Now that the election has passed and the campaign post-mortem reporting has begun, it’s clearer than ever that America dodged a significant financial bullet.

While campaigns have been spending obscene amounts of money for decades, the Harris campaign took it to an entirely new level, racking up a staggering sum of over $1 billion in spending and still ending up nearly $20 million in debt. A new report shows that the Harris-Walz campaign and its Democratic allies spent nearly $1.4 billion on aired political ads during the election, outspending the 45th president and Republicans by almost $460 million. It was a spending spree that averaged roughly $100 million per week.

It was also a clear demonstration of how she would have run our economy, and it paints a terrifying picture. Her follow-up messages further demonstrate this.

Since her loss, her team has consistently begged supporters for more cash with an onslaught of desperate solicitations, asking millions of ordinary Americans for cash to bail out her campaign.

In this article, I’ll break down the numbers, reflecting not just on her campaign spending but also on how this reckless spending highlights the broader and deeply flawed economic governance principles that are destroying our economy today.

Her campaign spent a staggering $1.5 billion in just 15 weeks—that’s roughly $100 million per week!

The largest expense category, by a long shot, was advertising. Between July 21 and October 16, financial records showed that the Harris campaign spent a shocking $494 million on advertising, though the total sum through the election is projected to be closer to $600 million. These ads were just one facet of this campaign, though—one that seemed to have an endless supply of cash to spend on almost anything.

For example, another $2.5 million was spent with three digital marketing agencies specializing in working with influencers. During the last week of the race, the campaign also spent roughly $900,000 to advertise on the exterior of the Sphere in Las Vegas. There were drone shows before the debate in Philadelphia in September and at a Pittsburgh Steelers game later in October, $15 million for “event production,” and $4 million in private jets. There was even a town hall staged with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, which cost a mind-blowing 1 million dollars.

The problem was so severe economically and from a public perception perspective that Democratic mega-donor John Morgan said Harris is essentially disqualified ‘forever’ over this.

“All of a sudden, everybody’s got the keys to the candy store: ad buyers, talent consultants. There are 100 days to do it, and the money has started pouring in,” Morgan said, adding that “ego” and a “crazy” desire to obtain commissions on placed ads drove much of the spending.

When asked if Morgan believes someone possibly stole the money, he said, “Maybe legally.”

Government employees today feel emboldened to squander our hard-earned money, whether it comes to them in the form of taxes or campaign contributions. No luxury is too extravagant in their minds, which explains how we, as a nation, ended up roughly $36 trillion in debt—our government is spending 37% more than it makes by today’s numbers. We now pay nearly $1.2 trillion annually in interest on the debt, which accounts for about 23% of all taxes, tariffs, and fees collected by the US government.

The problem seems clear, but unfortunately, most Americans can’t see it because we haven’t been taught financial literacy for a long time.

When I was a kid, I remember being taught about taxes, interest, how to balance a checkbook, and numerous other financial topics. This was part of a more extensive program called Home Economics, or Home education, intended to teach essential life skills. Most schools have stopped teaching these critical topics. While correlation doesn’t always equal causation, there seems to be a causal effect here because many adults today are not even remotely prepared for the real world.

While some work to reverse this dangerous trend, they face an uphill battle. The most recent data shows that over 57% of Americans cannot score above 50% on a financial literacy test, and our spending, saving, and investing rates reflect that.

A broad range of strategies are being used to change course. For example, under the DeSantis administration, the Florida Department of Education implemented a new FinLit curriculum in all K-12 schools, making it one of just 26 states with similar programs. The Rich Dad company is another excellent example. Co-founder Kim Kiyosaki runs it, and its mission is to teach people, especially the younger generations, how money works through its books, games, and other educational content. The Junto Project is providing libraries, specifically for financial topics, at locations nationwide.

There’s no question—we have a lot of work ahead of us. While the number of people currently working towards solving this is relatively small, but the Harris campaign’s egregious spending has woken a lot of people up, potentially activating a whole new wave of fiscally responsible policies that finally start to put America back on the right economic track.

_______________

Dr. David Phelps created Freedom Founders to help its members achieve the freedom they wanted in their lives by building the necessary financial foundation. He is a noted financial expert who is regularly cited by the media, and recently helped the FL Dept. of Education develop its new financial literacy curriculum.