Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  That’s how I feel right about now.  I think many of us feel that way.  I thought Joe Manchin was a sort of shield against the worst Democrat instincts infecting their party over the last several years.  He seemed pragmatic and fiscally conservative in a way I could reasonably admire.  I can’t make the same mistake by pinning my hopes on Kyrsten Sinema to save us from the Inflation Reduction Act…which will be anything but.  It is yet one more bill named to reflect the exact opposite of what it will do.  No matter how much lipstick you put on this pig; no matter how much you redefine what a recession is, spending more federal dollars will cause inflation to escalate.  The question now is if Kyrsten Sinema sees it the same way.

As Politico wrote last night:

“Almost every Senate Democrat is locking arms to push their $700 billion-plus climate, tax and health care bill past the chamber’s strict rules for avoiding a filibuster. Kyrsten Sinema is still a question mark.”

Vance Ginn, Ph.D., who is the Chief Economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and is the Policy Director for the Foundation’s Alliance for Opportunity campaign, which is a multi-state poverty relief initiative, speaks for many of us in one of his latest tweets:

"Inflation Reduction Act" will make the bad economy worse by:
1) Deepening recession with massive tax hikes that won't collect expected tax rev
2) Raising inflation from Fed monetizing deficit spending
3) Destroying reliable energy sources

Say NO, @SenatorSinema @Sen_JoeManchin! https://t.co/9JkrfnQYN9

— Vance Ginn (@VanceGinn) July 27, 2022

But if Joe Manchin, who is about as moderate a Democrat as any you can find in Washington D.C. is willing to risk his re-election on this bill, what makes me think Sinema won’t follow suit?  Continuing with the Politico piece from last night:

“Sinema previously expressed support for addressing climate change in a party-line measure and struck a deal with Democrats last year to lower prescription drug costs. But she’s also resisted at least one provision in the bill: closing what’s known as the carried interest loophole, which currently allows certain financial firms to pay lower tax rates on their earnings.”

In a lengthy PBS clip, they note toward the end that Sinema is dodging reporters’ questions on how she will vote:

It seems silly to me that I am taking this so personally.  I think it goes back to my questions regarding the Uvalde police and whether anyone there understands what it means to wear a white hat.  It felt like Manchin was the Lone Ranger keeping America from falling off the cliff.  I wrote glowingly about Joe Manchin back in June when he once again came out adamantly against any bill that would allow inflation to spiral.

In December of last year, I enthusiastically wrote about Manchin and Sinema’s mutual commitment to keep the filibuster rules intact.  In my mind, they were almost like the Wonder Twins, working together to save America from their own party.  Now I am actually worried that the Inflation Reduction Act will personally jeopardize my own income as a New Home Salesperson.  I was prepared for increased interest rates.  That is just good policy for the moment.  But legislation like this will just end up with multi-billion-dollar companies passing down the increased taxes to my buyers, making home ownership even more unattainable.   

It makes me worried about the new business my husband and I are opening.  I literally just signed a five-year lease just hours before writing this article.  I have to have hope.  But it sure as hell gets harder by the day.  And I can’t pin those hopes on Sinema, leaving me to wonder if I am too Pollyanna-ish for my own good.  All I know is that this bill, which purports to pay down the deficit while concomitantly spending money on green energy policies makes no sense.  As someone who sucks at money management, it sounds an awful lot like something I would do.  I pay off one credit card on Monday and rack up new debt on Tuesday.  Telling anyone who cares that I paid down my debt.  No one can be that dumb, can they?  

Featured image: composite image of Joe Manchin (via DonkeyHotey on Flickr) and Chuck Schumer (via DonkeyHotey on Flickr), cropped and modified, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)