$3,500,000,000,000.
Is that going to be enough? It's been 3 months since our last $2.1Tn stimulus so isn't it time for another round? Look how great the economy is doing – it can't be because 40% of last Quarter's $5Tn GDP was stimulus, could it? Yesterday, the CORE CPI came in at 0.9%, 50% higher than the 0.6% expected by leading economoroins. Remember when the CPI used to be high and they said "Don't worry, the Core CPI is still under 0.2%" – well that's completely out the window….
The key takeaway from the report is that the price increases in June were broad based, featuring a 10.5% increase in the index for used cars and trucks, a 0.8% increase in the food at home index, a 2.5% increase in the gasoline index, and a 0.5% increase in the household index. That should put the Fed's "transitory inflation" narrative to the test, particularly with total CPI running at an annualized rate of 7.2% over the last six months.
The Democrats $3.5Tn package includes $1.2Tn of pure infrastructure spending and calls for an expansion of Medicare to provide money for dental, vision and hearing benefits. Money is also expected to be devoted to a series of climate provisions, after liberal Democrats warned that they would not support the bipartisan framework without the promise of further climate action.
The resolution is expected to include language prohibiting tax increases on small businesses and people making less than $400,000 and the Senate Finance Committee had been drafting tax provisions to help pay for the spending. They include a restructuring the international business tax code to tax overseas profits more heavily in an effort to discourage U.S. corporations from moving profits abroad. They would also collapse dozens of tax benefits aimed at energy companies - especially oil and gas firms - into three categories focused on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.
IN PROGRESS