From a property rights perspective, the Democrats’ budget reconciliation bill that Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer brokered turns out to be pretty much as bad as Build Back Better 1.0 a year ago. Call this one the “Build Back Manchin Act.”
Here are some of the worst-of-the-worst provisions of the Manchin-Schumer-Biden tax-and-spend bill:
It increases inflation during a budding economic recession.
It worsens inflation by handing billions of taxpayer dollars to future Solyndras—“green” energy fraudsters and opportunists—and subsidizes Obamacare premiums for 3 years—a downpayment on permanent subsidies of health insurers’ ever-rising premiums. Its electric vehicle subsidies disadvantage gas and diesel engine vehicle purchasers and manufacturers. All this is government picking winners and losers—something Manchin has opposed.
Its drug price controls—government dictating the price it will pay biopharma innovators for certain drugs, with a 95% punitive tax as the gun to their heads—will actually result in fewer new medicines, less innovation, higher initial new drugs’ prices, shifting $40 billion in new Medicare Part D costs to taxpayers and reducing generic drug competition.
Its 15% corporate book tax hits manufacturers hardest and spills over to employees, investors and those saving for retirement in IRAs and 401(k)s.
It inflates American families’ and businesses’ natural gas bills with a tax on natural gas. Increasing households’ and businesses’ natural gas costs is effectively an increase of inflation--having to pay more for the same thing.
It threatens America’s energy supply, reliable power grids and thousands of existing energy jobs. This means more blackouts and higher power bills across the country. The Texas blackout-electicity-bill-spike fiasco and California’s overloaded power grids are going national.
It weaponizes the IRS and sics the tax enforcers on self-employed, small businesses and low-income earners who file for refundable tax credits. There’ll be many more IRS audits and related unpleasantness.
It increases the national debt. That adds to the fiscal burden of taxpayers for generations.
And this is what the “moderate” Democrats are fine with!
What the Dems do hiking taxes and spending speaks louder than empty rhetoric about wanting more domestic manufacturing and shorter, more reliable supply chains, or not taxing anybody earning less than $400,000.
The Wall Street Journal sums up the legislation well: “New taxes and price controls to pay for green corporate welfare for the politically favored.”
House Energy & Commerce GOP leaders warn, “The Democrats’ latest tax and spending spree will weaken our economy, kill American jobs, and make energy less reliable, less secure, and more expensive.”
Apparently, no Democrats in Congress or the Biden administration grasp the foreboding situation in which they giddily aim to increase taxes and manipulatively spend taxpayer money.
Inflation’s spiked a 41-year-high 9% in the past year.
The Fed’s rapidly raising interest rates—the price of borrowing money.
The economy’s sputtering into recession.
Inflation is outpacing wage gains and purchasing power.
The Biden administration—aided and abetted by the Democrat Congress—has deliberately blocked, frustrated and refused to allow the private sector to ramp up things like building pipelines, increasing oil and gas exploration and production, and mining critical minerals needed for batteries, electric vehicles, green energy, etc.
Democrats are hitching their wagon to President Biden, whose approval ratings rival Jimmy Carter’s unpopularity during ‘70s stagflation. The RealClearPolitics average for Biden job approval is 39.5%; 72.8% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
Generally, the tax hikes and other nasty stuff in Build Back Manchin start immediately, while supposed benefits are several years in the future. Early pain, later-if-ever gain.
In short, Build Back Manchin doubles down on wrong-track policies. The whole country will pay for their hubris.
Attention, congressional Democrats: Y’all fixin’ to get schooled!
Yorumlar