Samuel Gregg on the national debt and why it continues to be a problem:
Before 1980, Americans experienced only five brief periods of rising debt levels. One was the result of Franklin Roosevelt’s effort to stimulate an ailing American economy via the New Deal. The other four occasions involved the financing of major military engagements such as the Civil War and World War II. In these instances, however, successful efforts were immediately made to get federal spending under control as part of a debt-reduction exercise once the emergency had passed.
In the 1980s, we entered a different world. America’s public debt as a percentage of GDP started accelerating under Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, underwent a slight decline under Bill Clinton, and then escalated again under George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden.
The reasons for this trend are not complicated. . . .
And Daniel J. Pilla on the facial-recognition plans of the IRS:
Under the program, taxpayers were to create an account with ID.me, which advertises itself as a secure digital-ID network designed to provide identity authentication and verification to users. According to the IRS’s website, the ID-verification elements needed to access your account included your name, email address, SSN, and a photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport. In addition, you would be required to provide — get this —“a selfie,” which would then be cross-checked with the photo ID on file.
Make no mistake about it. This is not just about ID-theft protection. The IRS document describing the program confirms that the system uses, among other things, GPS and biometrics technology “in the event of an investigation into a user.” Apparently there is no limit to the scope of that investigation; once the IRS has your selfie, the agency can use it as it pleases. . . .