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| Biden's Inflation Reduction Plan is another swindle . |
NOTES AND COMMENTS:
(1)>>" Build Back Better " The Democrats have all but given up on BBB and taken an L for the whole package. I am not happy about it either but again the GOP can still slow walk legislation that is going to pass and regularly do during democratic administrations. Omnibuses were supposed to be the solution to that until the filibuster started being used constantly. If it was not this rule it would be another rule they would use to slow walk it. I understand what you are saying but it is not going to be possible especially in a mid term.How long has BBB been being debated on? I mean they have been talking about it for what 5-6 months and it finally got introduced into the house in September. I just do not have the faith you have that Manchin will come along as he is spending shitloads of time with mega donors and republicans almost daily while racking in the most money he has ever made in his political career. I feel like he is going to stall this out as long as he can to get all the money he can and pass some feckless piece of garbage that republicans can use against democrats in the midterms. (2)>>RIGHT NOW Biden's monster is back with a new title: The Inflation Reduction Act . Contradicting claims from Senate Democrats, a report from the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicates that the measures in the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) would have a marginal to negative impact on inflation.Citing from the Build Back Better Act, a proxy for the IRA, the CBO wrote that the "estimate of the deficit reduction [for the Build Back Better Act] was lowered by $11.0 billion over the 2022-2031 period." Additionally, as CBO Director Phillip Swagel noted, if the bill passes, then "in calendar year 2023, inflation would probably be between 0.1 percentage point lower and 0.1 percentage point higher under the bill than it would be under current law, CBO estimates."The Tax Foundation stated: "The bill worsens inflation, especially in the first two years, as revenue raisers take time to ramp up and the deficit increases. We find that budget deficits would increase from 2023 to 2025, potentially worsening inflation ... On balance, the long-run impact on inflation is particularly uncertain but likely close to zero." (2.1)>>How does SPENDING MORE bring down inflation??? The facts: Inflation still stands near a 40-year high and came in at 8.5 percent in July. “Prices have risen across a wide range of goods and services, leaving most Americans worse off,” The Associated Press reported this week. “Average paychecks are rising faster than they have in decades — but not fast enough to keep up with accelerating costs for such items as food, rent, autos and medical services.” Assuming, adjust all this spending in the past to today’s dollars, adjusting for inflation? Most likely not, and if so, this is a faulty analysis with no value whatsoever but to justify a superficial talking point for more pork spending . AND not spending on American tax payer needs .(2.2) >>Obama's 2008's Recovery Act. Bailed out WALL STREET .Mr. Obama’s first legislative priority, the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, shows what can go wrong when the government spends money on a mass scale to fix an economic crisis. $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue Wall Street from its own chicanery and greed. To listen to the bankers and their allies in Washington tell it, you’d think the bailout was the best thing to hit the American economy since the invention of the assembly line. Not only did it prevent another Great Depression, we’ve been told, but the money has all been paid back, and the government even made a profit. But Obama’s first move as president was not to encourage hiring and growth but to embroil the nation in a bitter brawl over health care. The dogfight over ObamaCare consumed our politics for the first year of Obama’s presidency, with the Affordable Care Act ultimately becoming law in March 2010. (3)>>GREEN PROJECTS like solar . Biden’s plan for inflation is hiring 80,000 new IRS agents and tax rebates for Chinese solar panels. Glad the adults are back in charge.This is a revenue-neutral bill for green energy subsidies and the ACA. Why pretend its going to do anything about inflation? Shows dishonesty to call it that. As for the bill, the ACA does nothing to help working people earning over $50k, you know... the middle class. For those not qualifying for the ACA, healthcare is going up and no one is doing anything about that like they said they would (remember that?). And the subsidies for brand new elec cars and household solar panels will go mostly to the well off. Although if it lowers carbon and corporations like Amazon pay for it then who cares. But when will we balance the budget? Never i guess. (3.1)>>Expanding the IRS powers is dangerous . The IRS, despite public perception, is limited in what they are currently capable of doing by congress. The pandemic didn't help anyone taxpayers or IRS Agents (not to mention that while parts of the IRS shut down, the audit arm did not, they just didn't open new audits for 4 months which is a whole different rant) and it's actually made it harder for the IRS to complete the existing exams.The new administration and Congress have agreed to fund more new hires (50,000 new agents is what I heard) but that may not immediately translate into more high dollar audits as the IRS also saw a lot of older senior agents retire during the pandemic. It takes 2 years (in non pandemic time) to fully train an IRS auditor. That doesn't include all the extra training that happens every time Congress changes a rule.Trust me when I say that there are IRS employees who would LOVE the opportunity to go after the high income taxpayers who are taking advantage of the tax laws. AS ALWAYS they can go after anyone.(4)>>ON HEALTHCARE . THIS is probably the con in the Inflation Reduction Act . Negotiation of Drug prices . Democratic goal of allowing Medicare to begin to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs.With overall inflation raging at 9 percent, the White House is eager to portray any action as an element to bring price inflation down. But how likely is it that the prescription-drug provision in this bill will make a difference? NOW when will this kick in ? NOT for four years at the earliest, maybe YEARS AND YEARS . NOW there doesn't seem to be any credible reason to wait till 2026 AD , only 10 drugs !!!! BIG FUCK'EN RIP for Seniors . Remember big Pharma has Joe in their pockets !!!Lowering prices won't start tomorrow... so let's not bother.Biden did not claim the bill would lower inflation immediately.Medicare would negotiate under the proposed bill. And there is a lot of room for negotiation. According to a recent study, drug prices in the U.S. are more than double drug prices in Canada and more than 250% higher than 32 other countries. So if Medicare can negotiate reductions in the prices of brand name drugs, this would unambiguously lower overall inflation no matter what happens to the cost of generic drugs. (5)>>The Rest of the bill is more about Climate Change . ALL most 1000 pages , 700 of the Inflation Reduction Bill is devoted to Climate Change spending . Questions are how in the world is this going to kick off , and when ???? No, but it's the start of inertia that we can use to continue to legislate to mitigate the inevitable effects of climate change that are already locked in and avoid even more disastrous escalations.You don't pass one bill once and did fix anything? The climate, and what we do to it, is an immensely complex web of actions, inputs, and outputs.The idea that this climate bill will transform Biden’s presidency is delusional. Tt takes constant maintenance and oversight and calibration.On top of that, infrastructure across the globe needs to be hardened to to reduce the impact of climate change on existing systems. It won’t transform the economy, nor will it have much influence on the climate. And most importantly for Biden’s approval ratings, it will not raise workers’ living standards. Electricity, roads, housing, etc.And sadly you can't expect this to all just "be fine". It won't be. Won't be done on "time". It's ALL PORK spending that might take decades for US manufacturing to go green.
