By MARSHALL WARD
In Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, he said, "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Joe Biden gave a remedial history lesson and praised government that paid for America's transcontinental railroad, the GI Bill, the interstate highway system, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Internet, bridges, schools, the exploration of Mars, and the current mass-vaccination drive.
Out with Reganomics, In with Bidenomics.
Conjuring up his Anti-Reagan, President Biden said, "We the People are the government. You and I.”
In an interesting spin, for Kentuckians, government is the problem – not too much but lack of it.
In Kentucky long-standing problems have held us back for decades:
- Many families living in distressed rural and urban communities can’t afford housing, childcare, health care, food, or other basic needs, and face serious economic instability if they lose their jobs, get sick or there’s a recession.
- People of color, immigrants, and poor whites face unequal opportunities in education, employment, health, and housing — disparities that have been “unmasked” in this pandemic.
- Kentucky’s government hasn’t made the public investments that we know pay off - modernizing our physical and digital infrastructure and fighting the threat of climate change.
- Kentucky’s wealthiest individuals and corporations have reaped banana-republic sized profits and have been given special tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share.
Nationally, corporations like Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc., Chevron Corp., pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co., and farming equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. have paid zero taxes year after year.
According to the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy report, these companies were "able to zero out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in U.S. pretax income, eliminating $16.4 billion in taxes, and enjoyed a net corporate tax refund of $4.3 billion, blowing a $20.7 billion hole in the federal budget last year.”
As we move forward to “Build Back Better," as the president says, an overwhelming majority of Americans demand real tax increases for the wealthiest to pay for neglected infrastructure, tax cuts for the middle class, and for an increased minimum wage.
For Kentuckians, the American Rescue Plan [ARP] has helped us survive this pandemic.
According to Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Executive Director Jason Bailey, “the ARP rises to the occasion of an economic crisis in which 33% Kentuckians report having difficulty affording usual household expenses, 20% Kentucky parents say their children aren’t getting enough to eat, and 16% of Kentucky renters are behind on rent payments."
The American Rescue Plan provides much-needed relief and allow us to emerge on the other side of COVID-19 stronger and secure.
Newsflash: the ARP had zero Republican votes in Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell’s Senate and in the House. Who are they representing anyway?
The American Rescue Plan provides these key hardship-reducing measures for Kentuckians [KY Center for Economic Policy]:
- $1,400 checks to every adult and child with family incomes up to $150,000 or 92% of Kentuckians;
- $300 a week in extra unemployment benefits through Sept. 6 and a continuation of pandemic unemployment programs, helping 100,000+ laid-off Kentuckians;
- An expanded child allowance of up to $3,600 per kid that will go to 86% of Kentucky’s children and their families, and a portion will be continued monthly;
- Food and rental aid for those struggling to pay for basic needs, as well as over $760 million in Kentucky for childcare assistance;
- $4 billion+ in aid to Kentucky state and local governments to protect public services and restore budget cuts, support essential workers, and allow water, sewer and broadband infrastructure investments;
- $2 billion+ for Kentucky public schools and universities to allow them to operate safely, address learning loss, and support students;
- Expanded assistance to make purchasing healthcare on the state’s health care exchange more affordable for at least 78,000 Kentuckians;
- Monies to supply and accelerate vaccinations; and
- Federal Tax cut for those earning $100,000 or less.
Most importantly, it recognizes that the biggest risk is doing too little, like the response to the Great Recession, rather than too much.
We the people should expect and demand socially-responsible government action. Meanwhile, it’s high time to thank a Democrat like Congressman John Yarmuth of Louisville, the Bluegrass State's only Democratic lawmaker in Washington.