Even from the bill that is now law, action is not imminent. Notice the absence of “shovel-ready” to describe any of these projects. The government faces the same workforce shortage as everyone else, a problem it is making worse through excessive overreaching mandates and penalties.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer illuminated Thursday how the legislation approaches issues. Take, for instance, the voter pain point of prescription drug costs, specifically insulin. The list price costs have been rising, so Democrats think “Build Back Better will make it so Americans with diabetes don't pay more than $35 per month on insulin” and since that amount is lower than what people have been paying, “people will have more money in their pocket.”
(1) It’s never that simple because problems are never that isolated. (2) Any time any government directly modifies prices previously agreed upon by sellers and buyers there are unintended consequences. Artificially pushing down prices both increases demand and decreases supply. (3) In this case, government isn’t just changing prices for patients, but is also shifting costs to insurance companies.
The party that prides itself on governing takes a similarly simplistic and isolated approach to other issues as well. If you want to solve “gun violence,” eliminate guns and there will, supposedly, be no more violence with guns. If employers aren’t paying enough, they just make them pay more. There’s very little understanding or consideration of how the diverse parts of the economy fit together and affect one another. The underlying assumption is that most everything man does is fine, and we just need laws to fix everything else.
