Our economic crisis isn’t inflation, it’s corporate greed and the GOP will only make it worse

As we enter the final week of the midterm elections, voters are expressing deep concern about the state of the economy and inflation. They should.

Today we live in an economy where billionaires get richer while working families fall further behind. Incredibly, while 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, we now have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of our country – with three multi-billionaires with more wealth than the bottom half of Americans. As employers urge workers and their unions to cut health care and other benefits, big business CEOs are now earning nearly 400 times more than their average employees — the largest employer-worker gap in our history.

During this campaign, my Republican colleagues talk a lot about inflation, and they are right to do so. Over the past year, Americans have grown tired of paying outrageously high prices for food, gasoline, health care, prescription drugs, housing and other necessities.

CNN KING PRADES BIDEN SPEECH, SAYS DEMOCRATIC CRITICS HAVE ‘SILLY WASHINGTON CONVERSATIONS’

Unfortunately, most Republicans are completely unaware of the underlying causes of inflation and the few “fixes” they offer would make a bad situation even worse.

Yes. During this political season, it’s easy to blame President Joe Biden and Democrats for inflation. But that’s just not accurate.

Let’s be clear. Inflation is not unique to America. It is an international crisis. In the European Union, inflation is close to 11%. In Germany, it is 11.6%. In the United Kingdom, it is 10.1%. In Ireland, it is 9.6%. In America it is 8.2%, far too high, but lower than in much of Europe.

The truth is that inflation is, to a large extent, caused by the ongoing global pandemic, the breakdown of international supply chains and the horrific war in Ukraine. But there is another major reason for inflation that too few people talk about. And that is the unprecedented level of corporate greed that we are witnessing right now.

According to a recent study, almost 54% of the rise in inflation is directly attributable to the astronomical increase in corporate profit margins. In America today, as the working class struggles to put food on the table, fill its gas tanks and heat its homes, corporate profits are at their highest in 70 years.

If you want to know why you pay $4, $5, $6 for a gallon of gas, know that profits for ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell have skyrocketed 169% so far this year to reach $125 billion. These four huge oil companies are spending more than $73 billion not to lower gas prices at the pump, but to buy back their own shares and increase dividends for their wealthy shareholders.

If you’re wondering why you’re paying 43% more for airfare this year, profits rose 186% at American Airlines and 99% at United Airlines in the third quarter to nearly $1.5 billion. of dollars. Yes. These are the same companies that received more than $20 billion in taxpayer relief during the pandemic while cutting 6,400 jobs.

If you’re wondering why global food prices skyrocketed more than 33% last year and are expected to rise another 23% this year, know that billionaires in the global food and agribusiness industry have gotten richer by $382 billion during the pandemic.

If you’re wondering why we continue to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, know that Pfizer has increased its profits by 42% so far this year to $26.4 billion. .

I make no apologies to anyone for expanding the child tax credit that offered $300 a month per child to working families so that parents could raise their children with a modicum of security.

Even though inflation is an international problem, my fellow Republicans want to blame rising prices on Democratic spending — specifically the $1.9 trillion U.S. bailout package passed in March 2021. Well, before you accept this argument, I urge you to remember where we left off. terrible and painful moment in American history.

As the worst pandemic in modern history raged across the country, more than 3,000 Americans died of COVID-19 every day and millions, many with inadequate health insurance, fell ill. Doctors and nurses lacked adequate personal protective equipment and many hospitals, inundated with COVID-19 patients, were on the verge of collapse.

Additionally, in the wake of the pandemic, at the start of 2021, the United States was experiencing its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Twenty-four million Americans were unemployed, underemployed, or had given up looking for work. Hunger in America was at its highest level in decades. Millions of Americans were at risk of being evicted from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country were on the verge of bankruptcy.

As chairman of the Budget Committee, I apologize to anyone for helping get this bill through the Senate — without a single Republican vote. At a time of unprecedented health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the US bailout has done exactly what a democratic government in a civilized society is supposed to do: meet the needs of people living in fear and despair.

I do not apologize to anyone that we provided every working class American and their children with a direct payment of $1,400 to help them through the economic crisis they were going through.

I don’t apologize to anyone for extending unemployment benefits and providing an extra $300 a week to Americans who lost their jobs.

I make no apologies to anyone for expanding the child tax credit that offered $300 a month per child to working families so that parents could raise their children with a modicum of security.

I apologize to no one for stopping hospitals from closing during the pandemic, feeding the hungry, preventing evictions and foreclosures, and ensuring that every American could receive a free COVID-19 vaccine.

As Republicans continue to criticize the $1.9 trillion U.S. bailout that has helped struggling working-class families in a time of economic desperation, it’s fair to wonder what they’re proposing to do if they take control of the House and the Senate? And here is the answer.

Almost all, from Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, want to offer billionaires a tax break worth up to $1.75 trillion by repealing the estate tax altogether.

The estate tax only applies to the richest of the rich, the top tenth of one percent of American families who inherit more than $25 million. In other words, 99.9% of Americans would not benefit at all from the estate tax repeal.

If the inheritance tax were repealed, Elon Musk’s family alone would benefit from a tax break of up to $80 billion. Now, I don’t know who Musk’s kids are and I have nothing against them. I wish them good luck. But they don’t deserve up to $80 billion in tax relief.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE AVIS NEWSLETTER

‘Let’s be clear. Inflation is not unique to America. It is an international crisis. In the European Union, inflation is close to 11%. In Germany, it is 11.6%. In the United Kingdom, it is 10.1%. In Ireland, it is 9.6%. In America it is 8.2%, far too high, but lower than in much of Europe.

How would Republicans pay this $1.75 trillion tax break to billionaires? They would pay for it with massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicare. This year, the 158-member Republican House Review Committee has proposed cutting Medicare by $2.8 trillion and Social Security by $729 billion. A growing number of Republicans have even threatened to default on our country’s debt unless they are able to enact cuts to Social Security and Medicare. How absurd is that?

No. You don’t reduce inflation by giving tax breaks to billionaires and cutting benefits for the elderly, the sick, the children and the poor.

You fight inflation by tackling corporate greed and passing a windfall tax. You fight inflation by taking over the power of insurance companies, drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, food giants and cutting the outrageously high costs of health care, prescription drugs, gasoline and groceries.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

As the longest-serving independent in congressional history, I’m not going to tell you that Democrats are perfect. Far from there. In an evenly split 50-50 Senate, there are at least two Democrats who have made it clear that they are more interested in protecting corporate interests than the needs of working-class families. This must change.

Right now, more than at any time in modern history, we need a Congress that has the courage to stand up to the wealthy campaign contributors, super-PACs and lobbyists working overtime to protect the billionaire and corporate interests. And that is precisely what Democrats must do if they extend their majority in the House and Senate.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SEN. BERNIE SANDERS