June 2, 2025
What constitutes a national emergency?
By Bill Ponton
The Republicans in Congress, much to their disgrace, allowed vestiges of Green New Deal spending to remain. However, to their credit, they axed a large chunk of it. The symbolism of their action should not be overlooked. They have declared the so-called climate emergency not to be a national crisis. Maybe at a time like this, it would be good to reflect on the effect of other supposed national emergencies in our recent past. The two that loom large are the mortgage crisis of 2008 and COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
Although most people by now have shelved memories of these events, we are living with their aftermath today. It may come as a shock to some that the Federal government has incurred the same increase in debt relative to GNP in the aftermath of these two events as it did in World War II. I say shocking because no serious person would conceive that the fiscal impact of fighting a war against the Axis powers would equal the spending that was fallout from the mortgage crisis and the Wuhan flu. Looking back, it seems like we lost our minds, spending like a drunken sailor from 2008 onwards. To understand it all, let me take you back a bit.
Seven years prior to the mortgage crisis, there was the dotcom crash in which large amounts of wealth evaporated almost overnight as investors recalibrated their valuation of the tech sector. Few called for a massive government bailout of tech companies or investors. There was a general understanding that the dotcom boom was risky business.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/06/what_constitutes_a_national_emergency.html
