Commentary
By Frances Rice
We are currently in the midst of a Second Civil War and the
fate of our nation is at stake.
Will the forces fighting to keep our country a free and
prosperous capitalist nation win?
Or will the forces fighting to turn our country into a
failed socialist nation win?
As is indicated in the below article, former Vice President
Joe Biden is controlled by the radical socialists in the Democratic Party who are
fighting to turn our country into a failed socialist nation.
Here is a key sentence from the article: “After all, a Stanford study found that the
Biden tax and regulatory agenda, if implemented, would kill 4.9 million jobs
and decrease average household income by $6,500.”
____________________
4 Radical Policies That Could Pass if
Democrats Win the Georgia Senate Runoffs
By Brad Polumbo
Photo: Jon Ossoff (L) and Raphael Warnock (R). In Georgia, Sens.
David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the GOP incumbents, were forced into a runoff
election against their Democratic challengers — Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock,
respectively.
Pollsters and pundits predicted that the November election would be a landslide for Democrats. They were highly favored not just to take the presidency but to expand their House majority and retake control of the Senate.
Once again, the political class got
it all wrong.
Joe Biden is projected to win the presidency, pending
official vote certifications and recounts, but the race was far, far closer
than expected. And Republicans actually picked up seats in the House, shrinking
the Democratic majority to single digits. The GOP exceeded expectations in
Senate races as well, with the current balance of power set at 48 Democrats, 50
Republicans.
There are two races headed to a runoff—both in Georgia.
If Democrats win both, they will have a razor-thin majority, as the presumptive
vice-president elect Kamala Harris will be the tie-breaking vote.
This means that, essentially, a prospective Biden
administration’s ability to pass a sweeping policy agenda hinges on the outcome
of the two runoffs. If Republicans win one or both seats and retain a majority,
much of the Biden agenda is dead-on-arrival. However, if Democrats secure that
razor-thin majority they could pass major policy initiatives such as a bloated,
budget-busting stimulus bill, a $15 minimum
wage, tax hikes, and government healthcare.
It’s possible that defection from moderates could still
sink these proposals in a Democratic-majority Senate. But the possibility of
implementing the Biden agenda is clearly up for grabs—and even he knows it.
“President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s transition team is
preparing multiple sets of policy proposals for the economy, health care,
climate change and other domestic issues, including the ambitious agenda Mr.
Biden laid out in his winning campaign, while acknowledging it may have to be
pared back in recognition of divided government,” the New York
Times reports.
“Where the incoming administration lands depends heavily
on two Senate runoffs in Georgia in early January,” the report continues.
So, it’s certainly worth considering the potential benefits of divided government.
Here are four radical policy proposals that GOP
control of the Senate would take off the table.
1. Another $2+ Trillion, Bloated Stimulus
Bill
Congress’s first round of stimulus efforts exploded the federal budget and led to record levels of debt.
Moreover, the CARES Act’s major programs have also proven rife with waste, fraud, dysfunction,
and abuse. They’ve also been ineffective in
many instances.
Yet Biden and congressional Democrats want to pass
another behemoth package similar to the CARES Act. Senate Republicans, for
their part, want to pass a relatively modest $500
billion package. (Only in Washington, D.C., is half a trillion in spending
the “conservative” position).
Some form of a stimulus bill might still get passed if
the GOP takes the Senate, but there’s no doubt it would be far less expensive
and sweeping. This outcome would be far better for the American taxpayer.
2. A $15 Minimum Wage
Biden wants to pass a federal $15 minimum wage, and has
even made it part of his “transition
agenda.” It’s reasonable to predict that he could attempt to include
such a national wage mandate in a COVID-19 stimulus package, infrastructure
bill, or must-pass budget deal. This might sound like a good thing for workers
at first glance, but it’s not.
Small businesses are struggling throughout the country
under the weight of the COVID-19 crisis and government lockdowns. Many have
already gone out of businesses and millions more are barely staying afloat.
Minimum wage increases always
destroy jobs. Even under normal conditions, the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office projects a
federal $15 minimum wage would destroy up to 3.7 million jobs.
But now more than ever, a $15 minimum wage would lead
to mass layoffs and job losses.
3. Corporate Tax Hikes
Biden campaigned on partially reversing the GOP 2017 tax
reform, even though it clearly helped boost
incomes and the economy after its passage. One key change the Democrat
wants to pass is an increase in the corporate tax rate up to 28 percent.
This is a bad idea for many reasons, but most
importantly, the burden of this tax hike would not fall on “Big Business”—it
would be borne mostly
by American workers.
Research has consistently shown that corporate taxes,
sold as making corporate big wigs pay their “fair share,” are actually passed
onto workers through lower wages and reduced investment and job
creation. According to the Tax
Foundation, “studies appear to show that labor bears between 50 percent and
100 percent of the burden of the corporate income tax, with 70 percent or
higher the most likely outcome.”
Workers will fare better if divided government consigns
corporate tax hikes to the dustbin.
4. A ‘Public Option’ That Leads to Socialized
Healthcare
Similarly, the fate of Biden’s proposal to expand
government-controlled healthcare also likely rests on the Georgia runoff outcome.
The Democrat wants to expand the federal government’s currently vast role in
the healthcare market by having it provide a “public option” via Medicare to
the public.
Supposedly, this government-run healthcare option would
“compete” with the private sector, rather than abolish it outright like other
proposals. However, because the government can both subsidize itself and
mandate that healthcare providers accept lower compensation rates, it will
inevitably drive private insurers out of business and leave us all dependent on
the government for healthcare.
If Republicans keep the Senate, this proposal won’t go
anywhere. If not, it is very much on the table.
The Takeaway: Divided Government and Gridlock
are Bulwarks Against Extremism
Americans often gripe about Washington, D.C.’s inability
to get anything done. There’s validity to this sentiment.
It often feels like our well-paid elected representatives
do little to actually advance the people’s interests and instead just showboat
for TV cameras. However, there’s clearly an upside to divided government and
gridlock: It blocks extreme, radical policies that would limit our freedoms and
leave us all worse off.
It’s statistically proven that the growth of government
and federal spending are slower
under divided government. And it’s no coincidence that after the election
results came in, the business sector reacted
very favorably to the prospect of a gridlocked Congress unable to pass
any more interventionist policies. After all, a Stanford study found that the Biden tax and regulatory agenda, if
implemented, would kill 4.9 million jobs and decrease average household income
by $6,500.
So, yes, divided government might be frustrating
sometimes. But this time around, it would be great news for the economy and the
American people.
