The drama of Donald Trump’s budget continues. The Senate cannot rectify the cost of the bill, which will add about 4 trillion dollars to the national debt. They are trying to use a new method to calculate what the bill actually costs. The Republican bourgeoisie has lowered its estimates of cost 90% less than what it actually is going to cost, if calculated in the traditional manner.
By what I guess one could call clever:
“If Congress doesn’t act, most of Trump’s signature 2017 tax cuts will expire this year. Extending those cuts through 2034 accounts for the vast majority of the bill’s estimated impact on the national debt. But the Senate’s method of cost-counting compares the cost of extending the tax cuts against the government’s finances with the cuts in place, not against the government’s finances if the cuts expire. “
Washington Post 6 28 2025
So Trump’s “tax cuts” are what is making the 4 trillion dollar debt that is going to have to be paid by younger generations, risking default. By not including the extension of the tax cuts, which is probably the most important part of the bill, to the price of the bill, its cost is lowered 90%.
Which perhaps pleases the following of the Republicans who like to think they are masters of economics. Without the legislation, the tax cuts expire. By reasoning the tax cuts would not expire, the Senate simply adds on the cost of the bill without the tax cuts.
Would you feel comfortable about this group doing your bookkeeping? It overlooks a massive expenditure that will likely never be paid off. It defers payment to another generation, long past Trump’s ripe youth of 78 years old.
But what the heck? They always said someone would come to their assistance with nuclear waste. But it just keeps accumulating, a gift from the 20th century when long term effects of industry were less important than creating surplus value.
The government’s credit rating has already been degraded due to Trump. Moody’s was the last rating agency to downgrade the government’s credit rating. Yet Trump thinks he can remove the chairman of the Central Bank, and have lower interest rates.
The government’s credit rating falling means the bonds they are buying are riskier. This if anything would raise interest rates, as money is harder to get; the risk of default is rising.
In the end where this seems to be going is the currency is currently being devalued, which makes the debt lower as money is worth less. It also seems to make the stock market value rise.
If this continues wages will have to rise. If the value of money is less, workers have to undergo privations. This can only be maintained for so long without civil unrest, strikes, etc. resulting when workers on multimillion dollar machines are being paid minimum wages.
The whole thing looks increasingly like a powderkeg, and the Republican bourgeoisie are totally in control of the capitalist state. The debt was contracted to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At some point it became clear Afghanistan’s natural resources, which was probably about all the country had for assets, could not pay the trillions of dollars borrowed.
This culminated in the defeat of the bourgeois state, and the subsequent debt. The whole adventure has to be written off as a failure, no profit is flowing in due to Afghanistan. Rather the opposite, with the weapons designed to be used there no good for fighting in Ukraine. The bomber planes may work in the developing world, but in Europe they seem to be a failure. They even gave Ukraine long range missiles, to no avail.
At some point the hard reality is going to have to sink in, probably when Moody’s cuts the government’s credit further. Then interest rates will have to rise again, just like now.
The downgrade of the government’s credit also came with the tariffs Trump is trying to place on Canada. He has gone so far as to suggest Canada becoming part of America.
After the overwhelming success of Afghanistan, how could Trump go wrong? I suppose Trump thinks the Canadians will just give in.
We have seen this road before. Iraq looked like a cakewalk, two interventions later the only profit to be made is selling the once nationalized oil under Iraq. They have yet to explain why they felt the need to expropriate the assets of the people of Iraq, who were represented by the Baath Socialist Party, the party that had nationalized the oil.
It is morally offensive that a sovereign country would have to endure this type of harassment. Canada is the second largest trading nation to America. They risk trade coming to a halt rather unceremoniously, if Trump attacked our neighbor to the north. I suppose then he thinks interest will fall.
Trump’s bill passed, and the tax cuts, at some point down the road, crisis is looming. Accounting tricks will not help them then, default or partial default will be the only answer. It already looks ridiculous to raise the interest rate, the amount of money the government buys its debts for. The bill could be more than 4 trillion if Trump has a new Fed chairman just keeps buying debt.
Nicholas Jay Boyes
Milwaukee Wisconsin
American Democratic Republic
6 28 2025
Ecological Era 