The Inflation Reduction Act had nothing to do with inflation. It was a repackaged Green New Deal, and was I have to admit well marketed (with the help of the MSM of course).

Vox even admits that part of the equation, calling the IRA “Biden’s historic climate law.”

The average American probably doesn’t know about all the free money in the Inflation Reduction Act. https://t.co/UkXOgq9xy3

— Vox (@voxdotcom) August 16, 2023

Nothing says beating back inflation more than free money, and nothing says “scam” like lying to people about the real purpose of your legislation.

Vox doesn’t even try to hide the fact that the intent behind naming the Inflation Reduction Act was to lie told to Americans. Their big complaint is that not enough people have figured out that it was a total con and decided to take advantage of the scammier parts of the bill.

The Inflation Reduction Act turns one year old this week. The law is President Joe Biden’s biggest climate achievement to date, with nearly $370 billion available for clean energy and climate programs. But just how much that investment will benefit the average American and the environment remains an open question.

Aspirationally, the IRA is designed to lead to a major reduction in US greenhouse gas emissions. Its programs incentivize technology that would bring clean energy to American homes, transportation networks, and manufacturing. Because most of the IRA’s funding spans the next decade, the Biden administration is still working to develop the rules for dozens of new programs, including a new fee on methane pollution, guidance for hydrogen tax breaks, and pollution grants for communities. But programs that give rebates to consumers for energy-efficient home improvements and home electrification will hit the market next year, offering the first test case of the law’s effectiveness to move Americans on from fossil fuels.

Forgive me for pointing out that the average American might have been led to believe that the Inflation Reduction Act was aspirationally intended to reduce inflation. How silly of them. By now they should understand that everything coming out of Washington is a total scam and that politicians think they are stupid.

This last point is true enough, but then again the IRA was 725 pages and most of the people who voted on it had no idea what was in it, so expecting the average American to pore through the bill is ridiculous.

I don’t have to tell you that only a liberal could believe that there is something called “free money.” There isn’t. “Free money” is even less real than “honest politician,” of which there are still a few.

What Vox means is that the government will pay you to spend some of your own money on things the government wants you to do, and Vox is disappointed that not enough people are taking the bait.

“The core of the IRA is around the incentives for homes, energy, cleaner energy in homes,” Schneider Electric’s vice president for government relations Jeannie Salo told Vox. “We haven’t even seen what the IRA is going to do in terms of consumer demand.”

But in order to do that, the benefits the IRA offers need to make a jump from relative obscurity to the mainstream conversation. The law’s success depends as much on Americans hearing about how they can lower their energy bills while also cutting their climate footprint as it does on a boost in green manufacturing. Because the IRA’s rebates and tax credits are voluntary, public perception of the law’s impact will depend on how many people know about and take advantage of these incentives. This also inevitably affects voters’ perception of Biden, which has implications for the future implementation of the law. Should a Republican win the presidency in 2024, some parts of the law could be at risk of repeal.

And so far, few Americans — less than a third — have heard anything about the IRA, let alone its tax credits for consumers, according to a July poll by the Washington Post- University of Maryland. An interesting correlation from that poll: A majority of participants disapproved of Biden’s climate policies, and those who had heard little to nothing about the IRA were more likely to disapprove. Other polling, including from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, has similarly found that most registered voters know little about the IRA.

See what I mean? The government will “incentivize” you to spend money on things you otherwise would not have–something a lot of “green” businesses would love and benefit from–but that only counts as “free money” in the same way that your spouse coming home with a bundle of new clothes talking about how much money they saved because they were on sale.

Is the bank account bigger or smaller? When it is smaller you didn’t get money. Not to mention the taxes and payments on the debt that increases.

The IRA is and always was meant to be a scam. The way to counter inflation is and always was reducing the amount of dollars chasing scarce products–printing less money, in other words. Increasing government spending doesn’t do that. Picking winners and losers doesn’t do that. Creating an industrial policy doesn’t do that.

The IRA always should have been named the Green New Deal, because that is what it was. Unfortunately, the media followed Biden’s lead and yet another misinformation campaign by the Left won out.

It’s an old story by now. Infuriating every time it happens. But it happens regularly as clockwork.