Each month Christy and I engage in a
small, but important, ritual. She sits down and sorts out the details of our
budget. We set goals together, but she handles the heavy lifting of developing
the detailed plan. She records it on a card and gives it to me. Then I fulfill
my portion of the Robinson Budgetary Process, better known as the RBP. I go
online and move money and pay bills via the internet. It is a small part, but
it is my part, and I enjoy doing it. If you were to examine them, those cards
speak loudly about our priorities as a couple.
Peruse those cards and you will get
a good picture of what we think is important. On each card you will find house
and auto payments. Since we live on a dirt road that is frequently covered in
snow during the winter and Christy often drives to Lubbock by herself, I
support the expense of a good all-wheel-drive car. You will find out which
charities we support and from that data glean a bit about where our heart lies.
What we do with our share of this world’s resources says a lot about our
morality. We are among the blessed who enjoy more resources than we need. And
truth be told, for most Americans that is the case. Oh, we may get ourselves
into such a situation that every dollar is spoken for; but, that is more due to
our rapacious appetite than our actual physical needs. Just as our budgetary
plans reveal what is important to us, our nation’s budget reveals our corporate
priorities.
A scan of the most recent budget
proposals from the House of Representatives and the White House says much about
what we consider important. Evidently, we consider providing tax relief to the wealthiest
much more important than taking care of the most vulnerable in our society.
Despite our protestations regarding deficit spending, we’re quite willing to
add another trillion or so to the national debt to fund tax relief for the
wealthiest and defense industries. We do not mind cutting out support for
women, infants, and children. Medicaid designed to ensure that weakest among us
do not go without basic healthcare is less important than a new weapons system…or
two…or three. Protecting the environment, something we all depend on, does not
rate very highly in our estimation, nor does improving our infrastructure,
another thing we all depend upon. Our draconian reductions to the USAID budget send
a very clear message to the world.
We just do not care about those who
suffer. All foreign aid consumed 1.17% of the budget in 2023.1 Despite
this rather parsimonious effort, our current administration has gone to great
lengths to not only eradicate those funds, it has also sought to shutter the
USAID department. These actions speak loudly concerning our priorities. They
tell the world that we just do not care about those who suffer. We have no
interest in the problems that they face. We cannot really justify these
reductions as part of a plan to address the problems of our own people since
we’re cutting what we spend to help our own population or poor families.
If we want to be a nation known for
our compassionate care for those who are less off, we must be willing to adjust
our budget to reflect that. Contrary to popular belief, most taxpayers in the
U.S. enjoy a lower tax rate than most of the rest of the world.2 We
think we’re highly taxed; however, an examination of the data shows otherwise.
We also like to think that current government programs transfer wealth from the
top to the bottom. Again, the data shows that is not the case.3 If
we want to make judicious decisions regarding the construction of our budget,
we must do so from an informed perspective.
We must carefully think through our
societal goals and the budgetary decisions that support those goals. For those
of us who have the means, will we willingly allocate the funds needed to help
the less off, or will we simply hoard our blessings to satiate our own desires.
I believe that there are adequate resources to enable us to enjoy a high
standard of living while helping those who are less off. After all, all of us
have received help of some sort or another in our journey. We should willingly
help those who are less well off. While we make lofty sounding pronouncements
about concern for those less fortunate, our budget speaks more loudly. We wring
our hands and spill much ink over a national debt; however, our budget shows
that we do not really care. We like to believe that our economic system enables
people to move from poverty to middle class; yet, our budget erects or
strengthens barriers to such transitions. We talk about protecting the American
Farmer, while we eviscerate the mechanisms and programs that support rural
life. Our words paint one picture while our actions seek to erase that reality.
If we want to live in a nation which
fosters the spread of democracy, shows compassion for the weakest, and builds a
thriving middle class, we must address our budget. Future generations will well
understand our hypocrisy. They will read our words and evaluate them by our
actions. I suspect that they will find us wanting in moral courage and strength
of character.
1.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/06/what-the-data-says-about-us-foreign-aid/
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