Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein slammed the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act”, claiming it was “nothing” since politicians can not simply control “employment, output, and inflation — including the price of gasoline .”
Pearlstein stated that the economy was a complex organism and that any politician who says they can fix it by changing a dial to the right setting is making a mistake.
“Democrats in Congress are embracing the same fallacy as they ram through a package of climate, tax and health-care initiatives fancifully marketed as the ‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,'” he wrote:
Less skeptical is the claim by Democrats that inflation can be controlled with a slimmed down tax and spending bill. This bill closes loopholes for corporations, expands tax credit programs for clean energy, and extends subsidies for health to the working-class. It also gives Medicare power to negotiate the prices of a dozen high-priced medications.
The Congressional Budget Office believes that the Inflation Reduction Act will change the inflation rate less than one tenth percent over the next two-years. However, it’s not clear if the change will be positive or negative.
Even over the next five years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the package moving through Congress would reduce the federal budget deficit by a piddling $25 billion — a rounding error in a $23 trillion economy. Regardless of the final number, the measure will hardly dent an annual federal budget deficit projected to run at the unsustainable rate of 5 percent of GDP over the next 10 years.
Democrats had to pass the bill before the media would report it’s all a lie. pic.twitter.com/II3RhdavHV
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) August 8, 2022
Pearlstein wrote Sunday’s column on the same day that the Senate approved the “Inflation Reduction Act.” This act is purported to increase Obamacare subsidies and reduce climate change. It also allows Medicare to negotiate drug price.
But the act will further exacerbate Joe Biden’s 40-year-high inflation. Breitbart News reports that the “game-changing” legislative agreement, which brought together Senator Joe Manchin (D.WV) with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer(D.NY), was cynically described as an attempt to combat the deficit. This is a ridiculous political move because inflation, which is the #1 issue facing American families, is causing the economy to plunge into a stagflationary depression
Breitbart News’s John Carney explained:
The first hint that this is not going to be an inflation reducing piece of legislation is that the bill includes a massive expansion of government spending. There is roughly $385 billion in spending on energy and climate change, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget. There is $100 billion of new spending for health care in the form of expanded Obamacare subsidies and expanded prescription drug and vaccine coverage.
Senate Democrats passed the bill with the rules of reconciliation, thereby circumventing the 60-vote filibuster that Republicans can use with a 50-50 split Senate. The tiebreaking vote was cast by Vice President Kamala Harris. Now, the bill is headed to the House for a vote. This will likely take place on Friday.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters while departing the Senate Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on August 6, 2022. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Follow Wendell Husebo on Twitter @WendellHusebo. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
