Why No More Money for Ukraine's Show: The Data Prove Government Is Spending Too Much.

"The U.S. national debt recently passed $33 trillion, more than 120% of gross domestic product. Left-wing politicians assert that Americans are undertaxed, but the data show that the government spends too much.

Americans for Tax Reform launched the Sustainable Budget Project in September to document the rise in government spending over the past decade. The results are clear: Overspending is the problem.

Between 2013 and 2022, aggregate annual spending by the 50 state governments, excluding federal funds, increased 51.7%. Total annual federal spending rose 69.4% during the decade, more than three times as fast as the 21.6% increase in the rate of population growth plus inflation. If government grows faster than this rate, then it is growing faster than what the average taxpayer can afford.

Had the federal government limited the growth in spending to a maximum of the population growth rate plus inflation during that decade, in 2022 the federal government would have spent $1.6 trillion less than it did, resulting in at least a $200 billion surplus. If the federal government had done this over the past two decades, the national debt would have increased by less than $500 billion instead of $19 trillion.

If state governments had limited spending growth to the rate of population growth plus inflation during the last decade, they would have spent $1.39 trillion in 2022, $344 billion less than the $1.74 trillion they actually spent.

Had federal and state governments simply grown no faster than the rate of population growth plus inflation, taxpayers could have been spared at least $2 trillion in taxes and debt in 2022 and trillions of dollars more over time. The U.S. hasn't needed drastic budget cuts, just slower, more sustainable debt growth.

Our project defines each state's overspending problem by providing a dollar-figure spending ceiling and allowing anyone to see how government spending in a state has grown relative to the rate of population growth plus inflation. It will publish and promote an annual benchmark spending level for every state, which lawmakers must not exceed if they want to keep state spending in check.

Limiting state spending to the Sustainable Budget Project benchmark isn't impossible. Lawmakers in more states are beginning to implement the sorts of structural reforms necessary to slow the rate of government spending to a sustainable clip. During the past decade, Colorado and Texas have demonstrated that this can be done.

Colorado spent a cumulative $12.8 billion less over the past decade than what could have been available under the benchmark. State lawmakers could have dramatically cut the state's individual income tax. Instead, there is a push in Colorado to raise taxes and destroy the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, the state's constitutional requirement that all tax increases be subject to voter approval and revenue collected in excess of the state spending cap be refunded to taxpayers.

Texas spent $16.4 billion less than the benchmark over the past decade, savings that could have been used to eliminate its gross-receipts-style franchise tax and other bad taxes. Rather than continuing to keep state spending in check, Texas lawmakers instead passed the largest state budget in the state's history this year.

Excessive spending at the federal, state and local levels of government deserves more attention. Tax hikes are easy to identify, but there has been no objective, binary metric to determine whether a state government spends too much. By focusing on the rate of population growth plus inflation, the Sustainable Budget Project provides such a standard.

Governors and state legislators need to implement reforms and practice restraint to slow the steep upward trajectory of government spending. That lawmakers in large, politically important states have already demonstrated this ability has shown their counterparts in other states and in Washington that sustainable budgeting is possible. With more modest growth in state government spending, lawmakers can lower taxes and Americans can keep more of what they earn.

---

Mr. Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform. Mr. Ginn, a senior fellow at ATR, served as chief economist of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, 2019-20." [1]

1. The Data Prove Government Is Spending Too Much. Norquist, Grover; Ginn, Vance.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Oct 2023: A.17.

 

Amerikiečiai pavargo mokėti už Ukrainos Zelenskio cirką: JAV pagalbos nutraukimas kelia grėsmę Ukrainos ekonominiam stabilumui

 

     „Tikimasi, kad JAV finansavimo sistema Ukrainos atlyginimams ir Kijevo vyriausybės išlaidoms baigsis kitą mėnesį, nes Kongresas nepateiks naujos pinigų sumos, pranešė Ukrainos ir Amerikos vyriausybės pareigūnai.

 

     Artėjant JAV vyriausybės uždarymui, valstybės sekretorius Antony Blinken rugsėjo 24 d. perspėjo Senato mažumos lyderį Mitchą McConnellą, kad Ukrainą, šį rudenį įpusėjus kontrpuolimui, ištiks stiprus ekonominis ir politinis sukrėtimas, jei Kongresas nutrauks pagalbą Kijevui.

 

     JAV ir kitos šalys donorės iš tikrųjų moka atlyginimus 150 000 Ukrainos valstybės tarnautojų ir daugiau, nei pusei milijono mokytojų, profesorių ir mokyklų darbuotojų, jau nekalbant apie vyriausybės išlaidas nuo sveikatos priežiūros iki būsto subsidijų.

 

     Pasak jų padėjėjų, JAV valstybės sekretoriaus skambutis buvo raginimas GOP įstatymų leidėjams įtraukti Ukrainos finansavimą į sustabdymo priemones, kad JAV vyriausybė liktų atvira.

 

     Po šešių dienų Kongresas priėmė finansavimo įstatymą be pagalbos Ukrainai. Vašingtono ir Kijevo pareigūnai dabar aiškinasi, ką numatomas pagalbos sumažėjimas reiškia šalies gebėjimui išlaikyti vyriausybę ir ekonomiką.

 

     Vašingtono diskusijos dėl ekonominės pagalbos Ukrainai suskaldė Kongresą, kai kurie respublikonai teigia, kad JAV lėšos turėtų paremti Amerikos ekonomiką.

 

     „Nematau alternatyvų – JAV finansavimas yra itin svarbus Ukrainos išlikimui“, – sakė buvęs ambasadorius Ukrainoje ir dabartinis Kongreso finansuojamo JAV taikos instituto viceprezidentas Billas Tayloras.

 

     Antradienį prezidentas Bidenas kalbėjosi su pasaulio lyderiais, įskaitant Jungtinės Karalystės, Kanados, Italijos, Japonijos, Lenkijos ir Rumunijos valstybių vadovus, Prancūzijos užsienio reikalų ministrą ir NATO generalinį sekretorių, siekdamas koordinuoti paramą Ukrainai.

 

     „Kaip aiškiai pasakė prezidentas Bidenas, jokiomis aplinkybėmis negalime leisti, kad Amerikos parama Ukrainai būtų nutraukta“, – sakė Baltųjų rūmų Nacionalinio saugumo tarybos atstovas Johnas Kirby. „Laikas nėra mūsų draugas“.

 

     Nuo tada, kai prasidėjo konfliktas, dauguma įstatymų leidėjų ir visuomenės narių daugiausia dėmesio skyrė techninei įrangai, įskaitant tankus, sraigtasparnius, pažangias raketų sistemas ir milijonus šovinių, kuriuos tiekti JAV turi unikalią padėtį.

 

     Tačiau kai Blinkenas rugsėjį lankėsi Kijeve, Ukrainos ministras pirmininkas Denysas Shmyhalas pradėjo susitikimą, padėkodamas jam už mažai žinomą civilinės biudžeto pagalbos, mokamos per Pasaulio banką, srautą. „Visi atlyginimai, kurie dabar Ukrainoje buvo mokami viešajame sektoriuje per pastaruosius metus, įskaitant socialines ir kitas programas, yra finansuojami iš to“, – sakė Shmyhalas.

 

     Iš viso Pasaulio banko programa „Taikos“ Ukrainai atsiuntė 23,4 milijardo dolerių, iš kurių 20,2 milijardo dolerių finansavo JAV ir 2 milijardus JAV dolerių JK.

 

     Respublikonai, kurie prieštarauja bet kokiam finansavimui Ukrainai, mano, kad federaliniai doleriai atitenka užsienio vyriausybei, ir tai yra, kaip simbolis, kad vidaus prioritetai nekeliami į pirmą vietą. „Mes mokame beveik už viską“ Ukrainoje, X sakė Gruzijos respublikonų atstovė Marjorie Taylor Greene." [1]

1. World News: U.S. Aid Cutoff Threatens Ukraine's Economic Stability. Mauldin, William;
Walker, Marcus.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Oct 2023: A.8

Americans Are Tired from Paying for Ukrainian Zelensky's Circus: U.S. Aid Cutoff Threatens Ukraine's Economic Stability.

"WASHINGTON -- The U.S. funding system for Ukrainian salaries and Kyiv government expenditures is expected to run out in the next month absent a fresh infusion of money from Congress, Ukrainian and American government officials said.

As a government shutdown loomed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sept. 24 that Ukraine would face a severe economic and political shock in the middle of the counteroffensive this fall if Congress cut off assistance to Kyiv.

The U.S. and other donor nations effectively pay the salaries of 150,000 civil servants in Ukraine and more than half a million teachers, professors and school workers, not to mention government expenses ranging from healthcare to housing subsidies.

The telephone call from the U.S. secretary of state was a plea for GOP lawmakers to include Ukraine funding in stopgap measures to keep the U.S. government open, according to their aides.

Six days later, Congress passed a funding bill without aid for Ukraine. Officials in Washington and Kyiv are now looking at what an expected drop in aid means for the country's ability to keep its government running and its economy afloat.

The Washington debate over economic aid to Ukraine has divided Congress, with some Republicans saying U.S. funds should support the American economy.

"I don't see alternatives -- U.S. funding is crucial for Ukraine's survival," said Bill Taylor, former ambassador to Ukraine and current vice president at the congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace.

On Tuesday, President Biden spoke with world leaders including the heads of state of the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Japan, Poland and Romania, the French foreign minister, and the secretary-general of NATO, to coordinate support for Ukraine.

"As President Biden made clear, we cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted," said John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. "Time is not our friend."

Since the conflict began, most lawmakers and members of the public have focused on the hardware, including tanks, helicopters, advanced missile systems and millions of rounds of ammunition, all of which the U.S. is uniquely positioned to provide. 

Yet when Blinken visited Kyiv in September, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal began a meeting by thanking him for a little-known stream of civilian-budget aid paid via the World Bank. "All wages that are now paid in Ukraine in the public sector over the past year, including social and other programs, are funded through this," Shmyhal said.

In all, the World Bank's "Peace" program has sent Ukraine $23.4 billion, with $20.2 billion funded by the U.S. and $2 billion from the U.K.

Republicans who oppose all funding for Ukraine see federal dollars going to a foreign government as a symbol of not putting domestic priorities first. "We're paying for just about everything" in Ukraine, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X." [1]

1. World News: U.S. Aid Cutoff Threatens Ukraine's Economic Stability. Mauldin, William;
Walker, Marcus.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Oct 2023: A.8