1) Global Finance Ministers Push for Higher Tax Rates
Across the globe, growth rates are sputtering. Most economies could and should be expanding at 4% in this digital age, but globally, GDP growth is at closer to a measly 2%. The World Bank says this has been the slowest period of growth in decades.
Despite this crisis of prosperity worldwide, here is the theme for the latest G20 gathering of the world's most influential finance ministers in Brazil:
Notice anything here missing?
Not a word about growth or economic development. Only leftist pablum about "sustainability," "income inequality," and "economic justice." Hello! Prosperity and free markets ARE by definition sustainable and just. What a confederacy of dunces.
The big policy proposal at this confederacy of dunces was how to "tax the super-rich." Nothing about how to make people rich. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said there should be a global push for "more fair and progressive tax systems." Now we have America advising other countries to raise their tax rates?
Is it any wonder growth is in a slump when no one – least of all the U.S. – is even advocating it?
2) It Will Take $78,000,000,000,000 to Stop Climate Change
Speaking of Janet Yellen, we wish to issue an apology to our longtime Hotline readers. Back in early 2021 when Joe Biden entered the White House, we assured voters that as the newly appointed Treasury Secretary, Yellen would be a voice of reason.
We could not have been more wrong. She's now certifiably flying over the cuckoo's nest.
Here is what she declared at the aforementioned G20 meeting:
"Being so close to the magnificent Amazon is also a reminder that the transition to a lower-carbon global economy is also the single greatest economic opportunity of the twenty-first century. The transition will require no less than $3 trillion in new capital from many sources each year between now and 2050.This can be leveraged to support pathways to sustainable and inclusive growth, including for countries that have historically received less investment."
The Savior of the Planet
Not only are we going to spend $78 trillion and not only will the U.S. share of the tab be nearly $25 trillion, but she says it's going to be good for us: a glorious "transition." A "historical investment."
Just who's going to get their hands on that $78 trillion? The Democratic National Committee? The Sierra Club? The communist party? Al Gore? Solyndra and Fisker Auto? Oh sorry, they went bankrupt.
We also just can't help wondering: with $78 trillion, wouldn't it be cheaper to just colonize another planet?
3) The New York Times Says Venezuela's Problem Is... Too Much Capitalism
Today's Quote of the Day from the Gray Lady, whose news section helpfully explains that Hugo Chavez's flavor of socialism worked wonderfully until it morphed into "brutal capitalism." This baffling view is ascribed to unnamed "economists." True socialism, apparently, has still never been tried.
Remember a long, long time ago when the New York Times was a respectable newspaper?
4) New York Sides With Unions In Ending Affordable Rooms
Anyone thinking of visiting New York City will be shocked at the nose-bleed prices of hotels. Its average daily rate in July of $318 is the highest for any major U.S. market and is up 23 percent in the last four years.
Such prices for the equivalent of a broom closet didn't used to be normal. What gives?
It won't shock HOTLINE readers that the villains are mostly the government and unions. They have simultaneously limited short-term rentals such as Airbnb, reducing the number of listings by 80 percent, while at the same time closing 55 affordable youth hostels and spending tax dollars to fill hotels with the homeless and foreign migrants.
Now the City Council wants to prohibit non-unionized hotels from contracting out tasks like housekeeping and security. This will only "make New York City the worst hotel market in the country," says the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
Sorry, it already is, but New York's City Council is hell-bent on making it worse.
