Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Free money wins elections — and that’s why America’s debt will keep growing

theblaze.com · 3h · first reportShare

As Republicans head toward what looks like a perilous midterm election, affordability is on everyone’s lips. The Biden administration never convinced voters that it had brought food and housing costs under control. Some Republicans have tried to pretend the problem does not exist; others have acknowledged it without making meaningful progress. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump made choices that worsened the pressure, from expanding federal spending to deepening costly foreign commitments. Neither party has a durable solution. The Congressional Budget Office projects a $1.9 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2026, and debt held by the public now tops 101% of GDP. Spending and inflation are not accidents at the edge of mass democracy. They follow from its incentives, and nothing will change until the incentives do. In a democracy, giving voters something is the winning strategy, and Trump likes winning. The affordability crisis has several causes, but much of the immediate pain comes from th