“A budget is a moral document.” This is a famous saying in Washington, and it is self-evidently true. The federal budget determines how we spend trillions of dollars each year, with a massive impact on people around the world. It reflects our values as a country as filtered through our governing process.
Included in that budget are billions just to keep people afloat. If you look at the actual figures from the 2024 budget,* you can see:
- Major healthcare programs: $759 billion
- Income security programs: $375 billion
- Veterans’ programs: $206 billion
- Other programs: $395 billion
That’s a total of over $1.7 trillion.
Those programs are essential to keep millions of people from suffering and potentially dying.
- Major healthcare programs include Medicaid and CHIP.
- Income security includes SNAP, child nutrition, and family support, and the EITC.
- Veterans’ programs include income security and the toxic exposure fund.
- Other programs include assistance for higher education, agriculture, and a fund for medical costs of retired members of the armed forces and their survivors.
There were about 340 million people in the U.S., of which, about 210 million were working-age adults (15 to 64 years of age) as of 2024. Which means that the government is spending about $8,257 per potential worker to keep us living. (And, of course, not all of them can work just because they fall in the age range and are alive.)
There are roughly 2,200 work hours per year. So, each worker in the U.S. would need about $4/hour to make up for the loss of government programs, if Republicans succeed in eliminating government assistance to people.
I call this $4/hour the wages of Republican sins.
While this is a “thought experiment”, the numbers have real impact. People need to sustain their lives, and to do that in modern America, they need income. Dollars.
The federal minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25/hour. The typical living wage is around $38/hour, as calculated from data at MIT Living Wage Calculator. The per-capita GDP (a rough reflection of income per person) is about $89,000 per year, or about $40.50/hour. (GDP from Wikipedia.)
If Republicans are going to cut assistance for people in the U.S., that money has to be made up, somewhere. Worker incomes must rise to pay for Republican cuts.
Democrats need to demand changes in the laws to require employers to pay more. In particular, we need to demand an immediate increase in the minimum wage. This is the simple cost of Republicans making budget cuts.
But more importantly, we need to demand a more favorable legal environment for unions and other legislation to increase worker pay. And we could implement my Equality Payments plan, for example, which would tax major corporations and provide that money directly to people of working age (which I define as over 18 years old and less than the nominal Social Security retirement age of about 66).
However, the most important take away is that the federal government puts out about one-and-three-quarters trillion dollars per year to make up for the low income of Americans.
Taxes are not too high. Incomes are too low. If you’re having problems paying your taxes, you need more income. You probably need a raise. You may even need a union.
* Here are the numbers for 2024:
Category ... Expenditure (in billions)
Major health care programs
Medicaid ... $618
Premium tax credits and related spending ... $122
Children's Health Insurance Program ... $19
Income security programs
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ... $107
Earned income, child, and other tax credits ... $91
Supplemental Security Income ... $62
Unemployment compensation ... $35
Child nutrition ... $34
Family support and foster care ... $46
Veterans' programs
Income security ... $175
Toxic exposures fund ... $19
Other ... $12
Other programs
Higher education ... $125
Agriculture ... $20
Deposit Insurance ... $36
MERHCF ... $12
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ... $0
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ... $12
Education Stabilization Fund ... $49
Other ... $140
TOTAL ... 1.734 trillion
From the Congressional Budget Office.
The saying, “A budget is a moral document”, is attributed to Fr. Travis Russell, SJ, a Jesuit, but it isn’t clear where the idea originated.
