Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden are two candidates with drastically different views of the world. They have different approaches to handling some of the biggest issues facing our country.
For example, the COVID-19 pandemic that put tens of millions of Americans out of work and ended the longest and most prosperous U.S. economic recovery on record.
Trump pushed states to reopen as quickly as possible, even as infections spiked, according to PBS and NPR, because he realized the damage being done to our economy and ultimately those in greatest need of help, the poor and middle class.
After Trump signed legislation to infuse the economy with trillions of dollars in a one time aid to businesses, individuals and local governments, it was clear that the help was greatly needed.
Biden suggested that Washington should continue to pay much higher amounts to households and local governments throughout the shutdown, according to Bloomberg and Politico.
On the surface, it seems wise to help those individuals and municipalities that are hurting, but the long-term implication of enabling those who consistently do not live within their means can create disastrous consequences.
People need to get back to work with reasonable safeguards in place such as masks, social distancing and guidance on proper hand washing. That will help lift our economy and still protect the American people.
Paying more in unemployment benefits to individuals than they would normally earn becomes a disincentive to go back to work.
If we look before the crisis, we see that American household debt hit a record $14.15 trillion in 2019, according to the Center of Microeconomic Data, and it was estimated that states faced a total debt of $1.5 trillion in 2019 according the Financial State of the States Report by Truthinaccounting.org.
Bailing out governments who were already in financial trouble due to making poor fiscal decisions would further encourage them to spend in an unsustainable manner rather than taking the opportunity to become more efficient and financially responsible.
These local governments were already failing long before the pandemic, so continuing to fund these individuals and municipalities without changing unsustainable economic behaviors just creates more debt and further generations of poverty, instability and economic inequity.
It is better to let local governments fail and re-organize with better leadership and incentivize Americans not to sit at home. We should not bail them out so they can learn from their mistakes to ensure effective changes in their financial decisions will be made to prevent further bankruptcy and financial inequality in the future.
Biden’s excessive spending is not realistic or sustainable because it will result in massive debt, taking a lot more time and money to dig ourselves out of, which cannot happen without an economy that is up and running.
The actions that have been implemented by the Trump administration will prove to be effective in the coming months leading up to Election Day. The policies that Trump presents would provide much more beneficial value to us as a country.