Inside President Joe Biden’s administration, it seems high-ranking staff members are playing a long-running game of “Hold My Beer” involving who can sound the most out-of-touch on matters of inflation.
While this could be traced back to the innumerable figures trotted out to tell us inflation would be “transitory” during the administration’s first year, that was some pretty low-stakes stuff. The first one to really up the ante was Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told America in March that what they really needed to beat out-of-control gas prices was an electric car — something that costs, on average, over $56,000.
Since then, we’ve had some doozies. Biden himself has gotten in on the game, with the president calling high gas prices “Putin’s price hike,” claiming that inflation is “worse everywhere but here” (spoiler alert: it’s not) and then ludicrously asserting — when inflation went down slightly from 9.1 percent in June to 8.5 percent in July — that the United States experienced “zero percent inflation in the month of July.”
Senate Democrats have horned in on the action, as well; how else can you justify the fact they trolled the country by naming their tax-and-spend climate bill the “Inflation Reduction Act“?
The problem with playing “Hold My Beer,” however, is that there’s always someone else who wants you to hold their beer. Enter Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm — who, despite the fact “Fox News Sunday” airs in the ante meridiem hours in the United States, still came with a frosty, hopped adult beverage for you to carry.
The moment came as host Trace Gallagher was talking about the aforementioned Inflation Reduction Act, and the fact it contains subsidies for green energy items most Americans can’t afford right now — “tax breaks for adding solar panels, energy-efficient windows, heat pumps.”
He’d just played a clip of people reacting to a $7,500 tax credit for an electric car — who said that they couldn’t buy them anyway, thanks in part to the higher costs of these vehicles and higher prices in general. She was asked what she would say to people who couldn’t afford what Democrats were subsidizing.
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Her answer seemed to boil down to the idea that you could afford it, thanks to the miracles of the Inflation Reduction Act.
"Number one, for your home, yes, there are significant incentives in this bill -- which is great -- to reduce people's energy costs on a monthly basis," she said.
“If you are low income, you can get your home entirely weatherized through the expansion from the bipartisan infrastructure laws, a significant expansion -- you don’t have to pay for anything."
Then came the real hold-my-beer moment: “If you are moderate income, today you can get 30 percent off the price of solar panels. Those solar panels can be financed, so you don’t have to have the big outlay at the front," Granholm continued.
"If you don’t qualify for the weatherization program, you will be able to, starting next year, get rebates on the appliances and equipment that will help you reduce your monthly energy bill by up to 30 percent. This is all about reducing costs for people.”
Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm: “If you are low-income, you can get your home entirely weatherized” to help deal with 40-year high inflation.
“You can get 30% off the price of solar panels.” pic.twitter.com/qUM7JGvdYN
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2022
Americans who can't pay for gas, food and their mortgage are being told by Granholm that their lives will be made easier by paying for gas, food, their mortgage and solar panels because those solar panels are 30 percent off and can be financed. This is seriously their message -- that paying 70 percent of something you can't afford will allow you to afford it in the long run because it'll cut your energy bill.
This may seem like a sick joke. Unfortunately, the joke's on us.
Conservatives took to Twitter to lambast Granholm for her tone-deaf performance.
"Can’t afford food or gas, but this is great…" GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote.
Can’t afford food or gas, but this is great… https://t.co/8H5DTuXVBB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 22, 2022
"GOP just needs to run ad after ad of Granholm telling the poors to buy solar panels and electric cars to save money," said conservative radio host Erick Erickson.
GOP just needs to run ad after ad of Granholm telling the poors to buy solar panels and electric cars to save money. https://t.co/oAdXKutrBi
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 21, 2022
"There is no denying the fact Democrats want Americans to suffer to achieve their nonsensical green utopia," wrote Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
There is no denying the fact Democrats want Americans to suffer to achieve their nonsensical green utopia. https://t.co/pdAL2vwZzz
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) August 21, 2022
Of course, if the Biden administration was really serious about solving energy inflation, it would increase energy production at home through policies which encourage drilling for more oil and natural gas. But the administration isn't serious about it beyond using it as cover to enact its agenda.
Consider that, as Americans continue to suffer high food and gas prices, Jennifer Granholm doesn't talk about how she's going to make the things you already buy cheaper. She wants you to buy more things -- partially with government money -- which will eventually pay for themselves somewhere down the road. (Sure, that may be 10 to 20 years for a solar power system, according to Investopedia -- but why let facts get in the way?)
Sadly, it's not like this game of "Hold My Beer" is going to end anytime. In fact, the only way I ever see it ending is when either a) Joe Biden is voted out of office or b) inflation makes everything so expensive that beer is considered too pricey for government procurement contracts.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
