"Magic Money"

What do you do when you don't have enough money to fund all your little (or huge!) projects?  

                     You just invent it!

On the Senate Floor on September 7th, 1969, Illinois Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen uttered the comment made famous the world over:

     "A billion here, a billion there, first thing you know you're talkin' 'bout real money."

And he was right.  A $Billion Dollars is One Thousand Million Dollars.  One Thousand Million Dollars!  But as we've learned lately, a $Billion Dollars is no longer a lot of money.  We know that.  Because those we've elected to represent us just passed a waaay overdue annual budget* in the amount of, ready for it?

      $One Trillion,

                   Seven Hundred

                                 Billion Dollars. 

And lest I forget, we are, as a Nation, then more than $31 Trillion Dollars in Debt.  But it's now... 

                      $32,000,000,000,000!

Did we get our money's worth?  Well, lemme' see.  We appropriated some $410,000,000 for border security!  That's gotta' be good, right?  Except, it's for border security in Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Qatar.  

Our Borders?  Oh yeah, we got more than $310 Million Dollars in aid!  Excepppppt, not One Single Penny of it can be used for "...increased security of entry.  No walls, no gates and no fencing."  The funding may only be used to "...enhance migrant processing and to expedite their removal." **  

Surprised?

You shouldn't be.  These folks are not our friends.  They are the enemy, so far as I can see, and should be treated as such.

Oh yeah, and we appropriated another $45 Billion Dollars for Ukraine!  That's enough, BTW, to build 450 miles of our Border Wall Seven Times!

And I'm not against Ukrainian security.  I'm all for it!  But can't we have a few crumbs while Ukraine is getting a full meal?

Remember when the Democrat majority in Congress said we couldn't afford to fund Trump's border wall?  It would have cost a total of $6 Billion then.  $6 Billion.  Crumbs.  Hmmm...

It seems we care a lot about Ukraine's border security, and that of Egypt's, Oman's, Jordan's and Qatar's, but not our own.  

Why?

Is there another nation on Earth that doesn't have a border?  Ummm, no.  Are all the other countries of the Earth laughing their asses off at us?  Ummm, yes.  

Once again, I'm definitely not against security for Ukraine.  But wouldn't it be nice if our other NATO nations kicked in a little bit, too?  Did you know we've kicked in more $'s than all the other European nations put together?  Did you know that?  That brings our total Ukraine contributions, thus far, to more than $100,000,000,000 Dollars!  None of which we had, BTW, we just printed it.  Voila!  

                         Magic Money!

Of course, nobody read the 4,100 pages of legislation, presented just 72 hours before the entire Federal Government would have shut down.  Do you wonder who wrote this stuff, as do I?  How is it possible that somehow a four-foot tall stack of 12-point type paperwork miraculously appears at exactly the right moment for it to be approved and sent along to the POTUS for his signature?   

Just in time to run like the wind for the airport and escape The Swamp?

Just like Lucy and her football, they do it to the feckless Republicans Every. Single. Time.  Without fail!  And somehow the idiot Republicans forget the last time it all occurred.  They screwed us once again, and by so doing removed much of the operational leverage the incoming Republican House majority might have used to sway policy for the entire year of 2023.  

Every time.  

And our elected representative are stupid enough to fall for it.

Oh yeah, and we got $3.6 Million Dollars for the "Michelle Obama Hiking Trail."  I was going ask if we couldn't have done something better with that money, like taking a few homeless veterans off the sidewalks of our Biggest and Bluest Cities?  Me thinks so.

Except, we didn't have it.  We just invented it.  "Magic Money."  Hmmm.  Makes me think we're better off if we make just enough money not to pay taxes.  Make a deal with your boss to pay you $One Dollar Less than the magic number that forces you to finance this awful crap.  And then fund all your other activities, with before-tax-dollars.  Illegal?  Sure.  But if EVERYONE did it...

Did you know the law states that our Federal income tax contributions are VOLUNTARY!

Let me put that down as a goal for 2023...

Like I've offered up before, I'd be happier if I didn't know all this crap.  And you'd be happier as well.  Sorry for having enlightened you.  I take it all back.

Remain dumb and stay happy!  Oh yeah, and heavily armed!

*   Annual budgets are due, on the Floor of the House of Representatives, by not later than September 1st.  All 12 separate appropriations bills, funding all 12 separate categories of Government, must be presented, and voted on individually, by September 1st.  It's the Speaker of the House's responsibility to make this all happen.  Were they?  Ummm, no.  Just hours before the planes had to leave The Swamp did San Fran Nan and her Band of Crazed Sycophants deliver the killing blow to our once-Great Nation...

**  BTW, I learned all of this before I stopped watching Fox News.  Now I'm fat, dumb and happy!  You can be too!  Just remain ignorant of the facts and continue to party down!