Touchstone

 

Touchstone

From The Hill's take on the new press secretary.

“You want to bring down inflation? Let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share,” the president tweeted.  

Question from the press: “How does raising taxes on corporations lower the cost of gas, the cost of a used car, the cost of food, for everyday Americans?”
 
What followed was akin to a high school student putting together a series of sentences in order to achieve a mandatory word count on a term paper. Here was the answer verbatim, per the official White House transcript:

Jean-Pierre: “So, look, I think we encourage those who have done very well — right? — especially those who care about climate change, to support a fairer tax — tax code that doesn’t change — that doesn’t charge manufacturers’ workers, cops, builders a higher percentage of their earnings; that the most fortunate people in our nation — and not let the — that stand in the way of reducing energy costs and fighting this existential problem, if you think about that as an example, and to support basic collective bargaining rights as well.  Right?  That’s also important. But look, it is — you know, by not — if — without having a fairer tax code, which is what I’m talking about, then all — every — like manufacturing workers, cops — you know, it’s not fair for them to have to pay higher taxes than the folks that — who are — who are — who are not paying taxes at all or barely have.”

The original question about how raising taxes on corporations lowers inflation did not get answered.

On another occasion on Wednesday, a reporter asked if there is “a new level of alarm within the White House about the stock market?” The question came after stocks plunged for a sixth straight day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing more than 1,100 points, the biggest drop in two years.

Jean-Pierre: “We do not — that’s not something that we keep an eye on every day. And so, I don’t — I’m not going to comment about that from here.”

So while more than 144 million Americans own stock, and many more are invested in 401Ks for their retirement, the White House isn’t keeping an eye on it. Sleep tight, America.

There's all this analysis about Biden's curious decisions. Maybe he's just really bad at it.