“E finita la cuccagna!” (no more free lunch), a quote attributable to former New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, must be unfamiliar to letter-writer Dianna J. Rumbaugh (“We need Wolf’s stimulus checks,” Aug. 20, TribLIVE), who advocates another $2,000 from the government printing press.

Are you financially better off today than you were in April 2020 when that first $1,400 stimulus check was deposited in your bank account?

Since $4.5 trillion of stimulus money was pumped into the economy since 2020, inflation is now at a 40-year high at 8.5%. President Biden said inflation is transitory and not to worry. The U.S. Gross Federal Debt to GDP reached 137.20% in 2021, which means the USA is not producing enough goods and services to meet its debt obligations.

Inflation will cost Americans an additional $5,200 this year. Maybe you received $3,200 in stimulus money since 2020, but since free lunches are really not free, the math says you are out $2,000 with no wage growth.

The Democrats just passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which will cost an additional $1.87 trillion, and $54 billion was sent to the Ukraine war by proxy. More hundreds of billions will cancel student loans.

How does that “free” stimulus money look now? Soon we will be eating “free” wish sandwiches — two pieces of bread and you wish you had some meat to put between them.

David A. Scandrol

Lower Burrell

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