Anti-Trump, pro-Clinton/Biden labor union backs Frix

UPDATE: More left-wing, anti-Trump donors funding Frix for Congress

On Wednesday, 2nd District GOP runoff candidate Avery Frix accepted a $5,000 maximum contribution from the UA Union Plumbers & Pipefitters Vote! Political Action Committee, an anti-Trump, pro-Obama, pro-Clinton, pro-Biden labor union with deep pockets for liberal candidates.

This PAC is a huge supporter of left-wing candidates, with 91%+ of their tens of millions of dollars in donations going to Democrats, and the remainder generally going to the most moderate Republicans in office.

Small: Could Biden have a worse energy policy?

Could Biden have a worse energy policy?

By Jonathan Small

If one deliberately tried to devise a U.S. energy policy that would harm national interests and working families alike, it would look a lot like the Biden administration’s current policy.

The administration’s approach combines a willful ignorance of reality with a dismissive attitude towards working families. This could be seen when Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg blithely declared the people who would benefit most from driving electric cars “are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas.”

That rapid charging stations for electric cars are nonexistent in rural areas apparently never occurred to Buttigieg, nor did the reality that the price of electric cars makes them luxury items, not a practical purchase for the working class.

But that’s far from the worst aspects of Biden’s energy policy.

OCPA column: A modern day Marie Antoinette

A modern day Marie Antoinette

By Jonathan Small

According to legend, Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, responded to reports of people lacking bread by saying, “Let them eat cake.” If Antoinette were with us today, she would not only avoid the guillotine but might very well be a top member of the Biden administration. With her attitude and understanding, she would fit right in. No presidential administration in recent memory has proven so inept and out-of-touch.

For example, the grandiosely titled American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a blowout-spending bill advanced under the supposed auspices of COVID relief, has done little besides fuel inflation that reduces families’ buying power and quality of life.

The Biden administration’s response to inflation has been less-than-impressive. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested Americans should purchase electric cars so they “never have to worry about gas prices again.”

You read that right. He suggested you buy an electric vehicle (reported average Kelly Blue Book price of $55,676) rather than a new compact car ($25,240) or a new sports car ($44,981) … to “save” money.

The administration’s other idea is to spend trillions more by passing its “Build Back Better” plan. At a time runaway spending is fueling the highest inflation in decades, the Biden administration’s solution is to spend even more and expect different results.

1889 Institute: The Economic Fantasizing of the Green Advocates

The Economic Fantasizing of the Green Advocates

By Byron Schlomach

In a confirmation hearing for President Biden’s Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, Senator Ted Cruz complained about Biden killing the Keystone XL pipeline, eliminating 11,000 jobs. Buttigieg responded that “Biden’s climate agenda will create a net increase in jobs.” Buttigieg’s response, commonly given by climate activists when challenged on jobs, is pure, unmitigated, economic balderdash.

New technology, from steam engines to robotics, has generally freed resources to expand opportunities and increase standards of living. Green advocates presume, therefore, that any new technology will do the same. But there is a key feature of innovations that expand opportunity and jobs. They make production cheaper.

True growth-inducing innovations, like steam, the Bessemer process for producing steel, and refining and burning fossil fuels for energy are always a chance to lower costs. Consequently, they are adopted voluntarily. There is never any need for governments to force, bribe (through grants and subsidies), or tax advantage companies into adopting innovations that are truly beneficial – that is, that lower costs and produce a higher standard of living on top of more jobs for us all.