Late Thursday evening, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced she would support the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, the $739 billion energy, climate, and tax bill that only five-year-old children and liberals believe will actually reduce inflation.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden got her vote on the cheap. Sinema agreed to the bill as long as a provision taxing carried interest was removed. If it had been included in the final bill, it would have meant a modest $14 billion in taxes over the next ten years.
Sinema got millions of dollars in campaign contributions from hedge fund managers — the primary beneficiaries of carried interest. But the interesting thing was the utter silence from Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other radical-left superstars who have been railing against Republicans for favoring the rich. Here was a perfect opportunity to stick it to exactly the kinds of people the radicals believe should be punitively taxed, and they folded without a peep.
They may yet speak up against the carried interest provision, but they won’t vote against the final package. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” asked Jesus. Obviously, gaining a better showing in the midterm elections is worth more than what many Democrats have been running around the country screaming against for most of their careers.
“The agreement preserves the major components of the Inflation Reduction Act, including reducing prescription drug costs, fighting climate change, closing tax loopholes exploited by big corporations and the wealthy, and reducing the deficit,” he said. The deal will “put us one step closer to enacting this historic legislation into law.”
Mr. Biden called on the Senate to quickly pass the measure, praising the deal as “another critical step toward reducing inflation and the cost of living for America’s families.”
Let’s be absolutely clear: this bill will not now, not ever reduce inflation. But don’t take my word for it. Over 230 leading economists penned a letter to House and Senate leadership stating unequivocally that the “Inflation Reduction Act” will actually increase prices.
The economists wrote in the letter first obtained by Fox News Digital that the U.S. economy is at a “dangerous crossroads” and the “inaptly named ‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’ would do nothing of the sort and instead would perpetuate the same fiscal policy errors that have helped precipitate the current troubling economic climate.”
It’s Economics 101 — supply and demand. Oh, for a capitalist in the Democratic leadership.
The economic experts point to the $433 billion in proposed government spending, which they argue “would create immediate inflationary pressures by boosting demand, while the supply-side tax hikes would constrain supply by discouraging investment and draining the private sector of much-needed resources.”
They also write that of “particular concern” is the corporate minimum tax that they say will undercut efforts to restore functioning supply chains.
The signers of the letter list some famous names, including Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett, former director of the Office of Management and Budget Jim Miller, and Robert Heller, former president of the Federal Reserve Board.
The signers conclude that they agree with an “urgent” need to address inflation, but the reconciliation bill is a “misleading label” applied to legislation that would achieve the “opposite effect.”
Biden and the Democrats can’t say they weren’t warned.
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