Democrats face an awkward conundrum on wealth and taxes. More than ever before, Democrats are the party of the rich, yet much of their voting base craves class-warfare.
President Biden tries to steer between the shoals by promising "billionaire taxes," which leave millionaires alone, and by taxing "stock buybacks" at 4% — a policy that doesn't really do anything except perhaps depress stock values slightly for ordinary people investing for their retirement.
Even these pointless policies force Biden into contortions.
"You may have noticed that Big Oil just reported record profits," he said. "Last year, they made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis. It’s outrageous! They invested too little of that profit to increase domestic production and keep gas prices down. Instead, they used those record profits to buy back their own stock, rewarding their CEOs and shareholders. Corporations ought to do the right thing."
Yes, you read that right. The Democratic president is attacking oil companies for not drilling more.
it's still so funny that the clearest example of the "quarterly capitalism" critique that you hear from progressives is the literal oil industry not drilling enough pic.twitter.com/d5jAamTZze
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) February 8, 2023
Who knew that Democrats' mantra in 2023 would be drill, baby drill?