Let’s consider what we really want before we vote.
Early in his second term, our current president showed us all what mattered to him most. On Jan. 24, 2025, Trump announced the immediate firing of at least 17 inspectors general from federal agencies including the Pentagon and the Departments of State, Veterans Affairs and Interior — by email and without notice.
An inspector general is someone who leads independent investigations, audits or inspections when waste, fraud or abuse are suspected in the agencies they serve. They are referred to as “among the most underappreciated and overly criticized institutions” in the federal government, by “improving the effectiveness of government agencies while detecting and deterring instances of waste, fraud and abuse.”
The Office of Inspectors General annually generates over $93 billion in potential savings. This is savings from the audit inspections and evaluation side, but also from investigative recoveries as well.
A case study of the IRS showed that it returned $9 to the U.S. Treasury for every dollar invested.
“Despite vitriol directed at the IRS by Congress, presidential candidates, and taxpayers, the public should love the IRS,” the scholars conclude. “The IRS is at the forefront of ‘keeping taxpayers honest’ and certainly saving the government tremendous sums of money.”
So an administration that wants to eliminate the inspectors general and make huge cuts to the IRS is saving us no money. In fact, there has been a very steady increase in our national debt for many years, at the hands of every administration that has been in power.
Obviously, we need to take a serious look at the kind of people we are electing to serve the best interests of their constituents.
By 1980, total federal debt stood at $914 billion, an increase of $532 billion since 1970.
Here are the increases in our National Debt during each presidency:
• Nixon — +$121.3 billion
• Ford — +$223.8 billion
• Carter — +$299 billion
• Reagan — +$1.9 trillion
• Bush — +$1.6 trillion
• Clinton — +$1.4 trillion
• Bush — +$6.1 trillion
• Obama — +$8.3 trillion
• Trump — +$8.2 trillion
• Biden — +$2.5 trillion
Current national debt is approximately $17 trillion.
I hope someday we can elect a government that has some integrity, and one that can stop this growth in debt. Our current president told us he would secure “law and order” — but his administration has dropped or halted investigations into 165 corporations accused of wrongdoing, and he has pardoned hundreds of his supporters, including Jan. 6 rioters, and others convicted of crimes like money laundering, bribery and murder.
He told us he would end wars and improve the economy. Sadly, so far, it is all going in the opposite direction. Let’s be more selective in our voting.
Donna Ruby
Randle
