Joe Manchin didn’t completely torpedo the $500 billion in Green New Deal climate change spending, but he did stall it for a month saying he would not support the climate change spending until he sees July’s inflation numbers in August, which should be a warning.
If you think carefully about it, it’s a classic Manchin head-fake. The July and August inflation numbers, to be released in August and September respectively, are almost guaranteed to be lower than June.
July/Aug are the two months we are in right now where inflation is hitting a plateau. Gasoline prices are dropping due to a drop in demand. This is the period before prices start rising again in September and October when the energy farming costs start to roll out with the next harvest.
Senator Manchin isn’t stupid; in fact, he is quite Machiavellian, he knows this… thus, his position.
Manchin can give the illusion of prudence, but he knows the July inflation rate will show a decrease for two reasons.
First, in the month-to-month comparison, July will not carry the same scale of gasoline and energy increases as June. Second, in the year-over-year comparison, July ’22 will be comparing to July 2021 when prices already started skyrocketing. Bottom line, July inflation will give the illusion of dropping, which gives Manchin a shield to support the spending…. and he will.
WASHINGTON DC – Joe Manchin is forcing Democrats into a brutal choice: Take a deal now to lower the costs of health care premiums and prescription drugs, or try to negotiate a larger bill in September that includes climate and tax reform with no guarantee it will pass.
The West Virginia Democrat said Friday that he wants to see another month of inflation numbers before considering legislation that might increase taxes on some higher-income Americans and plow hundreds of billions of dollars into the energy sector. On Thursday Manchin “unequivocally” rejected July or August approval of Democrats’ proposed energy investments and tax increases in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to a person briefed on the meeting.
[…] Democrats are reeling after Manchin’s communication to Schumer indicated that climate change and tax provisions are unworkable for any party-line bill considered this summer. Fury is building within the party, with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) questioning whether Manchin should continue to chair the Senate’s Energy committee.
[…] Manchin had sought to shave down an energy package originally set at more than $500 billion to $300 billion or less. He balked privately at sending money to the EV industry and the Direct Payment program. (Read More)
While you won’t see a single MSM analyst, financial pundit or mainstream political commentator point out what Manchin is doing, his strategy is cunning.
Right now, conservatives are calling Manchin a hero for blocking the GND spending while progressives attack him. This gives the impression that he is a centrist, above the fray, and wise in his outlooks toward the economy and budgeting. However, it’s a ruse. Joe Manchin knows, just like you do, that the next inflation report will be much lower. He is positioning to support the climate change spending in September.
Watch.
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The scheming strategery of Joe Manchin is as predictable as the scheming strategery of Mitch McConnell.
The two wings of the UniParty duck seem still on the surface. This type of ploy is exactly how DC is able to operate, paddling forward furiously, just below the surface; and almost no one can see what is happening.
Once you see the strings on the political marionettes, you can never return to that moment in the performance when you did not see them. However, because too few people see them, almost everyone congregates in the lobby during the mid-term intermission asking, “hey, when did Texas become dependent on windmills?”
