By Tyler Durden
August 17, 2022:
Information Clearing House
-- The Democrats'
"Inflation Reduction Act" - which according to
the Congressional Budget Office will raise taxes
on the middle class to the tune of $20 billion -
not to mention unleash an army of IRS agents on
working class Americans over the next
decade, was made possible by Bill Gates
and (in smaller part) Larry Summers,
who have been known to hang out together.
The bill, of course, was signed yesterday.
In a Tuesday
Bloomberg article that reads more
like a newsletter for the Gates fan club, the
billionaire Microsoft co-founder recalls how
earlier this year, as moderate Democratic
Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema
continued to block the tax-and-spend legislation
over concerns that it would raise taxes on the
middle class (it will), Gates says he
tapped into a relationship with Manchin that
he'd been cultivating since at least 2019.
Gates was banking on
more than just his trademark
optimism about addressing climate
change and other seemingly intractable
problems that have been his focus since
stepping down as Microsoft’s chief executive
two decades ago. As he revealed to Bloomberg
Green, he has quietly lobbied Manchin and
other senators, starting before President
Joe Biden had won the White House, in
anticipation of a rare moment in which heavy
federal spending might be secured for the
clean-energy transition.
Those discussions gave him reason to
believe the senator from West Virginia would
come through for the climate — and he was
willing to continue pressing the case
himself until the very end. “The
last month people felt like, OK, we tried,
we're done, it failed,” Gates said. “I
believed it was a unique opportunity.”
So he tapped into a relationship
with Manchin that he’d cultivated for at
least three years. “We were able to
talk even at a time when he felt people
weren’t listening.” -Bloomberg
We know, gag us with a spoon.
Apparently Gates and Manchin's bromance began
when the billionaire wooed the West Virgina
Senator at a 2019 meal in Seattle, in an effort
to garner support for clean-energy policy.
Manchin at the time was the senior-most Democrat
on the energy committee.
"My dialogue with Joe has been going
on for quite a while," said Gates.
After Manchin walked (again) on the bill last
December over concerns that it
would exacerbate the national debt, inflation,
the pandemic, and amid geopolitical uncertainty
with Russia, Gates jumped into action.
A few weeks later, he met with Manchin
and his wife, Gayle Conelly Manchin, at a DC
restaurant, where they talked about what West
Virginia needed. Manchin understandably wanted
to preserve jobs at the center of the US coal
industry, while Gates suggested that coal plant
workers could simply swap over to nuclear
plants - such as those from Gates' TerraPower.
Manchin apparently wasn't convinced,
announcing on Feb. 1 that "Build Back Better"
(the Inflation Reduction Act's previous
iteration) was "dead."
In an effort to convince him otherwise,
Democrats pulled together a cadre of
economists and other Manchin influencers
- including former Treasury Secretary Lawrence
Summers, who convinced Manchin that the bill
wouldn't raise taxes on the middle class, or add
to the deficit.
Collin O’Mara, chief executive
officer of the National Wildlife Federation,
recruited economists to assuage Manchin’s
concerns — including representatives
from the University of Chicago and the
Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania. Senator Chris Coons
of Delaware brought in a heavyweight: former
Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers,
who has spent decades advising Democrats.
The economists were able to
“send this signal that [the bill’s] going to
help with the deficit,” O’Mara
said. “It’s going to be slightly
deflationary and it’s going to spur growth
and investment in all these areas.” Through
this subtle alchemy, clean-energy
investments could be reframed for Manchin as
a hedge against future spikes in oil and gas
prices and a way to potentially export more
energy to Europe. -Bloomberg
Gates also sprang into action
again on July 7, when Manchin was
spotted at the Sun Valley media conference in
Idaho - which Gates also attended.
"We had a talk about what was missing, what
needed to be done," Gates said. "And
then after that it was a lot of phone calls."
Gates looks back at the new
law with satisfaction. He achieved what he
set out to do. “I will say that
it's one of the happier moments of my
climate work,” Gates said. “I have two
things that excite me about climate work.
One is when policy gets done well, and this
is by far the biggest moment like that.” His
other pleasure comes from interviewing
people at climate and clean-tech startups:
“I hear about this amazing new way to make
steel, cement and chemicals.” -Bloomberg
"I don’t want to take credit for what
went on," says Gates - in the article
about how he gets credit for what went on.
Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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