A group of far-left Democrat lawmakers are calling for a $14 trillion payout to black Americans to make them whole for the human bondage suffered by some of their ancestors and have brought forth legislation to get the ball rolling on federal reparations.
The legality of the controversial scheme is even more dubious than the idea that it could be sold to the electorate as a whole but the biggest stumbling block could be the price tag, although one member of “The Squad” has suggested that it can be made to happen with a bit of creative financing.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (R-NY) who is one of the co-sponsors of H.R. 414, titled, “Recognizing that the United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people in the United States” is demanding the federal government be held responsible for slavery with the remedy being throwing $14,000,000,000,000 at a concocted problem that only exists in the minds of leftists.
According to the Journal News, “There are about 42 million African Americans in the United States, representing 12% of our nation’s population, according to the 2020 census. That means the proposed reparations program could deliver roughly $333,000 per person. Bowman said it could be paid over decades.”
“Who says the $14 trillion needs to be paid out in one shot?” Bowman asked.“It might be possible for it to be paid out over 5 or 10 or 20 years. You could take that $333,000 and break it up into monthly checks over X amount of time. There are creative ways to do the right thing and do what needs to be done.”
Bowman, who recently made news for illegally pulling a fire alarm and shutting down Congress, brought up some examples of large government outlays such as the COVID pandemic and the 1960s-1970s “space race” when he suggests that money was simply conjured up out of thin air.
“When COVID was destroying us, we invested in the American people in a way that kept the economy afloat,” the volatile lawmaker told the outlet. “The government can invest the same way in reparations without raising taxes on anyone.”
“Where did the money come from?” Bowman asked. “We spent it into existence.”
According to the legislation which was introduced last year: “Whereas financial reparations must be paid by the Federal Government for an amount that respected economists have estimated totals, at minimum, $14,000,000,000,000 to eliminate the racial wealth gap that currently exists between Black and White Americans.”
“Whereas scholars have estimated that the United States benefitted from 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and the end of slavery in 1865, which would be valued at $97,000,000,000,000 today,” the resolution reads, citing “scholars” who aren’t named but likely include the type of intellectuals and academics who have been poisoning fertile young minds with anti-American, anti-white critical race theory propaganda.
“Our country was not founded on the principle that all people are created equal. It was founded at the expense of the lives, freedoms and well-being of black people, African folks who they stole, whose enslavement, exploitation and dehumanization were written into the Constitution,” said the bill’s chief sponsor, BLM bomb-thrower Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) when it was introduced last May.
Bush has kept up the call for the trillions of dollars to be doled out to undeserving blacks, none of who were ever slaves, and recently took to X to remind Americans that reparations are “OWED” to black folks.
Our country owes–OWES–a debt to the descendants of enslaved Black people, not just for slavery, but for what followed, like Black Codes, red lining, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration. That’s why I introduced my Reparations NOW resolution. This country has an obligation. — Cori Bush (@CoriBush) January 8, 2024
In addition to Bowman and Bush, the legislation’s other co-sponsors include Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Summer Lee (D-PA), Al Green (D-TX) and a half dozen others.
Bowman told the Journal News that the $14 trillion price tag could swell to $16 trillion to account for inflation by the time that it passes.
“Let’s say the investment of $16 trillion will yield $100 trillion on the back end,” he said. “It’s just like when you invest in child care. Every dollar you invest in child care yields $14 on the back end.”