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JULY

**18, 2022**

Meyerson on TAP

Manchin's Big Lie

He killed the Democrats' bill because, he said, he was concerned about
inflation. But the bill was anti-inflationary; what he really didn't
like was boosting green energy.

Ostensibly, the reason Joe Manchin killed what remained of his own
Democratic Party's agenda was that it contributed to inflation.

In fact, it did nothing of the kind.

The three chief components of the bill that Manchin rejected were a tax
hike directed at the rich and corporations, deficit reduction, and
spending on energy, both green and otherwise. But the proposed tax hikes
were actually anti-inflationary. In the current bout of inflation,
it's the wealthy who can and do continue to spend merrily along, and
in some particularly inflationary markets, like housing, they play a
major role in bidding up the costs. Moreover, the additional funds that
these particular tax increases would bring into the government's
coffers would reduce the federal deficit, which is why the Committee for
a Responsible Federal Budgetreleased a statement today

calling for tax increases.

Second, the bill that Manchin axed devoted, at his previous insistence,
roughly half of those increased revenues explicitly to retiring a
portion of the federal debt-again, in the assessment of the CRFB and
the old-school conventional wisdom (which is the kind of wisdom to which
Manchin subscribes), a sure-fire way to reduce inflation. In actuality,
the relation between deficits and the debt and the current bout of
inflation is shaky at best, but to the extent that we can plumb the Mind
of Manchin, debt retirement is surely anti-inflationary.

Which brings us to the proposed bill's third component that ended up
on Manchin's cutting room floor: spending to boost both fossil fuel
(which, again, had been added at his insistence) and green energy
initiatives. But how inflationary were those? Increasing drilling and,
consequently, the supply of oil and gas is likely to bring down the
price at the pump. Increasing the supply of sustainable energy isn't
likely to reduce costs in the short term, but in the long term, it's a
huge cost saver when balanced against the costs of dealing with the
havoc that the climate crisis is causing both now and in the future.

So, Manchin says he's concerned about the inflationary effects of the
bill he killed? That has all the earmarks of a Very Big Lie. Given the
counter-inflationary consequences of the proposal he killed, the only
plausible reason for his decision was his outright opposition to
boosting energy sources that challenge and ultimate threaten the Rule of
Fossil Fuel-a rule from which the Oil, Gas and Coal industries, and
Manchin himself, grow steadily richer.

By the way, if Manchin is concerned even the least little bit about
inflation, he might assent to greatly increasing the number of
prescription drugs that the remaining legislation could add to the list
of drugs that Medicare could bargain over. If you believe he'll do
that, I have a bridge to Brooklyn I'd like to get off my hands; let me
know if you're interested.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

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