Letter to the editor: Democrats and simple math

With the recent addition of Ohio, 10 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance. Maybe Pennsylvania should do likewise. Many of our elected politicians are clearly defective in their understanding of basic finance.

President Biden proudly cites his Scranton roots. Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Conor Lamb have all strongly touted the Build Back Better plan, which Biden repeatedly says is totally paid for. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Even Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin begs to differ and bravely bucked the party line on this bill, which would have approved spending of over $5,700 for every American man, woman and child to fund the wasteful progressive agenda, including the ill-conceived Green New Deal.

In this election year, expect any Democrat running for office to remind you of all the spending they have done to help you. Casey isn’t running, but he emailed me, a retired grandfather, that I should be sure to check my bank account for a child tax credit that I may have received.

Financial literacy requires managing a budget, and the first rule is to keep expenses at the level of income, deviating only on an emergency basis. Congress recently passed a 2,741-page bill with spending of $4,500 per U.S. resident while allowing the House less than 12 hours for review before the vote. The last time I looked, every U.S. taxpayer owes $240,000 for past congressional spending. Have Biden, Casey or Lamb ever reminded you of that?

Anthony T. McGartland

Murrysville