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‘I’ve heard this one before’: Twitter says Biden’s prediction on inflation act effects sounds familiar

November 19, 2022 | | Print Article

President Joe Biden is insistent that, aside from some possible “setbacks,” Americans will definitely “start to feel” the effects of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act in a matter of weeks. However, critics don’t believe him — not even an iota.

“It’s going to take time to get inflation back to normal levels as we keep our job market strong. So we could see setbacks along the way — I don’t doubt that — but thus far we’re in good shape. But we’re laser-focused on that. In six short weeks, Americans are going to start to feel the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act,” the president said Friday.

Listen:

The announcement came only days after a report emerged that Americans are on track to spend far more than usual on their Thanksgiving dinner this year.

“The average American’s Thanksgiving dinner is likely to increase by about 20%, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey—by far the biggest jump recorded in the 37-year history of the report,” Time magazine reported on Wednesday.

“The cost for a holiday feast rose to $64.05 for 10 people, up from $53.31 from last year’s average, and a nearly 37% increase in cost from two years ago. The massive jump is perhaps not surprising, given that food inflation is at a four-decade high—but it demonstrates the increasing pressure on Americans’ finances,” according to Time.

And so, with this in mind, critics say the president’s claim sounds no different than the “two weeks to flatten the curve” lie that was uttered by healthcare officials during the height of the COVID pandemic two years ago:

Critics also find the claim extremely difficult to believe because, in actuality, the Inflation Reduction Act has nothing — absolutely nothing — to do with inflation.

“The impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable from zero,” the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM), a research organization, concluded earlier this year.

A number of other organizations, including Moody’s and the Congressional Budget Office, likewise determined that the so-called Inflation Reduction Act would either have only a negligible effect on inflation or, worse, exacerbate it.

“[W]e estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce long-run economic output by about 0.1 percent and eliminate about 30,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States,” according to the Tax Foundation.

“It would also reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers across every income quintile over the long run. By reducing long-run economic growth, this bill may actually worsen inflation by constraining the productive capacity of the economy,” the Tax Foundation notes.

The CBO, meanwhile, predicted that the bill would either marginally decrease or increase inflation.

“In calendar year 2022, enacting the bill would have a negligible effect on inflation. … In calendar year 2023, inflation would probably be between 0.1 percentage point lower and 0.1 percentage point higher under the bill than it would under current law,” the non-partisan federal agency has predicted.

The reason why the Inflation Reduction Act will do nothing to resolve inflation should be obvious: Because you can’t resolve inflation by spending more money. This is basic common sense.

Indeed, as former Rep. Justin Amash noted in a tweet in August, the only way to resolve inflation is to actually STOP spending more money.

Look:

But the Biden administration keeps spending more money while promising rainbows and unicorns to its base of believers.

Critics say it’s a sign that he’s nothing more than a grifter who’s willing to say anything to win votes, even when what he’s saying is total bull, especially when you factor in that it was just days ago that his own Federal Reserve urged employers to not raise wages because doing so may exacerbate inflation.

So the government can spend endlessly but employers can’t hand out raises? Meanwhile, inflation will magically end in six weeks thanks to a bill that has nothing to do with it? None of it makes sense, critics say.

Vivek Saxena
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