The Budget Has Money—Just Not for You

At our church-basement budget meeting, a parent asks Trump and Congress for childcare, a worker asks for fair wages, and a neighbor asks for housing or healthcare. The chair sighs and says the cupboard is bare. Then somebody requests money for the Pentagon, ICE and Border Patrol, a claimed retrofit of Trump’s Qatar jet, a White House ballroom, or golf outings, and the treasurer discovers a fresh stack of envelopes. Brothers and sisters, scarcity appears to be rationed by rank.

The listed dollar figures belong to the political complaint, not a verified balance sheet. But the moral arithmetic is plain: working people’s basic stability is treated like an extravagant favor, while military power, border enforcement, presidential prestige, and personal spectacle are ushered to the front pew. At the meeting, the family needing childcare gets a waiting-list number. The ballroom gets instant approval, catered lunch, and a ribbon. We do have a budget, neighbor. Working people are simply not listed among the preferred customers.