Freedom Line Blog

In our Liberty Update this week, we highlight the Biden Administration’s role in rising inflation, some of its under-discussed negative consequences and its shockingly tone-deaf responses and rationalizations.  In  positive news from NCTA, The Internet & Television Association, however, internet service provider costs are actually declining:

Good News: Internet Service Costs Decline

As the U.S. economy shows sudden weakness, American consumers understandably express increasing anxiety.  A troubling new Gallup survey reports that economic confidence has now declined to lows unsurpassed since the early days of the Covid pandemic in 2020.

Undeterred by that accumulating weakness and alarm, however, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Massachusetts) appears restless to strike yet another dangerous hammer blow by re-introducing her misnamed “Stop Wall Street Looting Act.”

She may think that title can conceal the bill’s danger, but Americans and elected officials mustn’t be fooled or invite the potentially catastrophic economic peril.

Senator Warren’s bill includes significant tax increases, as well as new legal liabilities and bureaucratic regulations on U.S. investment, and it seeks to reshape the entire American bankruptcy code in an environment already suffering excessive anxiety.  The legislation would also begin taxing private equity as ordinary income, which makes no sense because private equity investments come with an inherent risk of loss, unlike ordinary wages.  It would thereby eviscerate investors’ incentive to risk capital because any future earnings would be taxed in the same as ordinary wages that carry no similar risk of loss.  When investments fail, the risk of loss is carried by the investors.  That means lots of downside, but significantly less upside.

And as studies confirm, the economic impact of Senator Warren’s bill would be devastating.

Specifically, it would kill off between 6.9 million and 26.3 million jobs across the U.S., while actually reducing incoming federal, state and local tax revenues between a whopping $109 billion and $475 billion each year.  It would also wipe out between $671 million and $3.36 billion in investments per year (with pension fund retirees accounting for many of those investors), and would drive many private equity firms out of business due to the bill’s elevated risks and regulations.

The good news is that even moderate Democrats express objection to Senator Warren’s idea.  Politico reports that, “It’s setting up a clash with moderate Democrats who say private equity is a crucial tool to keep capital flowing to businesses and propel economic growth.”

American workers, retirees, investors, public pension beneficiaries and employers shouldn’t be forced to pay the price for Senator Warren’s pet ideological agenda, and Congress must unequivocally reject her proposed bill.

From realistic climatologist Bjorn Lomborg, writing in The Wall Street Journal this week, a jarring analysis of the cost of imposing the Biden/Pelosi/Schumer/AOC carbon-free “Green New Deal” agenda for every American annually:

A new study in Nature finds that a 95% reduction in American carbon emissions by 2050 will annually cost 11.9% of U.S. gross domestic product. To put that in perspective: Total expenditure on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid came to 11.6% of GDP in 2019. The annual cost of trying to hit Mr. Biden’s target will rise to $4.4 trillion by 2050. That’s more than everything the federal government is projected to take in this year in tax revenue. It breaks down to $11,300 per person per year, or almost 500 times more than what a majority of Americans is willing to pay.“

But don’t you dare ask any questions.  Just do what they say (not what they necessarily do, of course).

From Andy Puzder, a snapshot of how inflation dreadfully continues to outpace American workers’ paycheck gains:

Biden’s Inflationary Gift

In a letter sent at the end of August, a coalition of more than two dozen prominent free-market organizations and individuals, led by the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF), urged Congress to pass the Save Local Business Act (H.R. 3185/S. 1636).

The Save Local Business Act, which is sponsored by Representative James Comer (R-KY) in the U.S. House and Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) in the U.S. Senate, would restore decades of commonsense labor law norms and protect our nation’s employers against a radical redefinition of the nature of employment that creates uncertainty for struggling businesses across the nation and subjects them to unfair and unreasonable legal liability.

Specifically, the legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to restore the definition of “Joint Employer” to businesses that “directly, actually, and immediately exercise significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment.”

Good news! Since the coalition letter was sent, the number of U.S. Senate cosponsors of the Save Local Business Act has increased by eight — bringing the total number of cosponsors to 13.  They include:

Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC]* 05/13/2021
Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]* 05/13/2021
Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]* 05/13/2021
Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]* 05/13/2021
Sen. Braun, Mike [R-IN]* 05/13/2021
Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] 09/13/2021
Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL] 09/13/2021
Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] 09/14/2021
Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] 09/20/2021
Sen. Wicker, Roger [R-MS] 09/20/2021
Sen. Lummis, Cynthia [R-WY] 09/23/2021
Sen. Hagerty, Bill [R-TN] 09/30/2021
Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] 10/04/2021

If your Senators are no included in the cosponsor list above, please call them today and urge them to cosponsor this important legislation.

Find  the contact information for your Senators here.

Or, call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with your Senators’ offices.