Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

A few months ago, I praised Senator Joe Manchin for standing strong against the Democrats’ plans to fundamentally transform the United States into socialist third world hellhole.  With this article I am now singing a different story because just this past week Joe Manchin announced that he will now join forces with the Democrats in the destruction of the economy of the United States when he declared support for the ironically named Inflation Reduction Act.    

First, the bill proposes $433 billion in new spending programs, including $369 billion for “energy security and climate change” and $64 billion (at least) for more Obamacare subsidies.

Given the fact that energy prices have been soaring ever since Biden entered the Oval Office and declared war on American energy production, doubling down on green energy policies by throwing another $369 billion in subsidies for renewable energy is an unwise decision.  It will have no effect on bringing down the price of energy for the vast majority of Americans, which is one of the key drivers of inflation throughout the economy.

Inflation is commonly defined as too much money chasing too few goods and services.  When the federal government increases spending, the money supply increases.  When the money supply increases, the value of each dollar in circulation decreases.  Hence, inflation.  This is not rocket science.

Second, the bill calls for $739 billion in new taxes, including a 15-percent hike in the corporate minimum tax.  But here’s the thing: corporations do not pay taxes; people do.  When the government raises taxes on corporations, people end up footing the bill via higher prices, lower wages, less availability of goods and services, and reduced research and development.

In other words, increasing taxes on corporations compounds inflationary pressures because it deters production; therefore, we get less in goods and services.

This pile of refuse will also cripple the economy of the United States by raising taxes, despite the protestations of the factually challenged Democrats who wrote this bill, which is nothing more than a lighter version of the Green New Deal.

The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found that taxes would jump by $16.7 billion on American taxpayers making less than $200,000 in 2023 and raise another $14.1 billion on taxpayers who make between $200,000 and $500,000.

During the 10-year window, the average tax rate would go up for most income categories, the Senate GOP said, citing the data from the joint committee. And by 2031, new energy credits and subsidies would have people earning less than $400,000 pay as much as two-thirds of the additional tax revenue collected that year, the release said.

“Americans are already experiencing the consequences of Democrats’ reckless economic policies. The mislabeled ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ will do nothing to bring the economy out of stagnation and recession, but it will raise billions of dollars in taxes on Americans making less than $400,000,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee as a ranking member, and who requested the analysis.

As always, the Democrats can only claim the Inflation Redaction will be beneficial to the economy of the United Stated by playing fast and loose with the truth.

Democrats are at it again using budget gimmicks and fake sunsets to create savings on paper – just like they did in the $5 trillion Build Back Broke bill that passed the House last year – while in reality delivering more spending, more inflation, and more debt. In total, the Democrats’ current inflationary reconciliation bill will spend $728 billion and add $114 billion in new debt. It will dump more fuel on the inflation fire while layering on top billions in new taxes that will hit middle class families and U.S manufacturers. One has to ask a simple question, how will this do anything to help lower prices?

Joe Manchin appears to be delusional when he announced support for this farce.

I always wanted to do something I could for my country, and this is all about my country,” Manchin outlined. “It’s not about my politics or someone else’s politics or my friends on the Republican side or my friends on the Democrat side or whoever is upset with me. It had nothing to do about any of us. This is about what can we do for the country.”

He continued, “And right now, inflation is the greatest threat that we have. It’s hurting every West Virginian, I can assure you, at the gas pump, at the food store, and their energy bills, and just their daily lives. And if we have a chance — and I’ve said this all along — if I ever had a chance to have an energy policy that was balanced and we could basically make sure we were producing more energy for what we have rather than going around the world asking other people to produce for us, shouldn’t we do that? That’s something we all wanted, and that’s what we got out of this. It’s a great bill.”