On 2022-06-11, xyzzy <
[email protected]> wrote:
Con Reeder, unhyphenated American <[email protected]> wrote:
If you had been trying to create high inflation and a recession, there is
nothing you could do that would be any more effective than what the Democrats
did. (And it would have been worse if they had gotten their heart's desire, >> "Build Back Better".)
1. From day one, move to make fuel and energy more expensive. After all, energy
shocks are proven to create recessions.
So let’s talk about energy.
US refining capacity went down by 800,000 barrels per day in 2020. During
the last administration.
The Ukraine war and our sanctions on Russia have also raised prices. Republicans supported that (and in fact complained it didn’t go far enough)
The Trump administration put a 10 year moratorium on oil and gas prices in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, to get Florida votes.
And then there’s this: https://twitter.com/petel1973/status/1535364932023230465?s=21&t=YjAX1r6UkfKMyOijDH7zHw
(Trump bragging about a deal with Saudi Arabia to cut oil production to
help prop up oil prices in 2020. Now Biden is having to go to Saudi Arabia
to try to convince them to reverse this deal
I’m not saying Biden’s policies on energy have been ideal. But there were plenty of Republican policies that contributed too, and their effect is as big or bigger than any Biden policies.
Apparently the market disagrees. Will there be ebbs and flows in any
industry? Sure. But when they are all one way that turns the tide.
Biden reined in none of the negatives and dampened all the positives.
He sent a signal, as did the rest of the left with the ESG crap which
is ridiculous bullshit. See the great talk by Stuart Kirk of HSBC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfNamRmje-s
Again, I didn't pretend there wouldn't have been problems under Trump. But
the Democrats stated they were at war with fossil fuels, targeted investment
in "green" energy, and we have reaped the results of that. Investment follows sentiment.
2. Inject huge amounts of borrowed money into the economy with the largest-ever
spending bill, passed on party line with reconciliation.
3. Spend what money you have with productivity-killers like unemployment, loans
for prostitutes and scammers, and canceling student debt.
Most of that has been over for a long time and one of it (student debt cancellation) hasn’t happened.
But the targeting of money to Democrat priorities did happen, and it
is mostly productivity killers. Sending more money to terrible
teachers in ludicrously bad urban schools does nothing good for our
economy. Ladling money out so fast that billion after billion gets
grabbed by thieves is not good. Remember Democrats complaining that
Florida was making it difficult to get unemployment and PPP money?
Well, yes, if you actually go through the process of verifying the
claims, that takes some time. California, on the other hand, made it
very easy, and billions went to fraudsters including tens of millions
to *inmates in prison*.
Oh and you forgot one: punitive trade war tariffs, which Trump imposed.
Sure Biden should reverse them and hasn’t, but that’s a Trump policy yet you labor under the illusion that he’s the good policy decision maker.
Again, did I claim that 100% of Trump's policies were good? I did not. And
you can point to negatives anywhere. It doesn't change the fact that Biden spent huge amounts that even people in his own party were leery of. They
didn't listen to Larry Summers nor anyone. That is the risk of rammed-through party-line legislation. You have no brakes and ultimately no one else to blame.
The results speak for themselves. Again, I said that I thought there would
have been some problems regardless. What the Democrats have done is exacerbated the things that were building anyway. They stated they were going to make fossil
fuels difficult, and by God, they succeeded. That and the ARP was the gasoline added to a fire that was no doubt already being stoked.
--
"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation." - Bob Carter
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