Why Everyday People Are Now Stuck Paying the Price…

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]But my daily take today from Hartman report.com is titled they blew up the debt, stalled America's future and stuck you with the bill all to enrich the top 1% and win elections.

[00:00:12]Uh the article I I when the one I mailed out I emailed out had a a great picture of a guy with, you know, empty pockets, but I've replaced it now with a graphic that lays out all the the shocking details of what Republicans have done to us.

[00:00:29]Yesterday Republicans proposed an appropriations bill and they're going to try and push it through the House and Senate through reconciliation, which means that Democrats won't be able to filibuster it in the Senate, excuse me, no matter what. So, [snorts] anyway, this appropriations bill, which right now is it was around well, actually as of yesterday, was in the 70 to 80 billion-dollar range, had in it a $1 billion for the for the Epstein Memorial Ballroom. Uh you know, Donald Trump's Epstein dance hall thing that he wants to build. His gaudy gold disgusting, you know, over overshadow the White House tribute to his ego.

[00:01:12]Every penny of that billion dollars for the ballroom that Lindsey Graham is and and Chuck Grassley are out there promoting right now. Every penny of that will be borrowed in our name and our children's name and our grandchildren's name. And we'll be paying interest on that money throughout our lifetimes.

[00:01:29]This year, in fact, we are spending a little over $1 trillion on interest on the national debt. Our national debt is in the neighborhood of $39 trillion.

[00:01:42]And a trillion dollars in interest is a mind-boggling amount of money.

[00:01:48]In fact, I you know, I think it's a huge scandal, by the way. Our debt or excuse me, yeah, our debt, our national debt of 39 trillion is now larger than our entire economy, which is around 34 trillion.

[00:02:01]And Fortune magazine says by the end of this decade, you know, just what a few years from now we're going to spend $2 a year in interest.

[00:02:11]So, to put all that in context, you start spitting numbers, you know, trillions and billions and people's brains just go tilt. So, what could we have right now if we didn't have to spend a trillion dollars in interest on the 39 trillion dollars in debt that three Republican presidents have run up with their tax breaks. You know, just let me preface this by pointing out 100% of our national debt is attributable to the Reagan tax cuts, the George W. Bush tax cuts, the Donald Trump tax cuts versions one and two, and the interest we pay on the debt that comes about as a result of those tax cuts.

[00:02:56]You don't even have to toss in the two two wars that Bush and Cheney lied us into that cost us 7 trillion dollars.

[00:03:01]You add up those three tax those three presidents' tax cuts and the interest and it's 54 trillion dollars.

[00:03:09]So, what could we do with just the one trillion dollars that this year we are going to spend on interest payments on that debt that the Republicans ran up in our name?

[00:03:22]First, it could guarantee universal child care and early childhood education nationwide.

[00:03:29]Second, it would make all public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition-free.

[00:03:34]Third, the US could establish a universal health care system.

[00:03:39]Fourth, it would fully fund a national infrastructure modernization program, repairing every deficient bridge in the country, rebuilding all of our highways, expanding mass transit, and replacing aging water systems including every lead pipe in America.

[00:03:56]Fifth, a trillion dollars could finance a rapid transition to clean energy building out solar and wind at scale, modernizing the grid, subsidizing home electrification, and accelerating EV infrastructure to catch up with China.

[00:04:10]Sixth, it could end homelessness in America.

[00:04:14]Seventh, we could generate a guaranteed basic income of $500 a month to every adult American or a more targeted version for lower and middle-income households dramatically reducing poverty.

[00:04:26]Eighth, it could expand Social Security and Medicare benefits significantly.

[00:04:30]Ninth, the US could also fund universal paid family and medical leave so no one ever has to go to work sick again or choose between a paycheck and caring for a newborn or a sick relative.

[00:04:42]Tenth, it could drastically increase teacher pay, reduce class sizes, and modernize school facilities.

[00:04:49]11th, it could launch a large-scale affordability affordable housing initiative building millions of units, stabilizing rents, and helping first-time home buyers with down payments.

[00:04:59]12th, it could rebuild and expand public health infrastructure including pandemic preparedness, local health departments, research funding, and domestic manufacturing of crucial medicines and supplies.

[00:05:11]And even after doing several of those at once, there'd still be room for things like universal broadband, modernizing the postal system, expanding national parks and conservation efforts, and funding scientific research at levels that could accelerate breakthroughs in everything from cancer to renewables to clean water.

[00:05:30]None of those things are happening, however, because Republicans say, "We just can't afford to do it because of our debt."

[00:05:38]Now, how did we get in this mess? It all started in the 1970s when Jude Wanniski wrote an op-ed for the for the Wall Street Journal arguing that it was 1976, arguing that Republicans had been viewed as Scrooge and Democrats were viewed as Santa.

[00:05:54]San- the Santa Claus Democrats brought us the minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, overtime, uh social security, Medicare, Medicaid, publics, you know, free college. I mean, it just goes on and on and on, right?

[00:06:08]The list is huge. All the things the Democrats brought us. And the Republicans opposed every single one of them.

[00:06:15]So, what Wininski said is Republicans need to become the tax cla- Santas. They have to figure out a way to be Santa, and they have to figure out how to get the Democrats to shoot their own Santa in the face.

[00:06:24]So, what you do is when a Republican's in office, you run up the debt as hard and fast as you can.

[00:06:29]Ronald Reagan took it from 800 billion to 2.4 trillion in 8 years.

[00:06:34]And that produces good times, it makes the economy look good, even though, you know, it's all borrowed money.

[00:06:40]And then, when a Democrat comes into office, you squeal and scream and yell about, "Oh my god, but the debt, our grandchildren are going to pay for it."

[00:06:49]And they've been doing this for 45 years. And the media never caught on, the Democratic Party doesn't talk about it.

[00:06:56]I I feel like a a lone voice in the wilderness when I'm out here talking about this, but they have all done this.

[00:07:03]I wa- last night at the suggestion of caller yesterday, I Louise and I watched Gram Plater's It's a little short of an hour speech in in Maine, in Biddeford or something like that. Is that the name of the town?

[00:07:16]Packed town hall, amazing speech.

[00:07:19]And as Gram Plater said, we have to use the tax code to take back the money they've stolen from us.

[00:07:25]So, it's a big It's a big job, but uh we've got to take on the GOP's [music] two Santa Claus strategy. We've got to expose it. We've got to raise tax- [music] we've got to roll back the the Reagan, Bush, and Trump tax cuts.

[00:07:42]And put [music] America back on a sustainable path and get some of the stuff the people in every other developed country [music] in the world just take for granted like a national health care system and free college you know get back to that and just have billionaires pay their damn fair share.