With Passing of the "Inflation Reduction Act," We're Witnessing a Case of Economic Murder-Suicide

There have been some bad economic decisions made over the past year-and-a-half, but arguably none are as bad as this. It's time to brace for financial impact if you haven't already.

When the "Inflation Reduction Act" is signed by Joe Biden, two major crimes will have been initiated. First, they will be murdering the U.S. economy, sending millions of struggling Americans into deeper financial despair. Second, since the effects will be felt by voters before the midterms, Democrats are essentially committing electoral suicide.

As they say, "It's the economy, stupid."

Before any Republicans cheer about the latter, we have to understand the implications of the former. Democrats were already hurting electorally, so they're throwing up a Hail Mary that has zero chance of reaching the end zone. But they're doing it anyway, and that's a major concern because it seems they're continuing the trend we've seen for the last year-and-a-half: A political party doing the bidding of the globalist elites to damage the U.S. economy beyond repair and hoping their corporate media propaganda machine can spin it for them.

Republicans winning in November will be a Pyrrhic victory at best. But it's probably much worse than that — very little victory at all — because with feckless RINOs Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy likely running their respective chambers, it's a near certainty they'll be unable to get a single thing done to reverse the damage this bill will do. Instead, they'll just obstruct the Biden-Harris agenda which is a good thing, but they won't do much more than fundraise off it. They'll talk big and pretend to be tough which will help them score even more electoral victories in 2024 for fellow RINOs, should we even make it as a nation until then.

Get ready for two years of bellyaching just like we heard from McConnell and Paul Ryan during the Obama era. They pretended to be tough and passed conservative bills like the many Obamacare repeal pieces of legislation because they knew they would get vetoed. The moment they had someone in the Oval Office who would actually sign them, suddenly they were unable to put a single Obamacare bill on the president's desk for two years. That's the type of fake leadership we'll be seeing if the GOP Establishment replaces their fellow Uniparty Swamp leaders after the midterms.

So no, I'm not excited about gaining seats in Congress in exchange for this abomination of a bill. We'll be watching our nation's remaining fiscal strength drained in exchange for two years of RINO Kabuki Theater.

The article below by Richard Stern from Daily Signal details pretty concisely why this bill is bad in the short term and worse in the long term. Naming it the "Inflation REDUCTION Act" is like naming naming a hangman's noose a "Neck Protective Covering." In both cases, the name is the opposite of what it will actually do. Inflation will rise, perhaps faster than it has in recent months, because you can't raise corporate taxes and expect costs to go down. Wall Street will lurch. Meanwhile, the people will continue to struggle.

This is just another reason why we recommend four things. First, look at moving some of your wealth, investments, and/or retirement to precious metals. Second, focus on solidifying your city, county, and state governments with America First patriots. If you can't, consider moving to redder pastures. It seems the federal government is on a collision course with economic totalitarianism. You'll want conservative and populist leaders in your city, county, and state to try to hold DC back.

Third, make the necessary changes in your life to be best able to sustain yourself and your family through even tougher economic times than most are going through now. Those who have read my work or watched my show in the past know that I have never been a "doomsday" guy. I countered those who claimed during the 2009 economic downturn that we had to pull all of our money out of the bank and stash cash, gold, and ammunitions under our mattresses. I railed against the people who were buying two-year supplies of toilet paper in Spring, 2020.

Today, I have a three-year supply of toilet paper in my garage.

Fourth, take care of your long-term food situation immediately. Start a garden. Move to a homestead. Get a freeze drier, mylar bags, and oxygen absorbers. Raise chickens. For those who cannot do these things (or even if you can), I recommend buying long-term storage food, as much of it as you can afford and fit in your home.

We've been ringing the alarm bells for the last year. The "Inflation Reduction Act" is another major stepping stone for the globalist elites in their quest to manifest The Great Reset. This isn't a conspiracy theory. The writing is on the wall. We are witnessing an economic murder-suicide taking place and it's going to affect nearly everybody. Don't be filled with regrets while you stand in breadlines thinking back to what you did in lieu of listening to these warnings. Here's Richard Stern's article...

Gimmicks in ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Mask True Costs, Massive Inflationary Deficits

As Senate Democrats achieve their goal of jamming  through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, reality is becoming clear: The bill will likely increase near-term inflation, depress household incomes, and produce the long-term deficits that fuel long-term inflation.

Using the Congressional Budget Office’s latest scoring, estimates of the most recent changes, and accounting for very expensive gimmicks, it’s likely that the bill will produce deficits.

The cumulative deficit would be around $52.5 billion over the next four years, at least $110 billion through fiscal year 2031, and more beyond. That would mean adding to near-term and long-term inflationary pressures, in contrast to what proponents such as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., claim.

In short, the bill is about as far away from a genuine Inflation Reduction Act as possible. Though it would be harmful under any circumstances, signing it into law during a period of stagflation would be the worst possible timing.

The Inflation Reduction Act utilizes three major sets of common congressional gimmicks to mask its true costs: cherry-picked expiration dates, ignoring net interest costs, and indirect tax burdens.

As one very costly example, the bill would extend for three more years “temporary” Obamacare subsidies that were supposed to expire this year. That brings to mind the wisdom of the late economist Milton Friedman, who once observed, “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”

Despite the Obamacare subsidies being peddled as temporary, extending them was among the first provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that Senate Democrats committed to voting for. It just goes to prove something the everyone knows: There are certain taxpayer-funded handouts and giveaways that seem to always get extended in perpetuity.

To keep the reported cost of the provision down, a three-year expansion was chosen because it is what they could afford on paper. However, accounting for political reality, these subsidies will likely cost at least  $146.5 billion more than what is being reported through fiscal year 2031.

That would be further compounded by Congress yet again delaying implementation of the Trump-era Medicare rebate rule, a move that shifts federal costs further into the future and arbitrarily reduces the portion of the costs included in the budgetary window. While the future costs would remain real, they would conveniently slip under the radar of the formal score.

Yet another overestimation of savings presented by the bill’s authors is a claim to $204 billion in increased revenues from cracking down on tax fraud.

While increased enforcement activity might result in higher revenue collections, estimates are highly speculative. Because the actual results are so uncertain, such revenues are not included in official cost estimates under the bipartisan scorekeeping guidelines.

The deficits created by the bill, and the fact that they are front-loaded, would increase federal net interest costs by more than $14 billion—a fact that is not reflected in the formal CBO estimates.

In total, the bill would add at least $110 billion to the federal deficit through fiscal 2031. To put that level of spending in perspective, $110 billion is roughly four-and-a-half times NASA’s annual budget, or nearly the cost of the ships in six U.S. Carrier Strike Groups. In this case, however, the $110 billion will be used to buy more inflation.

When the federal government runs a deficit, it eventually must be paid back. That’s either done through job- and wage-killing taxes or by way of the Federal Reserve printing new money to finance the deficits.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed financed 56% of new federal debt with trillions upon trillions of newly created dollars. Those dollars devalued paychecks and Americans’ lifetime savings. When the federal government attempts to print its way out of fiscal irresponsibility, it does so by imposing an inflation tax on every American household.

With that precedent, no one can be certain of how much the federal government will use new taxes or new money creation to cover deficits. The expectation of future money printing causes immediate inflationary pressures as people act now to mitigate such future possibilities.

As such, the deficits created by the Inflation Reduction Act would simply be the newest addition to the current inflation tax.

To add insult to injury, almost every provision of the bill will bleed the bank accounts of American families. Tragically, the deficit- and inflation-increasing aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act are only the beginning of its burdens.

In these provisions we find the third set of gimmicks; namely, indirect tax burdens. Despite President Joe Biden’s assurances, the tax and price-control burdens of the Inflation Reduction Act will fall squarely on families trying to make ends meet.

Companies are combinations of workers, tools, and institutional knowledge that when brought together can produce the goods and services we need and enjoy. As such, companies can’t absorb a tax. They only direct how American households will feel it.

The bill’s business-tax hike will leave companies with no choice but to cut wages, increase consumer prices, or cut future investments in a growing and prosperous economy. The bill’s requirement that the government get a deal on drug prices will simply mean that drug prices will go up for families and that research budgets for new lifesaving drugs will be slashed.

The stock-buyback tax will trap capital with stagnant companies and will prevent investors from reallocating those funds to new, growing, and innovative ventures. The $80 billion IRS slush fund in the bill will go to “enforcement” activities that will likely target low-income families and minority populations.

In reality, this bill is a litany of policies aimed at scoring political points that has been recklessly and hurriedly slapped together. If it’s signed into law as expected, long after the press conferences and congressional pats on the back have faded into distant memory, it’s inflationary, tax, and other burdens will continue to haunt every American household.