Can you guess what the top 3 economic priorities of the new administration are?

Photo above - House speaker Mike Johnson wrestles for the gavel with an unnamed fellow congressman, while politicians vote on a midnight emergency spending bill . Will he be replaced in 2025 when the new congress is sworn in? Musk is pondering this very question right now.

Wow . . . that was a close one. Congress almost missed their Christmas vacation. But they ended up passing a government funding bill at 12:38 in the morning Saturday. We are saved! Or rather, their vacations are saved. Did any of the senators and house members actually read the bill? It was either 118 pages, or 1,564 pages, depending which version was in his/her email inbox. So what did they end up voting for? They probably don’t even know.

What WAS NOT in the final bill was president-elect Trumps request for a MUCH higher debt limit. How high? Again, it depends on which bill version you didn't read. In any case, Washington is spending money ABOVE the debt limit now. By billions. But they promise to take another look at this after Christmas vacation. They gave themselves until March 14, 2025 to fix it. Maybe.

Okay – back to the headline, and the link below. What ARE the top 3 economic agenda items of the incoming Republican Senate, House, and President? If you can't guess, then they are . . .

- Cut taxes

- Raise the debt limit (a lot)

- Cut spending

Yeah, I know . . . these are at cross purposes, and collectively cognitive dissonance. But I’m predicting that at least ONE of these is passed. The raise the debt limit part, naturally. I SERIOUSLY doubt that spending will be “cut”. In fact, I guarantee next year’s spending will at least $1 trillion higher than this year’s. Anyone want to bet against me on this? I didn’t think so.

Trump has promised to “extend” the tax cuts he enacted in his first term. A campaign promise which is probably impossible to back away from now. If Kamala had won the election she'd have kept the same tax cuts too, like Biden did, so curb your enthusiasm. People love getting a larger personal exemption on April 15th, and not having to itemize deductions. Average people like you and me, who try to do their own taxes with laptop software. Billionaires who hire 500 accountants really don’t care about the exemptions part. But extending the prior tax cuts will keep their tax bill lower too.

In the meantime (since the spending bill was passed at 12:38 am) Biden “forgave” another $5 billion in student loan debts. He wired $1 billion to the government of Ecuador to save the rainforest. And put the social security trust fund in deeper do-do by authorizing extra benefits to federal employees who ALSO had private sector income. (It’s complicated. See second link below. Long story short - the trust fund will shrink even faster, because people who didn't have social security withheld will now get benefits too)

This year the US government spent about $2 TRILLION more than what we paid in taxes (all kinds). It’s a fantasy to assume that politicians are going to tame spending in 2025. But don’t try to call your senator or congressperson to complain. They left on vacation 12:40 am, 2 minutes after passing the funding bill. The one that creates billions in additional deficits.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

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