The attention-sucking stupidity of our GOP-majority Congress trying to hammer out a budget reconciliation bill designed to “save” the government money so it can be given to their billionaire donors would be hilarious if it was not so depressing. Of course, helping ordinary non-billionaire Americans is just too communistic to even touch the thought processes of these “representatives.”

Everyday we hear new numbers of how much will be slashed from Medicaid, and even now from Medicare—completely ignoring that thee and me paid for Medicare out of our pockets and the “cutting” would be outright theft. But there is an even bigger picture than the intentional cruelty being legislated by these folks. And it is a picture best described as unfathomable—and possibly intentional—ignorance

Let’s start at the biggest chunk to be digested. Combined healthcare spending in the US came to $4.9 trillion in 2023. The total for 2024 has not been generated yet. Unsurprisingly, the 2023 figure was up 7.5% from the previous year. We’re talking almost 18 percent of GDP here. This alone is a staggeringly illogical picture, when you factor in three words: for-profit healthcare. That’s right. Most of the “providers” of healthcare save a few are for-profit businesses. But even the non-profits can be a bit challenging to understand. Kaiser for example, about 15 years ago spent huge sums to combat a bill in California that would have limited healthcare insurance premiums. And this was in spite of the fact that they are a non-profit and at that time were sitting on $19 billion in reserves.

The bottom line is that a significant chunk of the nearly $5 trillion spent in 2023 went to shareholder profits. When we add to this the ideals set for corporate boards by economist Milton Friedman—that they had no business doing anything but generating returns for shareholders—we can see the idea of for profit and healthcare might not belong together.

But his piece is not just about healthcare and Medicare for All—the program we should have. It is about the false idea that Republicans are trying to save the country money.

In short, nothing could be further from the truth. And it just happens that healthcare is a perfect case in point.

Meanwhile Trump is doing his level best to convince people that his tariffs are actually bringing in money. Again, nothing could be further from the truth. Trump claims “$88 billion came in from tariffs, no inflation, and it’s going to get even more so.” Tariffs are not paid by foreign companies like some sort of admission ticket to US markets. They are paid by the companies that import products from tariffed countries. They are really a tax on each and every one of us.

Let’s take another juicy example. Republicans—generally supported by oil companies in the campaign funding department—are up in arms about subsidies supporting renewable energy sources like wind and solar. The antipathy to these energy sources is beyond ridiculous. Some comments coming out of Congressional Republicans is that subsidies should be done away with and we should just let wind and solar compete “on their own, in the open market.” This argument is beyond thin.

According to the Institute for Energy Research, $421 billion was paid out in subsidies for wind and solar in 2024. That’s a lot of zeroes. And this number is supposed to create outrage. But now let’s look at what was paid out in fossil fuel subsidies In 2024 that figure was $760 billion. So the big question is “What open market?” Fossil fuel lobbyists are quick to complain about their renewable competition on the one hand while holding out their other hands for more subsidy money.

If there was the slightest interest in saving taxpayer funds from “fraud, waste and abuse,” the first target would be our for-profit healthcare system. Followed immediately by energy subsidies. This could save in the neighborhood of $15 trillion or so over 10 years.

Many do not realize that medical debt, medical bankruptcy, death by insurance denial, price gouging of care options and insanely overpriced drugs are a uniquely American aberration.

And the price gouging of energy in the form of electricity and gas and other fuels is rampant. During the waning days of the Biden administration, prices at the pump fueled nationwide inflation in many sectors—since almost all depend on fuel.

A brief and shallow—or searching and deep—look into America’s financial history will show that Republican administrations routinely run up debt while Democratic administrations routinely pay it down. Republicans brag about robust economies and how they are great for business, but Democrats actually produce robust economies that are good for business. These facts are as plain as the Washington Monument—there to see at even a glance.

Yet listening to Republican rhetoric, especially during campaigns, one would get the notion—which is the intention—that Democrats were robbing everyone blind. But then we always need to remember that crooks try to shift attention away from themselves by accusing others of their crimes.  What Republicans are really most interested in is getting a good return on the money their billionaire donors spent getting them elected and then lining their own pockets.

The Biden administration’s lack of effective action against companies—who coincidentally backed Trump—raising prices allowed an inflation to occur. Of course, Trump blamed it on Biden and then on Harris. The general public hammered by price increases in commodities ranging from gas to groceries, narrowed their focus to their wallets. As Trump and Company intended, this obscured the true picture. Biden actually did radically boost the economy. Unquestionable. Many Republicans who voted against his bills went home and took credit for the successes Biden’s bills brought about.

But when it comes to actually saving money now with the “Big, Beautiful Bill?” Like Donnie Brasco said, “Fuggetaboutit.” These guys are hellbent on pulling more and more money out of the economy and shipping it upward. Between outright theft from Medicare and Social Security, and the vacuum hose being inserted into our wallets by Trump’s illegal tariffs, there is only so far this can go before things go tilt.

Meanwhile we are all supposed to be good little citizens and imitate our MAGA brethren in the act of being suckers.