CTUP co-founders Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer point out in today's Wall Street Journal how a new crackpot theory of endless borrowing wrecked the economy and the Biden presidency:
In 2020 the Democratic Party fully embraced Modern Monetary Theory. Ms. Kelton served as a top economic adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, runner-up for the party's nomination, and later co-authored a report for the Biden campaign that served as a blueprint for its spending blowout. In 2021 MMT gave the administration and Democratic lawmakers an academic imprimatur for the avalanche of spending, four times as large as Mr. Obama's stimulus 12 years earlier…
In a testament to MMT's sway, 17 Nobel economics laureates signed a 2021 statement asserting that all this spending "will ease longer-term inflationary pressures."
Never mind that the economy was already bouncing back as businesses reopened. Mr. Biden and the MMT crowd thought they had invented a perpetual-motion machine. Instead, they unleashed the worst inflation in 40 years.
Average weekly earnings of employees rose 15% between January 2021 and May 2024. But that was a loss in real terms, since prices were up 19%. Even with trillions in handouts, working Americans have seen their average real annual income decline by more than $2,300 in today's dollars. To our knowledge, not one of those Nobel economists has issued a retraction.
The federal government has handed out roughly $50 billion of green energy handouts to the richest households over the last 20 years.
A new study by the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley (no bastion of conservatism!) finds:
Over the last two decades, U.S. households have received $47 billion in tax credits for buying heat pumps, solar panels, electric vehicles, and other "clean energy" technologies. Using information from tax returns, we show that these tax credits have gone predominantly to higher-income households. The bottom three income quintiles have received about 10% of all credits, while the top quintile has received about 60%.
Here are the results for residential green energy – such as building solar panels:
Even more biased in favor of mostly wealthy blue-state liberals is the tax credit for EVs. The higher the income, the more likely to get the tax break: "The most extreme is the tax credit for electric vehicles, for which the top quintile has received more than 80% of all credits, and the top 5% has received about 50%," the study found.
We can't just blame Biden for the green energy handouts. George W. Bush and Barack Obama both signed expensive green energy subsidy bills as well.
If Democrats are truly concerned about a fairer tax system and reducing inequality, why not start by eliminating the green energy carve outs for those at the top of the income ladder?
3) The Planet Is Experiencing a Heat Wave – Quick, Ban Air Conditioners!
Huh?!!? Sometimes the illogic of the climate change fanatics astounds us.
Oh and by the way, according to the International Energy Agency:
Access to effective cooling has saved tens of thousands of lives… the average annual number of heat-related deaths averted by AC increased 3-fold, reaching an estimated 190,000 lives saved per year during 2019-2021.
Speaking of climate madness, last week the State of Hawaii settled one of dozens of lawsuits that have been filed to get U.S. judges to begin legislating "climate justice" from the bench.
The alleged injured party was a group of 13 teenagers who sued Hawaii's Department of Transportation over its use of fossil fuels. Our Children's Trust and Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, claimed a violation of Hawaii's Constitution, which requires the state to "conserve and protect Hawaii's natural beauty and all natural resources."
The settlement will require the state to eliminate fossil fuels from its transportation system by 2045 and also formally recognizes the right to file future lawsuits against other parties.
Governor Josh Green even stood next to the young plaintiffs as he read a statement claiming: "This settlement informs how we as a state can best move forward to achieve life-sustaining goals."
Wait! Isn't the governor supposed to be DEFENDING his state from abusive lawsuits?
We wonder how this island paradise — whose primary industry is tourism — is going to survive without fossil fuels. With no jets and cruise ships allowed, will tourists and business travelers have to arrive by sailboat?
Beware: climate lawsuits may be coming to your state soon. Last August, a judge ruled that GOP-dominated Montana violated its constitution when it approved fossil fuel projects without taking climate change into account. Vermont is facing climate lawsuits due to recent flooding.
Donald Trump promises to crackdown on the border anarchy brought about by President Biden. But last week, on the "All In" podcast, Trump vowed to quickly implement a plan to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges.
He told the nation's leading CEO's at the recent Business Roundtable event:
"You need a pool of people to work for your company. And they have to be smart people…. You need brilliant people."
We've said many times that the U.S. benefits mightily from talented immigrants – especially those with special skills.
The Trump proposal is a game changer that would use the appeal of our dynamic culture and economy to attract talented people, while ratcheting up pressure on adversaries from Russia to China.
Bravo to Trump for recognizing that we need to secure the border – and attract the best and the brightest from across the world.
