Tag: kamala harris

Kamala Harris’s Inflation Reduction Act: A Costly Flop That Fails Middle-Class Americans

The Inflation Reduction Act’s Promises

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, championed by Democrats, promised to fix our economy with incentives like a 30% tax credit for energy-efficient appliances, solar panels, and windows. But these solutions come with sky-high upfront costs that average American families can’t afford.

Instead of addressing inflation, this bill benefits the wealthy, who can use these credits, while ordinary households face tighter budgets. Rather than easing financial pressure, this legislation represents costly government overreach that fails to deliver real relief.

The Reality of Inflation and Economic Impact

Despite the Inflation Reduction Act’s promises, inflation has remained a significant issue. In July 2023, consumer prices increased by 3.2% compared to July 2022. Although inflation showed signs of slowing down, with a 2.9% increase from July 2023, the rate remains below its peak of 9.1% from June 2022. Overall, it’s clear the Act hasn’t quite done the job it was supposed to.

Kamala Harris has played a key role in advocating for the Inflation Reduction Act, promising that the legislation would combat rising inflation and ease financial burdens on American families. Despite these assurances, the Act has not delivered the expected results.

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Neither Harris Nor Her Party Perceives Any Constitutional Constraints on Gun Control

While this year’s Republican Party platform makes only a passing reference to Second Amendment rights, the platform approved at the Democratic National Convention this week does not mention them at all. But it does include eight references to “gun safety” and a section that brags about the Biden administration’s accomplishments in this area while laying out an agenda of additional firearm restrictions.

That treatment of this subject is similar to the approach that Democrats took in 2016, when their platform mentioned “the rights of responsible gun owners” but did not elucidate the basis of those rights, and in 2020, when the platform did not go even that far. The 2016 platform devoted a paragraph to gun control, which became two paragraphs in 2020 and has now expanded to five. Neither of the two most recent platforms so much as alludes to respect for gun rights.

By contrast, Democrats in 2000 promised to “respect the rights of hunters, sportsmen, and legitimate gun owners.” Four years later, after the gun issue, including Al Gore’s support for banning “assault weapons,” was widely blamed for contributing to George W. Bush’s election, Democrats promised to “protect Americans’ Second Amendment right to own firearms.” The 2008 and 2012 platforms included similar language, in both cases explicitly invoking the Second Amendment, which disappeared in the 2016 platform and now does not even seem like a dim memory for Democrats.

Whatever you make of former President Donald Trump’s evolution on gun rights, which seems to reflect political expendience rather than true conviction, he at least understands the importance of paying lip service to the Second Amendment. The current Democratic Party, by contrast, is intent on pushing gun control without acknowledging any constitutional limits on it.

“When I’m back in the Oval Office, no one will lay a finger on your firearms,” Trump promised at the National Rifle Association’s Great American Outdoor Show Presidential Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on February 9. “It’s not going to happen….Even as they turn America into a crime-ridden, gang-infested, terror-filled dumping ground, Joe Biden and his thugs will do everything in their power to confiscate your guns and annihilate your God-given right to self-defense. During my four years, nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield.”

In their platform, the Democrats quote those last four sentences, which they consider damning: “While he ‘did nothing,’ gun violence spiked: Trump oversaw the largest single-year increase in murders in history, including a 35 percent increase in gun murders. He refused to limit the use of high-capacity magazines after a Las Vegas shooter used a dozen 100-round magazines to kill 58 people. And, when confronted with horrific gun violence, he told families to ‘get over it.'”

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Dems Scramble To Walk Back Harris’ Price Control Scheme

Democrats are in damage control mode after Kamala Harris’ communist price control scheme received a harsh rebuke – including from the Washington Post, which characterized it as “populist gimmicks.“

Facing pressure to defend the plan, Democratic lawmakers are downplaying it as a pipe dream that has no chance of passing Congress, Politico reports.

The plan, unveiled as part of Harris’ first big economic policy speech, has become a focal talking point for Donald Trump and allies, who continue to frame it as “communist price controls.” Meanwhile, food industry officials and some left-of-center economists have warned that price controls could be detrimental, according to the report.

Central to the plan is a call for congress to pass the first-ever federal price gouging ban on food and grocery stores – mirroring legislation reintroduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) earlier this year, for which Warren was taken to task by CNBC‘s Joe Kernen.

Now, six Congressional Democrats and five Democratic aides tell Politico that they’ve been privately telling critics that the plan isn’t viable – and is instead a messaging tactic to to divert blame over inflation from the Biden-Harris administration.

Even many Democrats remain skeptical, or at least uncertain about how Harris would carry out her proposal, if elected. They’re still working on getting details, but many have left that for after the DNC. -Politico

“It’s clear to me these are very general, very lofty goals,” said one of the Democratic lawmakers.

“I honestly still don’t know how this would work,” said a second Democratic lawmaker.

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Cheerleaders of the Military-Industrial Complex

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have something in common.  They both embrace colossal Pentagon budgets and both celebrate the “lethality” of the U.S. military, which, they agree, must be the strongest, bestest, in the world.  They also agree on giving a blank check to Israel and its leaders to do whatever they want in Gaza to the Palestinians and will continue to provide whatever weapons Israel desires to kill massive numbers of Palestinians while flattening and destroying the Gaza Strip.

With respect to Iran, Harris appears to be even more hawkish than Trump, and indeed criticized him for not being aggressive enough with Iran’s leaders.  Harris is also a strong supporter of Ukraine, seeing war as its best option to defeat Russia, whereas Trump is more skeptical of war and more open to diplomacy with Putin and Russia.

This isn’t surprising.  Mainstream Democrats in DC are basically warmongering neo-conservatives on foreign policy, so a vote for Harris/Walz is a vote, as the “liberal” New York Times reported, for “muscular patriotism” (or, to paraphrase my wife, febrile and unapologetic nationalism).  This is Washington Beltway conformity at its finest, as organs such as the National Interest write unironic articles about cheerleading the wonders of the military-industrial complex (MIC).

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Biden-Harris DOJ Attacks Programs That Restrict Housing Options for Criminals

Feds threatening to sue local governments, law enforcement agencies across the country that have implemented measures to curb an epidemic of crime, drugs and gang violence in rental properties.

Housing security programs that limit options for criminals are unfair, target minorities, and must be dismantled, according to the Biden-Harris Department of Justice.

Kristen Clarke, the controversial appointee who got into trouble after falsely claiming to the U.S. Senate she never had been arrested, deliberately omitting her record from a domestic disturbance, claims programs that aim to keep crime out of housing developments are wrong.

A report from Judicial Watch explains the Biden-Harris duo is “threatening – and has sued – local governments and law enforcement agencies across the country “that have implemented measures to curb an epidemic of crime, drugs and gang violence in rental properties.”

The programs, Clarke has claimed, penalize communities of color and that’s unfair.

“The popular laws, enacted by thousands of cities nationwide are commonly known as ‘crime-free’ and ‘nuisance’ programs that restrict housing based on criminal and arrest records and punish landlords and tenants with excessive calls to police and emergency services or those engaged in criminal activity,” the report said.

“To improve living conditions in mainly low-income rentals 2,000 cities across 48 states have adopted crime-free and nuisance policies,” the report noted.

But Clarke’s DOJ claims they are “discriminatory.”

“Even when well-intentioned, these programs can disrupt lives, force families into homelessness and result in loss of jobs, schooling and opportunities for people who are disproportionately low-income people of color – all in violation of federal law,” Clarke has claimed.

“These programs can also discourage people with disabilities and their loved ones from seeking help during a mental health crisis and prevent victims of domestic violence from seeking the protection they desperately need.”

She’s promised the federal government, using taxpayer funding, will keep up its fight over such programs

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One More Whopper: Tim Walz Falsely Claimed He Was Named ‘Outstanding Young Nebraskan’ by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce

Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) was caught in another misrepresentation during his 2006 run for Congress, Alpha News reported Friday.

Walz, who was born and raised in Nebraska and enlisted in the Nebraska National Guard at seventeen, falsely claimed he had been named “Outstanding Young Nebraskan” by the Nebraska Chamber of Congress. After the chamber’s president sent a scathing letter to the Walz campaign a few days before the 2006 election, the campaign blamed a typographical error and claimed the award actually came from the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce:

Alpha News excerpt:

In early 2006, when Walz ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, his campaign website stated that he had received an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for his contributions to the business community. This claim was refuted by Barry L. Kennedy, then-president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, who confirmed in a letter that Walz had never been the recipient of any such award.

“We researched this matter and can confirm that you have not been the recipient of any award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce,” Kennedy wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Alpha News.

Kennedy then requested that Walz remove the inaccurate claim.

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It Hasn’t Worked Once, So Why Would A Politician Go All-In On Price Controls Now?

August 15th was the anniversary of the infamous “Nixon Shock”, when excessive spending and trade deficits had governments on the ropes, as prices climbed relentlessly, inflation soared into the double digits, while economic growth stalled.

In 1971 of that year, Nixon “temporarily” suspended convertibility of the US dollar for gold (still in effect), while simultaneously proclaiming a 90-day freeze on all wages and prices across the United States.

The stagflationary ’70s also saw Trudeau the 1st enact “The Anti-Inflation Act of 1975”, with his infamous “6 and 5” measures (a 6% cap on wage increases with a 5% cap on prices was supposed to put 1% back into the pocket of the peasants).

None of this worked, and as the lumpenpublic were mulched by higher prices and growing government, gold served as a barometer to it all – soaring from $35/oz at the time of the Nixon Shock to $850/oz in 1980 (that all-time high still won’t be exceeded in inflation adjusted terms until gold cracks about $2,580).

It took Paul Volcker  to get inflation under control with double-digit interest rates – (when the news came that he had been elevated from President of the New York Fed under Gerald Ford to Chairman by Jimmy Carter, Volcker’s wife burst into tears).

Today, 50 years later with a monetary regime that makes the ’70s look austere, double-digit interest rates are simply not an option – we’ve just seen a 5-sigma event nearly blow up the global monetary system from the BoJ nudging interest rates from the zero bound to 25bps.

With an unprecedented levels of monetary expansion and debt levels somewhere beyond nosebleed elevations, policy-makers and central bankers are trapped.

This is why we’re seeing a resurgence in popular rhetoric around the idea of price controls – everywhere from Jagmeet Singh here in Canada, who blames grocery store CEOs for inflation, to Dem nominee and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, channeling him with promises of food price controls as part of her election campaign.

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Behind the Curtain: New Twitter Files Reveal Biden-Harris Team’s Global Censorship Web

More revelations about the previously secret world of “coordination” between the Biden administration and major social media companies have come out with a new set of Twitter Files documents.

Released by journalist Paul D. Thacker, they show that what political opponents consider to be collusion rather than coordination did not concern only the US – and that the entire scheme was playing out through what were effectively middlemen.

The White House denies these accusations, including before Senate commissions investigating the damning claims, and fights them in courts.

However, the Twitter Files paint a different picture, and this time the focus involves Twitter, censorship demands coming from India, the State Department, and a lobbying firm, Albright Stonebridge, that was in charge of “coordination.”

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Three Quarters Of Democrat Voters Don’t Know What Any Of Kamala Harris’ Policies Are

A new poll has found that around three quarters of Democrat voters have no clue what Kamala Harris’ positions on key political issues are.

The survey, conducted by the Media Research Center, found that over 70 percent of “registered Democrats“ as well as Independents said they “either had not heard of Harris’s position or were unsure” on ten different issues.

The poll found that 78% of voters surveyed were unaware that Harris promoted a fund that aided violent BLM agitators to be bailed out of jail during the 2020 unrest. 

Seventy-four percent said they were unaware that Harris supported decriminalizing illegal immigration, and 72 percent had no clue that Harris “never visited a conflict zone on the border as Border Czar.”

Those surveyed stated that they get news information primarily from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC.

“This suggests that the knowledge gaps found by our poll reveal a failure of these outlets to report on radical positions once (and perhaps currently) supported by the now-Democratic nominee for President,” Media Research Center noted.

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Harris’s Price Control Plan is Worse Than You Think

The Myth of the Eternal Return is the title of a 1954 tome by the Romanian historian Mircea Eliade, although many other deep thinkers, from Pythagoras to Nietszche, have voyaged into the same poetic and philosophic recesses. 

My task is much shallower: To show how old, bad, ideas keep recurring in American politics. Yes, I bear witness to The Truth of Infernal Return. As with bad pennies and bad breath, it’s no myth that our politics are infested with nefarious ideas that never die and eternal lie. As with some Lovecraftian daemon, they await their infernal comeback. 

Case in point: Kamala Harris’s August 16 announcement of her plan for price controls—that being a fair way to describe federal monitoring of “price gouging.” Harris has revived one of the worst ideas from the stagflationary (stagnation + inflation) 1970s. More on that later, but let’s recall other bad ideas that have lamentably rebounded: 

First, unnecessary foreign war. Into this Baby Boomer, memories of the bloody futility of the Vietnam War are seared. So when the North Vietnamese finally conquered South Vietnam in 1975, my teenage self said, “Well, at least the U.S. will never make that mistake again.” Which only proves I had a lot to learn. As we all know, less than three decades later, the U.S. invaded Iraq, a military operation that made the Vietnam War look prudential. 

Today, 21 years after George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished”—the most grimly hilarious pronunciamento since Vietnam’s “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it”—we still have troops in Iraq, which is now dominated, of course, by Iran. So what, now, are those Americans doing there? They aren’t looking for WMDs, and they aren’t building democracy. Instead, they are fighting Al Qaeda, ISIS, Daesh—or whatever new bogeyman emerges from the Middle East’s tireless terror-meme generator. 

According to reports, the U.S. has 3,400 troops in Iraq and adjacent Syria, but only a fool would vouch for the accuracy of that number, given officialdom’s history of fibbing, the slippery X-factor of contractors—and perhaps some other number-hiding shell-game that we’ll learn about only in the next investigative scoop. 

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