The Dems' Socialist Policies and Other Bits & Pieces

Some gems from President Biden's post-NATO press conference

The Dems’ Socialist Policies

This topic could occupy a book, but I will highlight just a few points. The latest ones come from Joe Biden’s press conference following the NATO summit in Washington, when he stated that he would resort to price-fixing to defeat the dreaded Trump. Biden began his prepared remarks by noting that

Just this morning we had a great economic report showing inflation is down.  Overall, prices fell last month.  Core inflation is the lowest it’s been in three years.  Prices are falling for cars, appliances, and airfare — airfares.  Grocery prices have fallen since the start of the year. 

That is the free-market economy at work. If the government stays out of it, prices will fluctuate and will drop in response to lower costs, fluctuation in demand, and other factors. But a free-market economy is not what the socialists Democrats want. So, Biden immediately followed that with this:

We’re going to keep working to take down corporate greed to bring those prices down further.

“Corporate greed” = profits in Biden-world. Anytime you hear him or any politician talking about “corporate greed,” you are about to hear a call for a remedy straight out of the socialist/communist economic handbook — a continuation of the promise to “fundamentally change America.” Corporations are supposed to maximize profits and returns for their shareholders. That is how an economic system works. Not the socialist or communist system, to be sure, but the capitalist system that has lifted more people out of poverty and generated more wealth than any other economic system in the history of the world.

A short time later in the press conference, Biden announced that, as usual, he had a list of pre-approved reporters he had been given permission to call upon: “I’ve been given a list of people to call on here.” In response to the first question, from Reuters, Biden quickly reinforced his “corporate greed” meme:

Corporate greed is still at large.  There are — prices — the corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic.  They’re coming down. 

Then, in response to a question from CBS, he identified some targets:

But corporate — corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic — doubled.  It’s time things get back in order a little bit.  It’s time — for example, if I’m reelected, we’re going to make sure that rents are kept at 5 percent increase, cor- — corporate rents for cor- — apartments and the like and homes are limited to 5 percent.

This was not another “gaffe.” Biden was echoing a promise he made during his debate with Trump when he said, “We’re going to make sure we cap rents, so corporate greed can’t take over.”

Rent controls, eh? The real estate industry quickly picked up on Biden’s comment, but it has been little noted by the captive ancien régime press. Perhaps I am missing it, but I can find no mention of this in the newspaper that touts itself as the source of “All news that’s fit to print.”

Rent controls have been tried in a number of blue cities and the result inevitably is to create housing shortages, among other ills. Investors don’t want to invest big bucks in a project unless they can anticipate a good rate of return. A comprehensive discussion of the economics at play here is beyond the scope of this short article, but it is accurately summed up by Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Bob Broeksmit:

Rent control has consistently proven to be a failed policy that discourages new construction, distorts market pricing, and leads to a degradation of the quality of rental housing — the exact opposite of what is currently needed in markets throughout the country.

As the National Apartment Association has pointed out,

Implying that rent control will solve the nation's housing crisis is the easy way out.  Rent caps, more commonly known as rent control, are failed policies that don't work – research has shown it, the lack of affordability in rent-controlled jurisdictions reinforces it and statements from countless economists across generations and the political spectrum are crystal clear.

We need leaders to stop playing politics with our housing supply.

Exactly.

Do wealthy people pay taxes?

Biden apparently thinks they do not. Again, from his post-NATO press conference:

But the wealthy got to start paying their taxes.

So, the wealthy aren’t “paying their taxes?” That rhetoric, of course, echos the familiar, “The wealthy have got to start paying their fair share” line. But the facts are that the latest available data showing the federal income tax burden reveals that if you want to look at the top earners who generally would be regarded as “wealthy,” the top 5% of paid well over half — 65.6% — of all income taxes. And if Biden was talking about the famous 1% of all earners, then they still pay 45.8% of all federal income taxes. So, Biden may think that his appeals to class envy may turn some voters his way, but it is based upon a lie.

Saving “Our Democracy”?

Finally, during his press conference Biden gave a somewhat disjointed response to a question about whether he is “fully determined on running in November as the party’s nominee.” His wandering response included his own question to the reporter that was part of his attack on the Supreme Court:

But do you think our democracy is under siege based on this court? 

So, for example, the Court’s decision that returned the question of abortion to the peoples’ elected state representatives is, according to Biden, putting “our democracy under siege.”

Do you think that he understands any of this?

This is part of the “Trump is a danger to Our Democracy” strategy. Remember the repeated justifications for the Nancy Pelosi/Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger dog and pony show promising that they were “saving Our Democracy”” How about a pledge instead to “save our Republic?” The Constitution, does not mention the word “democracy,” but it does give us this solemn guarantee:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

There is a lot to be mined in that Section 4 of Article IV, but the next time someone talks to you about “saving our democracy” from the Supreme Court (or from anyone else) remind them of the bolded “guarantee” in that section.

And thanks to you.

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