A Modest Proposal For Funding Our "Anti-Inflation Bill" Without Fueling Inflation--
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A Modest Proposal For Funding Our "Anti-Inflation Bill" Without Fueling Inflation--
---Remember How Trump used to blather on about making Mexico pay for his wall? Well, guess who could be made to pay for our climate bill.---
Those Republican/MAGA "sheetheads" who claim that the 300 billion dollar budget for the bill on climate, taxes and prescription drugs will fuel inflation are indulging in their usual lies by deception. They are using the same arguments cooked up over many decades in trying to block FDR's New Deal, Lend Lease, and US spending to defeat the Axis powers in World War II. That was money we spent in order to continue our very existence. By the GOP's logic, the very best anti-inflation policy in history was the program of Roman Emperor Nero, who burned his capitol to the ground in order to begin his urban renewal program. To paraphrase former Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, "no city, no spending, no inflation."
The same bogus arguments for budget austerity were wielded against enacting Social Security, Medicare, JFK's Apollo science driver program, and the defense of our European allies through NATO. But what of the 15 trillion dollars pumped into the financial markets by the Fed to bail out worthless paper and fund the stock buy-backs of Wall Street during the last year of Trump's Presidency? Oh that wasn't inflationary at all, says the GOP. That was necessary to keep their system afloat during the pandemic. However, it looks like the financial bubbles we rescued with our hard earned tax dollars were themselves a form of disease, which the Republicans are stil trying to spread.
Here is an idea on how we can pay for everything, with no muss, no fuss. The US government as of last month has frozen 30 billion dollars in assets held in US hedge funds and other institutions by Russian Oligarchs like Roman Abramovich (7 billion from him alone) and an additional 300 billion in Moscow based Russian State bank's US holdings. (link to source in comments below)
Russia has been shelling the biggest Ukrainian Nuclear plant, threatening a new Chernobyl catastrophe. They are forcibly deporting thousands of children to Russia, conducting civilian massacres, bombing hospitals, malls, executing journalists, among other things. They are committing Nuremburg level war crimes and violating every international convention on war.
We have enough on Russia's international crimes to invoke existing US laws for 'asset seizure and forfeiture," which are used by our government to seize the assets of criminal conspirators such as drug cartel kingpins like El Chapo, and leading US Mafia figures. Why not confiscate Russia's financial assets in US businesses, real estate, (including those in companies and properties of a particular ex-president) banks, hedge funds, offshore financial institutions, etc? There's 330 billion right there. Or, better yet, seize one half of the frozen assets, then tell Putin we are taking the rest unless he shapes up. We can crush Russia's finances without a US shot being fired. All of that money is just sitting there, frozen and doing nothing. Why don't we just take it and put it to work making America great again?
That more than makes up for the 14 billion we lost because of Kyrsten Sinema's extortion demand to remove the bill's section closing the carried interest loophole for hedge funds. It is also certainly leverage over Putin to make him cease his war atrocities, come to the table, and release Brittney Griner.
Likewise there is probably a lot of this Russian money invested in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Kentucky, and it would be surprising if some of it isn't finding it's way into certain high profile GOP campaigns. Koch Industries is still operating with their deals in Russia untouched. We can at least freeze their assets too until say, November 10th. If they don't disinvest from Russia, well then seize that too.
The President of the United States has a lot of power. He's the Chief Executive of the Federal government, and all of it's law enforcement and regulatory agencies. There are legal means through which the President can break the stalemate with both McConnell's GOP and their Russian partners. It just means breaking the rules a little bit in order to enforce the rule of law. Why not, since the GOP plans to dismantle most of it anyway to further their states rights agenda? "Use it or lose it Joe!"
Let's watch and enjoy while the Russian co-opted GOP and their "high end escort" accomplices on the Supreme Court howl and scream as the US seizes Russia's frozen assets. (Much of which includes Putin's 200 billion in personal assets run through his cut-outs)
It will all be fine. We would just be showing Americans how government can work for them. If the Republicans are at first upset, we'll just tell them the truth, that we are doing this in the spirit of bipartisanship, finding novel ways to reduce US government spending in the name of fighting inflation.
(Photo credit, Hudson Institute)
