Emotions and tensions run high over various causes both foreign and domestic, but the pragmatic side of things calls for cooler heads to prevail.

October 16, 2023

By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director GWP

I’m going to assume, despite the observable reality, that everyone just has these enormous hearts that ooze with empathy, as they seem to purport on social media.

Huge heart for the children, education, and school lunches.

Gigantic heart for the infirmed and their healthcare.

Immeasurable heart for foreign countries and their plights.

Our insatiable desire for social justice and environmental holiness.

Never mind our undying affection for infrastructure and roads.

It’s difficult to not be cheeky. These are the same people who honest to goodness think if a handful of billionaires paid a little more in taxes this whole wish-list could be made possible.

Needless to say, the math ain’t mathing.

No one is pulling this off. Not the Scandinavians. Not the UK. Not Canada. Not the US.  No one.

It’s one thing to observe something as wrong, and being sympathetic. It’s another to believe that situation should compel everyone to economically drop their stuff and get involved.

What does the flight attendant always say when reviewing their safety procedures? Always. Every single flight. Anywhere in the world. In every language, they say, “Put your mask on first before helping others.”

Why do they say this? Because the implied second half of that sentence is: You’re no good to anyone dead.

That is a harsh bit of self-awareness people need to wrap their heads around individually, politically, and geopolitically.

No one, except those who benefit directly from it, likes poverty. The indigent certainly don’t like it. The middle class don’t like it. And the rich don’t like it. So let’s stop pretending that because they don’t live a life of abnegation and altruism they don’t care about the poor. That’s not helping.

Same goes for war. No one, except those who benefit directly from it, likes it. The infantry don’t like it. Their families don’t like it. The average citizens don’t like it. So let’s stop pretending that because people aren’t eagerly running toward conscription they don’t care about the plights of the people involved. Again, not helping.

The same can also be said for sickness. No one wants pestilence, except those who benefit directly from it. Kids don’t like it, elderly don’t like it, healthy people don’t like it. That people aren’t willing to turn their lives inside out to prevent its spread isn’t indicative of their apathy toward it. It’s indicative of a set of priorities that says they value preserving a quality of life beyond that of mere survival, and a general recognition that, as mortals, they are always at risk of losing their lives from any number of things.

The ultimatums being circulated where people are being commanded to think or do things a certain way, or else they are evil incarnate is not only preposterous, but despicable. That’s a great distraction from the people profiting off a persistent level of fear and strife in the world.

All the guilting needs to stop. Because there is a reality that is far more brutal than any emotional scarring you can get from strangers on the internet. And this reality is coming with the quickness.

The funding of the Pandemic fallout and the Ukraine war alone has thrown inflation into a gear never before seen. Inflation being the creation of money, not the increase in the cost of living. Cost of living increases are a symptom of inflation, but unto itself is not inflation.

You can’t just create money, however. To do so, you need to get it from somewhere. In a healthy economy, you get it from production. In the economy we have now, you get it from borrowing. The over $30 trillion the US has in debt has been monetized. The debt is created on the backs of taxpayers. Taxpayers are the collateral.

So how are Americans responding to the increase in the cost of living begotten by inflation? Luxury and nonessential items have been summarily cut, of course. Portions and quality have generally gone down while the prices have gone up, and less people are in a position to pay for that.

They are paying attention to deals and discounts. They aren’t eating out. They have given up on hobbies.

They are still spending the same, just getting less for it, which means low savings as well.

How did the US get there?

Well, the Biden administration added $500 billion in roughly three weeks. But the untenable sad part is, this isn’t unique to that three weeks. The US has lately been averaging $500 billion in spending per month.  Prior to that, Trump added 39% to the national debt to the tune of $7.8 trillion.

The correction is coming. Either governments can institute some modicum of discipline to walk it all back and get things in order, or the market will do it. It’s not a matter of if, so much as a matter of when and how.

The attitude the US and the West in general has toward debt is unnerving to say the very least:

• The prevailing attitude is that the US government can borrow and spend indefinitely. After all, it hasn’t caused a problem so far. But a long fuse can burn for a long time before it finally reaches the powder keg.
• “All empires believe that their currency will be eternally demanded, until it stops.”

“War is the health of the state” and no truer words have been said. If you listen to the likes of Nikki Haley or Mike Pence, you’d believe we can have it all. We can do all the welfare things! But over $30 trillion in debt begs to differ. It’s not like the rules of math are different based on political party.

So is the US going to fund both the Israeli and Ukrainian wars? Looks like they are going to try:

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the Biden administration hopes to push a new weapons package for Israel and Ukraine through Congress that will be significantly higher than $2 billion.

But where is the money coming from? More debt?

You can be sympathetic toward the hardship and the tragedy, but still prioritize your own situation — which by the way is unto itself quite dire.

Imagine being a family that can barely make ends meet, already in their own debt, and watching as their tax dollars are being blown up across the world, or watching as their electric bill goes through the roof because of Green initiatives.

There is a reason why the song “Rich Men North of Richmond” resonated with so many people. People are getting tired of paying into a system that doesn’t work for them any longer. Or a system, rather, that doesn’t reward those who are productive and follow the basic rules of society.

Look, if the Green Agenda is your bag, by all means, dump your money into it.

If any of the foreign conflicts around the world are your thing, nothing is stopping you from supporting them with your own material wealth.

But to expect people to continue funding billions in foreign aid, or to withstand massive hikes in their bills who can’t afford the luxury of worrying about other people’s problems is inappropriate. To guilt them over it, is even more reprehensible. To cancel them over it, is beyond a bridge too far.

I get it. There are plenty of sensitive topics, and short of abortion the conflict in the Middle East has had blood running hot for decades.

Regardless of your personal feelings on a given issue, there is a deep populist desire to end the inflation, the interventionism, the welfare state, and the corporate bailouts. The average person is tired of the endless mandates being funneled down from elites who don’t want us to own anything and eat the damn bugs.

There is a pragmatic side here which goes by another name: Reality.

It’s time to care without getting involved. It’s time to get out of our own way. It’s time to heal from the massive amount of mistakes made over the past 50 – 60 years.

The pragmatic mandate of every state to look out for its own constituents’ best interests should triumph here. This goes for every nation. So for some, it might mean a war. But for others, it might entail putting our heads down and sorting out the debt and economy.

It’s pragmatism versus the rest of the problems. If I’m to pick a side, I will pick the pragmatic. It might be painful and difficult in the short term, but in the long term more people will be served if we just each put on our own oxygen masks first in the event of an emergency.

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