Biden Takes His Financial Senility Up A Notch, Says This About 2023 – Investment Watch

via MISH:

Fiscal Year 2023 Budget of the U.S.  

Here is the 158-page Fiscal Year 2023 Budget of the United States Government.

The first 50 pages are mostly self-congratulations on US progress kicking off with this statement from Biden.

“This progress was no accident. It was a direct result of the new economic vision for America I ran on—to build our economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”

The president touts infrastructure, Covid-19, and totally nonsensical promotion of “bipartisan unity.”

He claims to fight inflation when reality is just the opposite. He touts aggressive action on climate despite being rebuffed in the Senate.

The first 50 pages are among the biggest hype over minimal progress in history.

Biden’s Biggest Success

Ironically, the president’s biggest success is failure.

His Build Back Better (BBB) proposals were so bad that a pair of Democrat Senators, but mostly Joe Manchin of West Virginia could not stomach them.

I salute the president for BBB ideas so bad none of them passed. That’s quite a success over what might have been had he not been 110% in the pockets of the extreme progressives.

Thus, we also owe a bit of gratitude to Senator Elizabeth Warren, House wonderkid AOC, and Pramila Jayapal, the leader of the House Progressive Caucus.

Had they not insisted on all-or-nothing with Biden going along, who knows what kind of pathetic compromises might have passed.

With that summary of genuine success out of the way, let’s look at budget proposals for more spending starting on page 100.

Key Budget Items

• $5.8 trillion budget
• $813 billion for military spending,  roughly a 4% increase from the $782 billion enacted for fiscal year 2022. If enacted, it will be the largest military budget in history. Warmongers will cheer.
• Not remotely abandoning BBB, Biden proposes the top income bracket to be raised to 39.6% from 37% and the corporate tax rate to be raised to 28% from 21%.
• $3.3 billion for green energy projects, $18 billion for climate resilience programs,  $11 billion in international climate finance, $200 million for new solar manufacturing.
• $50 billion for new construction.
• $6.9 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative
•  $17.4 billion for law enforcement at the Justice Department, including $1.7 billion for efforts to combat gun trafficking

Funding

To help fund the spending Biden seeks a 20 percent minimum tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires. This minimum tax would apply only to the wealthiest 0.01 percent of households—those with more than $100 million—and over half the revenue would come from billionaires alone.

Biden wants to reduce the deficit in half. That would make the deficit roughly $500 billion.

“Critically, my Budget would also keep our Nation on a sound fiscal course,” says Biden.

Q: Is a $500 billion deficit sound? Could that even be achieved?
A: Consider the idea nonsensical with a recession on the horizon.

Free College

The president puts in another plug for free college “including tuition-free community college and expanded support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs)”

More Free Money

•  “To help low and middle-income students overcome financial barriers to postsecondary education, the Budget proposes to double the maximum Pell Grant by 2029. This begins with a historic $2,175 increase for the 2023-2024 school year, compared to the 2021-2022 school year, thereby expanding access and reaching nearly 6.7 million students.”
• “The Budget provides $20.2 billion for HHS’s early care and education programs, an increase of $3.3 billion over the 2021 enacted level. This includes $7.6 billion for the Child Care and Development.”
• “To prevent and reduce homelessness, the Budget provides $3.6 billion, an increase of $580 million over the 2021 enacted level, for Homeless Assistance Grants.”
• “The Budget provides $86 million in grants to support State and local fair housing enforcement organizations and bolster education, outreach, and training on rights and responsibilities under Federal fair housing laws.”

If you want the price of something to go up, throw money at it. That is the overriding lesson of three rounds of fiscal stimulus.

Dear Mr. President Let’s Discuss Free Money 

Free Money appears to have CPI consequences.
Gee, who couldda thunk?

— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) March 14, 2022

Free Money Impact on the CPI

Dear Mr. President Please Note

1: Please note that LA Spends Up to $837K Per Unit to House a Mere 5,600 of Over 40,000 Homeless. In another 4.3 years, LA will have a total of 5,600 units built for $1.2 billion while needing perhaps 60,000 units. Then what?

2: Please note the Biggest Source of Inflation Was Free Money, lots of charts including car prices.

Dear Mr. President, Why are you doing Everything Possible to Drive Up the Price of Oil, With Some of It Illegal?

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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