FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2020
Contact: Steven Nekhaila,
Chairman, Libertarian Party of Florida
[email protected]
844-FLA-FREE (352-3733)
KEY WEST, Fla. – Far from reducing the federal Swamp as promised during his 2016 campaign, a new study finds Donald Trump actually expanded it by 25 percent.
The study[i], prepared by New York University professor Paul C. Light for the Brookings Institute, found President Trump increased the Federal workforce by 25 percent since he became president nearly four years ago. This was done largely by increasing the number of federal contract employees from postal workers and soldiers to bridge and road builders[ii].
Perhaps more alarming, Light also noted the Trump Administration expanded the layers and the numbers of higher-paid management positions, many without Congressional approval. The Administration did submit an extensive reorganization plan to cut staffing and overhead in 2018, but the Democratic-led House refused to take it up. It appears the Trump response was to increase federal “bloat” the report found.
That’s just federal employment. During his term in office, Trump increased the federal deficit–the difference between income and spending–by $8.3 trillion. Our national debt now stands at $27 trillion. That’s a debt of nearly $82,000 for every adult in the county, and about $217,000 per taxpayer[iii].
There Is A Better Way
The Libertarian Party of Florida abhors Big Government. We condemn the tax-and-spend society we find ourselves in. Our solution is simple. First, free our society to support itself and each other without a third-party Big Government weighing us down. Next, reduce government to the barest minimum needed to protect and maintain our society. The individual will be free to own their lives, free of Big Government shackles.
The Libertarian Presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen has a plan to do just that. Jorgensen’s first step would be to freeze federal spending and borrowing at current levels. Next, she would work to cut federal regulations that restrain free trade and limit job creation. That will bring on more government reduction and more freedom for all of us. Through a vibrant, self-sufficient economy, the demand for Big Government fades away to bare minimums.
There is an alternative to the Republican and Democratic solution of spend more, the Libertarian Party solution: spend less.
– By J. Mark Barfield, Staff Writer
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[i] Federal bloat is at a 60-year high
[ii] “The Marketplace,” Minnesota Public Radio, Oct. 7, 2020, “Trump administration increasing number of government workers, report finds”