What's in the bill

Sorry for not posting yesterday, we had a faculty retreat to talk about making the experience better for our doctoral students, it took up most of my day and I just didn't have the energy. 

 

But as for today's topic, a big fat problem with the corporate news media is that they cover everything as a political game -- who's the winner and who's the loser -- and just channel the political rhetoric. They don't tell people what the policy issues are, and what's at stake for them. That's why Vox.com is really useful. Here's an explainer of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. I suppose they called it that to make Joe Manchin happy, but it's not a bogus claim.

The inflation reduction part has to do with investing in renewable energy. I don't know why it's so hard to get people to understand this, but the U.S. is in fact energy independent, and has been since last year. That's right, the U.S. became energy independent after Joe Biden took office. But people don't understand what energy independence means. The U.S. exports more fossil fuel than it imports. There is trade both ways for reasons of convenience, or somebody happening to have a surplus to sell to U.S. customers, but if all sources of foreign fuel were  shut off today, we would be able to supply our own needs. 

However, that does not protect us from rising prices. The reason for that is called capitalism, which as far as I know most people who blame Joe Biden for high gas prices actually support, or claim to support. Petroleum and petroleum products are sold on a global market. The companies that extract, refine and trade petroleum products have one motive and one motive only, which is to maximize their profit. They will sell to the highest bidder, which means that U.S. customers have to match foreigners' bids (maybe slightly less because of lower transportation costs), which means when gas is more expensive in Europe, it's more expensive here. The only way Joe Biden can do anything about it is by nationalizing the oil companies, which is called socialism, which you do not support.

Dependence on petroleum, whether it's extracted and refined here or elsewhere, therefore makes us vulnerable to potentially hostile foreign powers who can take actions that increase the price and possibly create scarcity. And yes, scarcity abroad can mean scarcity here because foreigners will buy up more of our oil, and as I say, our oil companies will sell it to them if they're willing to pay the price.

So, by investing in renewable energy, which is already cheaper than fossil fuel energy, we can bring down the price of oil while also making even cheaper energy more available. Why would anybody be against that? It doesn't cost money, it saves money. It's an investment, and it's one we need to make.

The bill also extends subsidies for ACA insurance to middle income families, allows Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices, closes tax loopholes, and beefs up income tax enforcement so tax dodgers don't pick your pocket. Why would anybody be against any of that?

Well, 100% of Republicans in the Senate and House are against it.You figure it out.