I ran across this "infographic" claiming to explain the Inflation Reduction Act. Let's see whether it manages to say anything whatsoever of substance. Click the previous link or following image for the source. I have also done my best to transcribe it below in case anything happens to the image file or source link.
01 IN A NUTSHELL
It will lower costs for healthcare, medicine, and energy bills by making giant corporations pay the taxes they owe.
It will also reduce the deficit, and create good paying jobs
Please. We've all seen grandiose political promises of lowered costs through political intervention. How will this bill bring about these changes? Why do politicians keep proclaiming more taxation and enforcement will help the economy? This "nutshell" is just nuts. This neither reduces inflation of the money supply nor boosts the economy to lower prices for the goods most demanded by consumers. In fact, none of the claims made by the proponents of this bill demonstrate any understanding of the real causes of inflation.
02 LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS
It will save millions of Americans $800 per year on healthcare.
It will also allow Medicare to negotiate medication prices and put a limit on out-of-pocket costs.
See above. How will this bill perform as advertised, and what new costs will it impose behind the scenes? We need pricing transparency and consumer choice. Neither more government bureaucracy nor the current corporate cartel bureaucracy offer a solution. The current system of corporate protectionism is deeply flawed, but price controls are not a real solution.
03 LOWER ENERGY COSTS
It will save millions of Americans $500 per year on energy bills.
And it will make clean energy options more accessible with a focus on low-income consumers
Once again, we have a promise of savings while government funnels money into favored industries. "Clean" energy never seems to involve nuclear, but wind and solar are simply not economically viable for much of the planet, and each have their own pollution concerns. Meanwhile, nuclear power can be scaled up or down for centralized or distributed power generation, plants can be designed with modern fail-safe systems, and waste can be dramatically reduced.
It's not a flashy show for the public, though, and politics is built on anything but scientific and economic rigor.
04 CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE
It makes greedy corporations making over $1 Billion in profits pay a 15% tax.
With no tax increases for any of us making under $400,000
There is no "fair share" of taxation. It is systemic expropriation of wealth from the productive economy. Government subsidies ensure waste, corruption, and abuse in any industry as incentives shift from satisfying the consumer to gaining political favor to prosper.
What are the current tax brackets for corporations? How will imposing new costs on businesses boost the economy and fight inflation? Income tax was sold to the public in 1913 as only ever applying to the top 3% or so of the population. Now, the IRS wants reports from every transaction over $600 in our massively-devalued fiat money. This enforcement will hit the poor hardest.
The greed of government is the greatest danger to us all. Time to end the scam altogether and cut both the taxes and accompanying protectionism for crony corporations instead.
05 JOB GROWTH
It will create 1.5 million good-paying jobs in communities across the country in: construction, clean manufacturing, transportation, clean energy, and more.
How will this lead to job growth? Just asserting it is meaningless drivel. Government cannot produce without first taking wealth out of the economy and filtering it through innumerable tax-feeders before passing it along to whatever they plan. This isn't job creation, it is plunder. Meanwhile, the taxed economy loses the potential real benefits of spending wealth where it satisfies real individual wants and needs directly.
Frédéric Bastiat debunked this line of justification for political intervention in his 1848 essay, That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, but the siren song of central planning lures suckers to destruction every generation.
06 ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
It will reduce our dependence on foreign oil by increasing the use of American-made energy sources like solar and wind power.
So we don't need to rely on countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China
While foreign governments are definitely corrupt and abusive, trade is an incentive to peace instead of war, and we need solidarity with the people of foreign lands instead of government belligerence.
If energy should be domestic, solar and wind power are not a panacea. Nuclear, coal, and oil are essential for real energy independence, at least in the short term. Cheap, widely-available energy is the fuel for a thriving economy. Alternative energy is an added cost, and must be developed organically instead of mandated in order to discover what works best.
No one favors pollution. Clean energy is a worthwhile goal, but political mandates are like saying everyone must have a Tesla tomorrow. Saying something in the political world doesn't make progress occur in the real world. It's a hard road, but liberty makes the journey easiest.
07 REDUCE INFLATION
The bill's deficit reduction policies paired with investments that lower healthcare, prescription drug, and energy costs, will help bring down inflation.
Central banking through the Federal Reserve with its fiat money, interest rate manipulation, and direct money supply inflation are the root cause of inflation. Any act which does not address this root cause is not even pretending to bring down inflation. Instead, this bill taxes, spends, further inflates the money supply, and imposes new costs and compliance hurdles on people who are already struggling.
When have government program budget forecasts ever been accurate? It always costs more and delivers less. That is why they can't fund their schemes voluntarily.
The false prophets at United Today Stronger Tomorrow explain nothing and promise everything. Their infographic propaganda demonstrates only hollow claims. his kind of zero-sum game where our futures are dictated by a political class is anti-human destruction masquerading as compassion. When this scheme fails as all others have before, it will be chalked up to reactionary adversaries and forces beyond their control, with the only conclusion that more government control is needed again.
There is hope, just not where the liars lead. Cryptocurrency, gray markets, and local connections are part of our real path forward. If you're not on Hive yet, I invite you to join through PeakD. If you use my referral link, I'll even delegate some Hive Power to help you get started.
