A pair of articles in Axios this week should be a clue to voters that if and when Democrats take control of Congress after the midterms, their promise to focus on “affordability” will amount to two things: a return to Biden-era welfare expansion and a lot of probing and hearings for corporate and tech CEOs, especially Elon Musk.
To the extent that Democrats would be able to do anything to lower prices on groceries, gas and rent, their actual proposals would do nothing. In fact, they would do the opposite. After the midterms, “Progressives are eyeing a living wage, universal child care, lifting the payroll tax cap to shore up Social Security, and repealing a cap on federally subsidized public housing,” wrote Mike Allen of Axios on Thursday. Democrats also plan on pushing, again, “Medicare for all.”
None of that is new. Democrats have been trying these busted policies for decades. And isn’t it just what we need: More Section 8 housing would surely bring down the price of gas for middle-income earners. Democrats have tried this all over the country, and they injected those ideas with steroids during the Biden years, pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into more food stamps and Obamacare benefits for early retirees. The result was surging prices on health insurance, food, and everything else.
A subsequent article on Friday revealed the rest of their “affordability” agenda, which is to use congressional subpoena power to endlessly hound Elon Musk and other business leaders who so much as said “good morning” to the president. “The CEOs who staked their reputations and fortunes on MAGA’s staying power could spend the final two years of Trump’s presidency defending their dealings under oath,” wrote Zachary Beau of Axios. “A Democratic House would carry its campaign against billionaire power and corruption deep into corporate America, scrutinizing the relationships between Trump’s White House and the executives who courted him.”
It’s not that Trump has run a squeaky clean White House, pure as the morning snow. But Democrats are lying when they profess to be looking for “corruption.” People are allowed to ingratiate themselves to political leaders. That’s called the First Amendment. Of course they trade campaign donations or other favors for preferable regulations. What Democrats hope to do is embarrass Musk and other executives and intimidate them out of political participation. Or, at least out of Republican participation.
And watch those grocery bills drop like a rock!
Conventional wisdom is that Republicans are heading for major defeat in just a few more days. If that’s the case, voters should prepare for an “affordability” agenda that does nothing they want.
