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If there’s one thing you need to know about me, I am the ultimate perfectionist. I was workshopping this article with a friend because I didn’t quite like it, and came out with a much stronger argument I believe. This is being submitted to Politico, hopefully they like it enough to publish! Enjoy
Rather than crafting progressive policies to actually ease economic burdens for the working class, Biden’s White House and establishment Democrats have been far more concerned with performative bipartisan outreach (which perpetuates the oppressive status quo no less). The conversation around Biden’s two-part infrastructure package (a $1 trillion bipartisan bill and the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, or BBBA), has centered around obstructionist Democrats Sinema and Manchin, who revel in attention and obfuscate what the true costs for Americans would be as they frolic around Congress at the behest of corporate donors and divide us into reactionary camps. The content of Biden’s legislation is needed; modernized public transit, accessible internet, and combating the climate catastrophe are all crucial. Yet similarly to a medic performing triage, we must ensure our solutions don’t create other obstacles. The proposed payment for Biden’s legislative ambitions will only add to working Americans’ burden, further stressing an already repressive debt based banking system experiencing its highest levels of consumer inflation since 2008.
In typical moderate fashion, farcical former Green Party member Sinema colluded with Manchin and Gottheimer’s “mod squad” to reinstate an unfettered SALT deduction in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. This would only encourage inequality and segregation as wealthy white families use loopholes to avoid paying federal tax and restrict funding from public education. Only 4% of the Democratic caucus was involved in these allegedly bipartisan negotiations, leaving progressive policies out to dry as moderates assumed a prioritized vote on the BBBA would be a valid compromise for inserting corporate legislation. I suppose when Senators from Arizona are a bit wine drunk at their internships in Sonoma, the whims of other party members don’t matter; especially when PACs write eyebrow raising checks to purchase their “bipartisan concern” in the Senate.
The Democrat’s broader social agenda is more accurately reflected in the BBBA, which polling at 70% approval. Aside from the politics of what’s happening behind the scenes we’ve been misled about the fiscal impact Biden’s proposals will have. This is in no small part due to Pelosi and other establishment claims that the bill isn’t going to be added to the national debt so it “won’t cost a thing.” (Despite no spending cuts and a debt ceiling in danger of default thanks to Kremlin asset McConnell).
Biden is proposing an increase in corporate tax rates from 21 – 28% to fund the BBBA, a hike that would be pushed onto consumers already dealing with rapidly increasing commodity prices. Additionally, if Biden utilizes the Fed to pay for infrastructure it would further damage the purchasing power of Americans. Our Federal Reserve system generates money from quantitative easing and other fractional reserve policies that depend on us going into debt, so inflation rates would continue to skyrocket while a bastardized trickle down system continues to fail us. The Fed injects money into financial institutions and Wall Street in hopes of creating accessible loans for the working class, but those funds only stay circulating in wealthy hands as they portion out 7 – 8 figure bonuses and pump up stock prices. For perspective, 40% of all U.S. dollars in circulation have been printed within the last 12 months, and in areas like LA inflation is hitting hard as 150 people are evicted everyday because they can’t afford rent. Biden’s misguided Keynesian notion that we can simply print more money will only make it harder for Americans to put food on the table and widen an already egregious wealth gap, especially if moderates have their way blocking the most progressive and vital actions.
The average American is between a rock and a hard place. Without infrastructure investments families stand to lose more than $3,300 in annual income, but if Biden’s funding passes it will only further depreciate the dollar. Average families would shoulder higher costs without an increase in their actual earnings; after all the minimum wage hasn’t budged since 1991 despite 30 years of steady inflation, and was excised from the Democrat’s last legislative package. Yes, moderate Democrats are stonewalling any meaningful progress for Americans, but until we reform deeper systemic issues within our Federal Reserve and tax system we remain in a rigged game that only the elite can win. The solution definitely isn’t defaulting on our debt as the GOP wants and leaving Americans floundering in a brutalist take on ‘rugged individualism.’ Unfortunately with a planet beginning to collapse, we don’t have time for the spectacle of the establishment’s corporate theatrics that cause people to turn on their own neighbors.
If we want to demonstrably help Americans, somewhere to start would be reforming our tax code to be asset based rather than income derived, or reigning in debt based banking in favor of a system like Lincoln’s Greenbacks where the government can create liquidity without American people paying the price ultimately. Meaningful help such as the proposed BBBA is a painfully overdue start, and it’s past time for plutocrats like Pelosi to legislate what is best for the people, not their pockets. As America devolves into a zoo, politicians seem to forget that no amount of money can protect you when millions of highly intelligent creatures get desperate.
Rumel Writing 