America's Credit Card Can't Take It

Spend, spend, spend...Biden's got his plan

By Darryl Weng

---

“Today is a day of celebration, a day we take another giant step in our momentous agenda, “ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this early August, referring to the latest spending bill.

$430 billion is quite a lot for a spending bill, but, thanks to Sen. Joe Manchin, around $3 trillion was saved from being spent on Biden’s agenda. So - yes - we may suppose that day was a day of celebration. At this stage of the political onslaught on nearly every sector of America’s economy and market, it is natural for many Americans to feel suspicious when the government offers to help the people…through money - hundreds of billions worth - that is. In order to clearly understand how great the ideals and unwanted gifts this spending bill presents, it is necessary to break down the bill into its major components, beginning with its most expensive endeavor: Climate Change.

Climate change is certainly real, but measures against it must be calculated, especially when funding becomes part of the equation. Biden’s bill sets off $375 billion to aid the cause against fossil fuels, moving towards clean and reliable energy sources. However, the fossil fuel industry makes up much of America’s energy industry, and a move to substantially dent the production of fossil fuel would affect a large swath of factory workers and consumers who still rely on the industry. To claim that, by 2030, emissions will be cut by 40%, Biden must understand that, not only is the scale of this transition unnecessary and dangerous, but the funding for such a goal is unwarranted. Climate change is a serious global issue, but, given the current economic stress on people around the world right now, priorities must be set straight. To push drastic energy transition on American citizens who not only face inflation concerns but also face economic setbacks by nearby costly, clean energy development, Biden has increased the burden on the American people on an already tough fight against inflation and other economic stress. America does not have the means to take on another issue when its own people are flailing around with little money on hand.

Yet Biden makes mentions of the EU enacting similar bills and plans, stating that the U.S must have a similar commitment to clean and reliable energy. Normally, it would be almost necessary for the U.S to be on par with its partners, to be actively trading and aiding its partners to keep NATO and the UN in condition to keep the world at peace economically and militarily. However, the EU seems to have made a similar conclusion as Biden, forgetting the costs and people affected. Not only is the EU’s inflation far higher than America’s inflation, but the EU is also suffering economically and militarily from aiding Ukraine and negotiating with Russia over the war. Much of the EU’s supplies have been exhausted, and now, out of supposedly careful thought, the EU has decided to fight another front - this time on climate change.

This naivete continues to persist among western nations, and Biden’s bill is pushing the limits on the definition of that word.

Beyond climate change, Biden’s bill aims to solve America’s healthcare crisis by spending $64 billion on covering people’s healthcare insurance. So, according to House Speaker Pelosi, the bill has assured “that our planet survives” and “our families thrive.” Somehow - just somehow - Biden managed to whip out $64 billion to save health care. So, where did the money come from? Just like every spending bill and stimulus bill, we must ask ourselves: “Are we paying for that money?” The poor are incapable of paying, and the wealthy happen to be wealthy enough to escape most taxation. So, as a result, the middle class, America’s people powerhouse, is left to fend themselves off with the IRS and endless taxation. In other words, the money covered by the government for healthcare is simply the high healthcare tax that every middle class family pays. The poor may find themselves with a victory, since they are inept at paying the majority of the expenses the government dishes out to all citizens. But the middle class Americans are left spending healthcare costs on everybody, rich and poor.

And, still, the President believes he is able to tax the wealthy and major corporations. Biden expects the bill to raise $740 billion through such taxation. Once again, Biden’s bill treks over a rugged, unknown path of taxation and fails to learn from mistakes made by previous spending and taxation bills. First, taxation on the wealthy through forced and explicit means will never bring tax revenue to the government. Second, statistics show that higher tax revenue coincide with low taxation. Reports on the highest tax revenue across the late twentieth century till the present show that the Reagan administration collected the highest tax revenue across all presidential administrations, despite the fact that Reagan's taxation was at record lows. Third, why tax major corporations when they fuel the job industry that Biden seems so proud of?

The essence of this bill is spending, yet Biden cannot find a proper solution to decrease the damage to America’s debt issue. Properly named “The Inflation Reduction Act,” this bill is not one bit reflective of its official title. In an effort to gain a voter edge by midterm elections for the Democratic party, Biden set liberal agendas and exacerbated America’s debt, living costs, and, without a doubt, inflation. How has inflation faced “reduction” when it has clearly been pushed by hundreds of billions of dollars of aid into sectors that are far from America’s priority? Why has the semiconductor industry been aided rather than the oil industry whose companies have been fined for attempting to reduce inflation?

Biden’s belief and the meaning of “The Inflation Reduction Act” may be summarized in one sentence: By spending more money and increasing economic pressure already pressed by the recession, many Americans living pay-check to pay-check are more grateful because of new efforts on climate change and other unsupportive ideas that exacerbates America’s resources.

“Among the greatest external costs imposed in a society can be those imposed politically by legislators and officials who pay no costs whatever, while imposing billions of dollars in costs on others, in order to respond to political pressures from advocates of particular interests or ideologies.”

Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics