Georgia U.S. Senate Candidate Buckley Says Administration's Proposed Financial Fix is Irresponsible--Should Be Targeted

    ATLANTA, GA, March 19, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Allen Buckley, a fiscal conservative who recently qualified as an independent candidate in the special election race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kelly Loeffler, has called the Trump Administration's financial proposal to confront the Coronavirus "irresponsible."

The Trump Administration has recommended an aid package of roughly $1 trillion. Checks would be paid to non-wealthy individuals, regardless of need. In this regard, some people have lost jobs or experienced reduced hours due to the virus. However, some have experienced increased work, while most have not experienced a cut in pay. Amazon recently announced it will hire 100,000 additional workers to help meet new demand. Grocery stores are overwhelmed with business, and many are seeking to hire. The U.S. airlines industry, that has been very profitable in recent years, having averaged combined profits of $10 - $25 billion over the past five years, reportedly is in line to receive $50 billion.

For years, the CDC had been warning of a possible pandemic, for which it would not be able to produce an effective cure on a timely basis. Very little was done in response. Similarly, for years, the GAO and CBO, along with numerous private sector financial groups, have been warning of a looming fiscal crisis due to the mounting federal debt. In 2007, when total federal debt was less than $9 trillion, the GAO said: "GAO's current long-term simulations continue to show ever larger deficits resulting in a federal debt burden that ultimately spirals out of control." Total debt is now roughly $23.5 trillion.

Annual federal revenue has never exceeded $3.5 trillion. Deficits have been run since the turn of the century. The deficit for the first five months of the current fiscal year of the federal government was recently reported as $625 billion, with spending up 9.2 percent over the first five months of last year.

Buckley said: "The financial proposal set forth by the Trump Administration in response to the pandemic is irresponsible. The proposal could lead to a federal debt crisis. Relief should exist, but it should be targeted specifically to those individuals negatively impacted—largely those working in industries, and especially small businesses, that have been shut down or substantially reduced their operations through no fault of their own—and it should be designed to place them where they would have been but for the pandemic. Regarding larger businesses, the Fed can make loans to solvent companies under Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act, using the companies' January 1, 2020 financial information to determine worthiness. Past financial irresponsibility should not be rewarded. In this regard, many businesses have saved money to help them get through times such as these. Let's do these things and then see how things go. If more needs to be done, it can be done."

Mr. Buckley's "Save Tomorrow" campaign is about living for today and tomorrow, instead of living for today to the detriment of tomorrow. The focus is on doing things to make tomorrow as good as or even better than today, by acting now to address the nation's financial challenges and confronting global warming in a practical way.

Buckley ran against Johnny Isakson in 2016 as the Libertarian Party's candidate. In an October 20, 2016 poll by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he drew 11 percent of the vote.

Mr. Buckley is an attorney/CPA. He can be reached for comment at (404) 610-1936. Mr. Buckley's campaign website is www.buckleyforsenate.org.

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