The Show Notes: Dems Dodge Biden, Sinema Spending Bill, & ESG Pushback
Welcome! US employers add 528,000 jobs; unemployment falls to 3.5%.
🚨 Headline: Over 230 economists warn Manchin's spending bill will perpetuate inflation - Fox Business
That was quick: Lavrov says Russia is ready to discuss prisoner swap with US after Griner conviction - CNN
The Show Notes is my blueprint for radio but is only for subscribers. You can subscribe here and listen here. The show starts now.
Clip of the day: Ouch
Go read the two graphics on this tweet. We knew this would happen.
Democrats Avoid The Biden Question
A shocking number of Democrats are refusing to discuss anything related to Joe Biden running for reelection in 2024. 18 prominent Democrats have dodged questions about Biden in the past few weeks while Rep. Craig and Rep. Phillips said Biden should not run. Axios has three reasons why Dems are seeking other alternatives:
He's deeply unpopular. Many Americans associate him with inflation, high gas prices, entrenched COVID-19 and an inglorious end to the war in Afghanistan.
Progressives want a move away from centrism and convention.
Many Democratic voters want generational change. Biden was older when he took office than Ronald Reagan was when he left office. If re-elected, Biden would be 86 at the end of his second term.
Here’s an example of a recent dodge:
Dems Win Over Sinema
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has signaled that she is prepared to join Democrats in passing a spending bill that has remained in limbo for more than a year. Sinema demanded the carried-interest provision be stripped from the Inflation Reduction Act while allowing a one percent tax on corporate stock buybacks to be added. However, Americans are not convinced the bill will do what its name implies.
Beefing Up The IRS
The Democrats’ latest spending bill includes an $80 billion bump to the IRS budget that will primarily be used for additional agents. Democrats argue this will be paid for by agents conducting more audits and finding more rich people who cheated on their taxes. The data tells us this is not true. This is from Fox Business:
That’s because the IRS disproportionately targets low-income Americans when it conducts tax audits each year. In fact, households with less than $25,000 in earnings are five times as likely to be audited by the agency than everyone else, according to a recent analysis of tax data from fiscal year 2021 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.
The reason for that is a rise in what is known as "correspondence audits," meaning the IRS conducts reviews of tax returns via letters or phone calls rather than more complex face-to-face audits. Just a fraction — 100,000 of the 659,000 audits in 2021 – were conducted in person.
According to the Syracuse study, more than half of the correspondence audits initiated by the IRS last year — 54% — involved low-income workers with gross receipts of less than $25,000 who claimed the earned income tax credit, an anti-poverty measure.
The rest of the news:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom took out an ad in Variety to urge Hollywood to 'walk the walk' on their values and stop filming in conservative states like Georgia and Oklahoma - Insider
Terror Threat: Al Qaeda’s Next Leader Has Deep Ties to Iran - Washington Free Beacon
US Department Of Commerce Asks Gun Holster Companies For Sales Records - Zerohedge
Pelosi says China "will not isolate Taiwan" as drills ramp up near island - Axios
Georgia Abortion Law Says a Fetus Is Tax Deductible - Yahoo
Israel launches strikes on Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza - CNN
China halts climate, military ties over Pelosi Taiwan visit - AP News
DeSantis did what Hochul won’t — boot a DA who won’t do their job - NY Post
Trent Alexander-Arnold: The Premier League winner who still lives at home and helps his parents with the dishes - CNN
Elon Musk predicts the US will have a 'mild recession' for 18 months -Insider
Alex Jones ordered to pay Sandy Hook parents more than $4M - AP News
US Job Growth Surges, Tempering Recession Worry and Pressing Fed - Bloomberg (paywall)
Nonsense from NYT: How Republicans Are ‘Weaponizing’ Public Office Against Climate Action - NYT (paywall)
Tweets that caught my eye: