"Welcome to President Joe Biden's White House, where numbers don't actually matter and dictionary definitions can be rewritten at the will of the president and his allies.

Two consecutive quarters of economic contraction no longer constitute a recession, and an 8.5% increase in the consumer price index over the past year is somehow spun by Biden as 'zero inflation.'

Yet perhaps no lie from the West Wing is as flagrant as this one -- Ron Klain claiming that wages are up.

Unlike his boss's lengthy list of falsehoods, which we can generously attribute to senility, the White House chief of staff's lie is an apparently intentional confusion of the facts.

Although wages rose nominally by 5.8% in July, that was more than nullified by the 8.5% increase in the consumer price index. Once both numbers are taken into account, real average hourly earnings fell by 3%. Couple that hourly wage decline with the 0.6% decrease in the average work week, and real average earnings per week fell by 3.6%."

Read the entire article here.

"Everyone should be deeply troubled by the recent report that the Army is on pace to miss its recruiting goal by dozens of thousands of troops and by the report that followed a few days later, alleging that the Border Patrol is running short of agents in Arizona and Texas. The border is so porous these days that even mayors of sanctuary cities are starting to complain about illegal immigration.

"So, what is Congress doing about these crises? They are going to spend tens of billions of dollars to increase the number of ... IRS employees. The plan calls for spending some $80 billion to hire some 80,000 new agents and investigators. This will give the IRS the resources to double the number of people who get audited every year.

"Is this about the most warped set of national priorities you've ever heard? If this $80 billion were rerouted to the Army and the Border Patrol, we could easily stop much of the tide of illegal immigration and staff up our military so we have the soldiers we need to defend our country."

Read the entire article here.

"The official word so far that the FBI raided Donald Trump's compound at Mar-a-Lago looking for classified documents stands in sharp contrast to the way the bureau and Justice Department acted seven years ago when similar questions arose about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email.

"Back then in the summer of 2015, there was no raid of Mrs. Clinton's home in Chappaqua, N.Y., where the server has been operated. In fact, the former secretary of state's lawyer, David Kendall, was allowed to keep a thumb drive of the archive of her inbox -- complete with classified materials -- inside his office. ...

"The disparate handling of two cases involving famous figures led immediately to charges Monday night that the FBI was acting with a political double standard. ...

"Esteemed Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, a lifelong Democrat who voted for Biden but also defended Trump during impeachment, said the raid was an aberration, given that Trump wasn't even in Florida. A grand jury subpoena, he said, would have been more appropriate.

"Dershowitz said absent convincing proof that Trump was planning to destroy evidence, the Biden DOJ and FBI risked committing an abuse of power with the raid."

Read the entire article here.

 

"Republicans on Sunday heaped scorn on Democrats for passing a multibillion-dollar economic package, warning that it would come back to haunt them in the November midterms.

"'Democrats will pay the price in November for raising taxes on families during a recession,' Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

"Her statement reflects criticism among Republicans that the Inflation Reduction Act will do the opposite of its intended purpose.

"In a statement, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, likened the bill to a 'give-away to the Democrats' radical leftist base at the expense of middle-class Americans.' ...

"'The Schumer-Manchin bill will drive up inflation and prices, hammer small businesses and American manufacturing, increase the price of gas, and sic the IRS on Americans, all while raising taxes on Americans in nearly every tax bracket including those who make less than $400,000 a year,' Cruz said in a statement."

Read the entire article here.

"Small business confidence has hit an all-time low as the majority of Main Street expects runaway inflation and a Federal Reserve that is incapable of engineering a soft landing for the economy, leading to revenue declines and staffing cuts across sectors.

"The majority of small business owners (57%) taking part in the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for Q3 2022 think the recession has already begun, while another 14% predict recession before the end of the year. ...

"The pessimism on Main Street is more widespread than in the general population, according to the survey, which included a companion poll of nearly 12,000 non-business owners. Among this group, 45% believe the U.S. economy has entered a recession."

Read the entire article here.

"During the August break, every Republican House and Senate candidate should challenge their Democratic opponents to defend the new, destructive, and unpopular Joe Manchin-Chuck Schumer bill.

Democrats hope to camouflage the bill by calling it the 'Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.' In the business world, this title would lead to a lawsuit over false advertising. ...

If Republicans aggressively communicate the details of the Manchin-Schumer bill, it will become prohibitively expensive for any Democrats to vote for it.

Scott Rasmussen highlighted the American public's opposition to this bill once it is accurately explained. In a poll this past weekend, Rasmussen discovered that 55% of Americans favor cutting government spending and taxes, while only 23% favor higher taxes and spending. Just on this overview, Republican candidates will have a more than 2:1 majority opposing higher taxes and bigger spending. And by 44% to 17%, Americans believe higher taxes and government spending will increase inflation."

Read the entire article here.

"The new version of the Biden adminitration's 'Build Back Better' bill now backed by Joe Manchin has targeted so-called 'carried interest' for private equity firms. Although routinely portrayed in the press, and by Democrats, as a preferential tax 'loophole' to help the rich, private equity 'carry' is not a loophole and never has been.

Although Chuck Schumer is the driving force in the Senate behind the punitive proposal, the tax plan especially hurts Schumer's home state of New York and similar states. It would raise long term capital gain taxes for PE professionals who live and pay taxes in New York to as much as 55% (from the current top rate of 38%), while setting taxes for private equity professionals higher than for any other field. This push, seemingly pursued out of populist spite, would not help the economy. PE-backed companies employ 11 million people and account for 6.5% of all GNP. Targeting them with a punitive tax increase could depress investment and growth in the midst of a recession. It would further encourage the biggest taxpayers to leave Democratic Party-controlled 'blue' states, where they are most needed, and move to lower-tax Republican states.

It shows the danger of letting demagogic symbolism overrule common sense and simple fairness: In truth, there never was a special rule or 'loophole' passed for PE to unwind in the first place."

Read the entire article here.

"Democrats have named their new tax-and-spend package the Inflation Reduction Act, but the party is battling economists who say the legislation won't do anything to spare consumers from the rising cost of goods and services, and it could make things worse.

"William McBride, vice president of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, a pro-business, tax policy think tank, said the legislation would have 'close to zero impact on inflation.' He said it also could unleash a potentially disastrous domino effect on the economy and the government through tax increases that might end up reducing federal revenue.

"'The danger is that this would actually slow down the economy,' Mr. McBride told The Washington Times. 'And at a terrible time, when it is teetering on a recession. And by slowing down the economy, you actually have a negative impact on the fiscal outlook for the federal government.'

"Findings from the Penn Wharton Business Model and the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation have indicated the legislation would not only fail to reduce inflation, it would raise taxes on millions of low- and middle-income earners."

Read the entire piece here.

"The Supreme Court ended its term with a highly consequential 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA. The court repudiated the Environmental Protection Agency's claim that Congress had delegated sweeping powers for the agency to pursue a regulatory agenda of its own creation that would force energy companies to adopt alternative energy sources. That should not have been a controversial decision. Since the founding of the American republic, the courts have always affirmed the foundational precept that Congress alone makes law. And Congress cannot give away its lawmaking powers to unelected bureaucrats without violating the Constitution.

"Yet there is a competing vision of the Constitution, trumpeted by progressive-minded law professors and interest groups who bemoan the court's adherence to the rule of law. Under this view, strict constitutionalism is intolerable because it may sometimes get in the way of the government crafting 'optimal' regulatory regimes. For this reason, advocates of a strong administrative state see no issue with Congress delegating broad rulemaking powers to federal agencies -- as long as that enables the government to carry out their preferred regulatory agenda.Yet, boiled to its core, this is nothing but a call for bureaucratic rule over the American people."

Read the entire article here.

"A year ago, most people would have viewed a major land war in Europe as inconceivable. Yet months after Russia launched a brutal invasion of Ukraine that has seen thousands of civilians killed and cities destroyed, many in the West are asking how this tragedy could have been prevented. The answer is clear: military capability, committed allies, credible policy, and resolve.

"Taiwan faces a similar situation today with Communist China, an aggressive neighbor 60 times its size. Most probably cannot find Taiwan on a blank map, but it's an advanced economy and robust democracy that has lived in the dark shadow of Beijing's threats for decades. Preserving this democracy has long been a U.S. priority. Today, this island nation, which is slightly larger than Maryland, sits uneasily on the frontline of an escalating contest between autocracy and democracy for control of the 21st century. ...

"With concern growing in Western capitals that China may finally turn its threats into real action -- an outright invasion, a blockade, missile barrages, cyber attacks, or some form of 'gray zone' action -- to compel Taipei's capitulation, it is now time to clearly state that we will come to Taiwan's defense. President Joe Biden has now said so three times, but White House staff walking back this commitment each time have made things even less certain.

"To clarify our policy, the president should initiate a dialogue with Congress. Both branches must be aligned as we move forward. This process will also have the salutary effect of educating the American people of the threats we face from China. After all, we need a new policy that is not just credible and principled, but also durable and sturdy enough to bear the weight of the future strategies we will pursue and decisions we may make to keep the peace and help our friends."

Read the entire article here.