had to point out to my students that a nation’s budget is different from their household budget, a business’s annual budget or even a state’s budget.
A nation can and must run deficits when we are in recession or it will end up in a depression like we had in the 1930s. We need a very robust stimulus package. Whether it is $1.9 trillion or a little more or less is a fair debate, but we need major stimulus and we can definitely handle the increase in our national debt. What we can’t afford is to not provide this stimulus. Anyone who tells you differently, politely ask them if they would support reversing the 2017 tax cut that went almost entirely to the wealthiest people in our country in order to lower the deficit.
Taking the Longer View
On the international front, Biden is working to mend our relationships with our allies and to restore America’s leadership in the world. With Russia and China getting more aggressive on the world scene, our democratic allies seeing rightwing populist parties growing in their countries and “democratically elected” authoritarians in a number of large countries tightening their grip on power, America is the only country that can provide strong, international, democratic leadership. In the past month we have rejoined the Paris Climate Accords, the World Health Organization and are discussing reworking the Iranian nuclear deal. Despite the fact that we need to exert more soft power with aid and assistance, Biden and his team understand these actions are more than just kind gestures, they are self-preservation. In our highly integrated world, we must provide positive leadership or we will see another 9/11 or worse.
Finally, on the political front, we are seeing reasons for progressive Democrats to be optimistic. Things are slowly moving in our direction. Just three years ago, Georgia and Arizona were considered solid Republican states each dependably delivering electoral college votes to the Republican candidate for president, having two Republican senators and a Republican governor. In 2020, we saw both states vote Democratic for president. Both states now have two Democratic senators and in two years both Republican governors will be in tough fights for re-election. This is all happening as the Republican party struggles to hold together their two factions, the old fashion, small government conservatives and the rightwing, conspiracy-believing populist Trump wing. That is going to be a real challenge.
Please stay safe,
Louis G. Fortis
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
