After spending the first two years of his presidency over-stimulating the economy with multi-trillion-dollar spending packages, President Joe Biden’s policies have caused our nation to undergo historic inflation the likes of which America has not seen in a half a century.
The Democrats, who for just a few more months control both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate (by virtue of Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote), claim to have the solution to the crisis they created: spend more money — and in the worst ways possible.
At this point, we shouldn't be surprised.
The misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, narrowly approved on the Senate floor this week, is simply the remainder of the progressive agenda left from the wreckage of the Build Back Better overreach of last summer that Congress couldn’t pass.
Claiming to attack the "existential threat" of climate change, crack down on "tax fraud," and make prescription drugs more affordable while simultaneously reducing inflation, this bill instead expands the IRS, subsidizes China, and boosts the deficit while actually making inflation worse.
Americans, especially those from underserved communities and even many small business owners, will suffer most from the left’s profligacy.
For instance, Stephen Moore of the Heritage foundation explains that small businesses, (which post-COVID-19 now must rely fully on their customers to survive and not Uncle Sam), will be slapped with a new minimum tax which all but eliminates their ability to benefit from existing tax credits for depreciation and other business expenses.
Consequently businesses will be forced to raise prices even higher to offset these losses.
The real loser?
Lower and middle-income Americans who won't be able to afford their desired products and services.
A grimmer reality of the bill is the negative impact it will have on the American pharmaceutical industry. Its plan to provide cheaper drugs for uninsured Americans relies on price controls; this will ultimately mean fewer innovative drugs for all Americans.
Columnist, Peter Roff recently wrote "if you accept that price controls affect profit margins by pushing them lower, you also have to accept they eliminate incentives to innovate."
He also cited a Kaiser Family Foundation survey that shows public support for price controls drops when respondents were told it would lead to less innovation and less drugs available in the future. Everyday American could no longer have access to life-saving medications for years to come thanks to the so-called "Inflation Reduction Act."
Included in the bill is an accounting gimmick — $80 billion in new funding for the IRS.
The joke is on the American people.
The plan for 87,000 new employees at the IRS will squeeze every possible penny and more from the pockets of Americans.
The Treasury Department will have more federal employees than the DOD, FBI, DOJ, Border Patrol, and State Department combined.
This brings us to the $740 billion question. Who is paying for this?
Well, contrary to popular belief, it will not be "the rich" who carry the new tax burden.
A Joint Committee on Taxation Study points out that at least half of the tax burden will be carried by Americans making under $400,000 annually.
New taxes on this group will be one of Joe Biden’s biggest broken campaign promises.
Blacks and other underserved communities will suffer most.
Don’t believe the claim that the new IRS agents will focus on auditing high income earners. Those folks can afford to hire tax professionals to fend off the IRS.
Instead like locusts, they will come after the Americans who file their own taxes.
That demographic is disproportionately made up of Black Americans.
Don’t expect to see the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., out on the streets protesting "systemic racism" however.
Moreover, the largest beneficiary of the "green" tax incentives is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), whose slave labor camps in Xinjiang are responsible for the majority of the world’s polysilicon production, a key ingredient in solar panel production.
As Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., notes "China’s domination of these key industries means Chinese companies — not American businesses — will benefit from the new incentives."
The Inflation Reduction Act shows us two things about Democrats.
One, they must be economically illiterate if after this point they truly believe spending more money will reduce inflation.
Two, by ignoring skyrocketing inflation to pursue their green agenda, they are extremely out of touch with everyday Americans — Black, white, and brown.
Gone is the 1.8% inflation rate during the Trump administration.
Gone are the income and wage growth that benefited the lowest income earners the most.
Now we just can’t afford the left’s wild-eyed schemes.
Passing this bill in the midst of a recession and record inflation is a testament to the fact that their progressive agenda means more to them than the well-being of America.
The November midterms are rapidly approaching.
This writer predicts the left will be reminded that putting radical climate schemes first, ahead of America's economic interests, are recipes for disaster.
Horace Cooper is a legal commentator and Co-Chair of the Black Leadership Network Project 21. Previously a visiting assistant professor of law at George Mason University School of Law, his research focus was on U.S. intellectual property rights policy, the role of the United States Supreme Court in the American constitutional system, political forecasting, the legislative process, and federal labor law. Dr. Cooper has also served in senior capacities in the George W. Bush adminstration. He is the author of "How Trump is Making Black America Great Again." Read Horace Cooper's Reports — More Here.
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