In This Game of Monopoly, We All Lose

By Trish Regan

On the eve of a potential government shutdown, lawmakers seem to think this is all one big game of Monopoly...

We know the Democrat in charge of the United States Budget Committee Representative, John Yarmuth, does. He told an audience of local business owners this summer...

We are not like a business. We don't have to balance our checkbooks. We are like the banker in Monopoly, we create the money and everyone else plays the game with it.

Well, if that's not an argument for looming inflation, I'm not quite sure what is...

This is how surreal the world has become – and how entitled our politicians believe they are. They're the bankers in a giant game of monopoly... We're just the renting serfs trying to hopscotch around the board in the hopes of not getting hit with a "Chance" card's giant tax bill.

Rep. Yarmouth continued his speech, suggesting that the U.S. government could give every family $200,000 to put a deposit down on a house. Of course, that might be too much, and he stopped himself. It might cause housing inflation, he speculated out loud...

You think?

We Need a Grown-Up in the Room Who Can Do Math

Now, we've all heard the jokes about liberals not being great at math... you know, that liberals are just a bunch of English and Philosophy majors with no real-world experience.

Well, perhaps the latest and greatest math joke is now on us. Because they're in charge and they're literally reinventing the rules in real time – including the mechanics of mathematics – in ways that will cost Americans our economic future.

Take, for example, the $3.5 trillion stimulus Build Back Better package that President Biden has proposed. The White House tell us that this proposal will cost "zero dollars."

No, I'm not making this up...

Perhaps they think Americans are quite stupid... Clearly, they must. How else could Biden look at us all with a straight face saying, "Hey man, don't you know 2 plus 2 equals 0?"

Here's the exact tweet from the president this past weekend:

My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars. Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a generation investment in working America. And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.

So, I hate to burst his bubble, but technically it adds up to $3.5 trillion, plus interest... But hey, who's counting? No one in the Democrat party, it appears.

So here we are today, on the eve of yet another government shutdown, and we're governed by a team of people who can't seem to add nor subtract... and actually want you to believe that the government can keep printing money.

These politicians fail to consider the inflationary effect that would have and how it would eat into the savings and wages of everyday Americans. They're too focused on the present – and not enough on the future.

Up, Up, and Away

In the mid-1960s, we effectively abandoned our gold standard that had been in place since the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. Amid President Johnson's push for a "Great Society," the then-head of the Federal Reserve William Martin – who, in fairness, had previously done an excellent job guarding against inflation – abandoned his discipline and began printing more dollars in an effort to improve the employment numbers.

In fact, it seems Martin and Johnson were early adapters of this Monopoly-style charade. By 1971, the balance sheet of the U.S. was a real mess, and everyone was trying to cash in their dollars for gold. This is what led Nixon to abandon the gold standard.

An era of inflation set it... And it hasn't stopped. A U.S. dollar today is worth just 15% of what it was in 1972.

The pace of inflation grows worse by the day. Last week, the Federal Reserve raised its inflation forecasts for the next few years. And if some lawmakers get their way, it will become entirely unmanageable.

Already, we're seeing interest rates on U.S. treasuries creep higher... not high enough yet to encourage a mass rotation out of equities, but enough to suggest that people may soon be looking for other places to put their capital.

Tuesday's sell-off in tech stocks was indicative of such a move. The biggest U.S. companies logged major losses... Apple (AAPL) was down 2.4%, while Microsoft (MSFT) fell 3.6%, Amazon (AMZN) lost 2.6%, and Facebook (FB) dipped 3.7%. Chipmaker giants Intel (INTC) and Nvidia (NVDA) also took a dive.

As I've been saying for months now, if Biden is successful in printing another $3.5 trillion, he will add significantly to an already massive debt.

That will in turn increase inflation since it depresses the value of the dollar, and everything will go up even further in price.

And unfortunately, this will penalize the poorest and middle-class Americans the most... The wealthy can manage it – they're likely diversified in commodities and real estate, which tend to appreciate in times of inflation. But a big uptick in gas prices, food prices, and rent will be devastating to the middle class and the folks on the bottom.

A Default Is Unthinkable

So no, Yarmuth... You can't just print money as though you're the monopoly banker.

And no President Biden, your $3.5 trillion stimulus doesn't cost zero dollars.

It's utterly shameful that we have people in such powerful positions suggesting these wild and irresponsible theories.

And it's pure irony that these politicians pretend they care about the poor and the middle class, when in actuality, all of their policies are a direct hit to these exact folks...

We'll see if we make it through the weekend without the government shutting down. (Although, I don't have much faith.)

And I hope if a shutdown does happen, they take the time to work out a deal to prevent a potential default on U.S. debt.

That's where we, as Americans, need to draw the line... We have never defaulted on our debt since the day we became a nation – and we certainly can't risk that now. The economic consequences would be severe.

So, why aren't those in charge trying to do more to bridge the gap between the Left and the Right? Frankly, a default would be unthinkable.

Yet, here's the issue... Nine months ago, as Biden was coming into office, I would have told you that such a messy exit out of Afghanistan would have been unthinkable. I would have told you that the border challenges we are currently witnessing would have been unthinkable.

Tragically, at this point, nothing is off the table... Nothing is unthinkable – not even a default.

It's time for our lawmakers to quit playing games and go back to math class.