Dear Editor,
Since the American media has largely glowed with reports of the American Rescue Plan, I weigh-in with my two cents. It has positives, plus some other things, so off I go.
There is something for low to moderate income earners; a timely helping hand for the unemployed; some assistance for small businesses; and a monthly boost for families at the bottom of the economic ladder. That is good, and I laud the Democrats for being generous and urgent in the delivery of much-needed relief for the tens of millions of Americans reeling from pandemic driven distress inside their hearths. The only realm not coming for pork is that of big business, which still flourishes, despite the gravity of the virus; just look at Wall Street, Amazon, and Big Pharm, among others. Meanwhile, I am going through the stimulus package’s provisions to ascertain if I qualify for something for myself. After all, it is not cheap to live in Guyana. But, I sum up the American Rescue Plan in this terse manner: one leader made a killing of making America great again; but the one today has paved the way for it to get back on its collective feet, and actually started being so. Now that is what I call the real thing: less talk, more deeds that matter to those who need it the most. I will be as bold as to humbly recommend embracing such a standard to Guyana’s own president and vice president, who both seem to be more devoted to concealing than being about the uplifting. I did applaud the local relief package and aspects of the recent budget, despite some material misgivings; so, I reserve the right to speak to both the positives and negatives. I do so now with Mr. Biden’s boon to the bone weary.
What President Joe Biden signed into law can be reduced (or expanded) to this Guyanese ditty: Uncle Joe, gimme mo lemme go.’ He certainly did. Now comes the hard part, after the party is over. That US$1.9T is going to have to be paid for sooner than later. The ‘T’ behind that proud dollar amount stands for terror much more than trillion. It is of the terror in taxes to come, inflation that is sure to heat up, and the overall prices that have to be paid. It could and should have been smaller (stimulus checks); the qualifying a little harder (lower income phase outs), and that US$3,600 one-year refundable tax credit looks like welfare: means well, but could end up deteriorating into the law of unintended consequences. Think new baby boom, especially involving those who can least afford the upkeep; it will be a dogfight to make that credit permanent, as Republicans will rightly see it as paying people to have children that they can’t maintain long-term. In general, I like parts of the plan; but not the pork portions and the lavish features. Americans will be reminded again: there is no free lunch.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
