USA 2020 Elections: Thread

[grarpamp]

> Biden-Dems losing numbers...

Bill Gates has his syringy hands poked in everything these days...



Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act "Secretly" Brought To You By Bill Gates

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-08-16/how-bill-gates-lobbied-to-save-the-climate-tax-bill-biden-just-signed

https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1559635564248301568

The Democrats' "Inflation Reduction Act" - which according to the
Congressional Budget Office will raise taxes on the middle class to
the tune of $20 billion - not to mention unleash an army of IRS agents
on working class Americans over the next decade, was made possible by
Bill Gates and (in smaller part) Larry Summers, who have been known to
hang out together.
Pals hanging out

The bill, of course, was signed yesterday.

    This is what dementia looks like: pic.twitter.com/e9fof5l4RS
    — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 16, 2022

In a Tuesday Bloomberg article that reads more like a newsletter for
the Gates fan club, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder recalls how
earlier this year, as moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and
Kyrsten Sinema continued to block the tax-and-spend legislation over
concerns that it would raise taxes on the middle class (it will),
Gates says he tapped into a relationship with Manchin that he'd been
cultivating since at least 2019.

    Gates was banking on more than just his trademark optimism about
addressing climate change and other seemingly intractable problems
that have been his focus since stepping down as Microsoft’s chief
executive two decades ago. As he revealed to Bloomberg Green, he has
quietly lobbied Manchin and other senators, starting before President
Joe Biden had won the White House, in anticipation of a rare moment in
which heavy federal spending might be secured for the clean-energy
transition.

    Those discussions gave him reason to believe the senator from West
Virginia would come through for the climate — and he was willing to
continue pressing the case himself until the very end. “The last month
people felt like, OK, we tried, we're done, it failed,” Gates said. “I
believed it was a unique opportunity.” So he tapped into a
relationship with Manchin that he’d cultivated for at least three
years. “We were able to talk even at a time when he felt people
weren’t listening.” -Bloomberg

We know, gag us with a spoon.

Apparently Gates and Manchin's bromance began when the billionaire
wooed the West Virgina Senator at a 2019 meal in Seattle, in an effort
to garner support for clean-energy policy. Manchin at the time was the
senior-most Democrat on the energy committee.

"My dialogue with Joe has been going on for quite a while," said Gates.

After Manchin walked (again) on the bill last December over concerns
that it would exacerbate the national debt, inflation, the pandemic,
and amid geopolitical uncertainty with Russia, Gates jumped into
action. A few weeks later, he met with Manchin and his wife, Gayle
Conelly Manchin, at a DC restaurant, where they talked about what West
Virginia needed. Manchin understandably wanted to preserve jobs at the
center of the US coal industry, while Gates suggested that coal plant
workers could simply swap over to nuclear plants - such as those from
Gates' TerraPower.

Manchin apparently wasn't convinced, announcing on Feb. 1 that "Build
Back Better" (the Inflation Reduction Act's previous iteration) was
"dead."

In an effort to convince him otherwise, Democrats pulled together a
cadre of economists and other Manchin influencers - including former
Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who convinced Manchin that the
bill wouldn't raise taxes on the middle class, or add to the deficit.

    Collin O’Mara, chief executive officer of the National Wildlife
Federation, recruited economists to assuage Manchin’s concerns —
including representatives from the University of Chicago and the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Senator Chris Coons
of Delaware brought in a heavyweight: former Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers, who has spent decades advising Democrats.

    The economists were able to “send this signal that [the bill’s]
going to help with the deficit,” O’Mara said. “It’s going to be
slightly deflationary and it’s going to spur growth and investment in
all these areas.” Through this subtle alchemy, clean-energy
investments could be reframed for Manchin as a hedge against future
spikes in oil and gas prices and a way to potentially export more
energy to Europe. -Bloomberg

Gates also sprang into action again on July 7, when Manchin was
spotted at the Sun Valley media conference in Idaho - which Gates also
attended.

"We had a talk about what was missing, what needed to be done," Gates
said. "And then after that it was a lot of phone calls."

    Gates looks back at the new law with satisfaction. He achieved
what he set out to do. “I will say that it's one of the happier
moments of my climate work,” Gates said. “I have two things that
excite me about climate work. One is when policy gets done well, and
this is by far the biggest moment like that.” His other pleasure comes
from interviewing people at climate and clean-tech startups: “I hear
about this amazing new way to make steel, cement and chemicals.”
-Bloomberg

"I don’t want to take credit for what went on," says Gates - in the
article about how he gets credit for what went on.