Politicians gonna politic, and we pay that bill

By Tony Farkas

Probably to no one’s surprise, Congress pulled out a hail-Mary vote that passed a stop-gap funding measure so the government wouldn’t shut down.

Also to no one’s surprise, both sides of the “debate” — Democrats and Republicans — are completely unhappy with the results.

Yet, the taxes roll in, and the taxes roll out.

Democrats are upset, based on news that President Biden got cranky as well as other interviews, because this measure did not include any additional funds for the Ukraine war, I guess because the party of inclusion gets upset when its intentions to kill get thwarted.

Republicans are upset because the Ukrainian funds were stripped, but only to be dealt with later — separately and alone. They’re calling for the head of puppet Speaker Kevin McCarthy for allowing it to happen.

I have several questions, though, but I’ll start with the MacGuffin of week, in which Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who claimed he needed to get to the House floor for the vote, pulled a fire alarm in his attempt to get through a security door.

I’ll skip the arguments here, and just say that if an elected official thinks pulling a fire alarm will open a door, then is it any wonder that our government is wackadoodle?

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Late Saturday, the Senate passed the bill, with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas voting against it.

This is just the latest in a series of continuing resolutions that have been passed keeping the government afloat, and yet another year goes by without the country operating on a budget. Not that it matters much, anyway; any budget that would be considered would still be deficit spending and still require more and more debt.

It still puzzles me that very few of the politicians on the Hill understand that this kind of reckless spending is a slow-motion train wreck, and that it cannot be sustained. Still, the leaders of this country continue to seek more funds to pay for more projects and programs, with no end in sight.

It’s probably a good thing that economics and fiscal management aren’t really stressed in schools anymore, because anyone with even the most basic understanding of finance would see that government spending is one of the most foolish things ever.

I say foolish because of its sheer scope, as well as the fact that quite a few things being funded really are not something in the purview of the federal government.

There needs to be a reckoning. There needs to be voices of reason that actually make a dent in monolithic spending. I think that all federal programs need to be shut down, or at least put on pause, until its spending and constitutionality are examined. If it doesn’t cut the mustard in either case, it needs to be abandoned.

In order for our country to continue to prosper, there has to be sustainable, believable and most especially legal funding of the government, and before it gets repossessed by whomever is holding the notes.

Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..