Bernie Moreno (R), accidentally tells the truth on tax cuts for the wealthy and the OBBBA. [View all]

[Ol Janx Spirit]

When asked about a bill being floated by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo) to send $600 tariff rebate checks to Americans—and idea he credits to President Trump—Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Oh) had this to say:
“Oh God, no, insane. Two reasons. No. 1, we have a $37 trillion debt … No. 2, it’s extraordinarily inflationary. It’s fiscal stimulus,” arguing those checks would drive up prices for working-class people.
https://www.semafor.com/article/07/29/2025/conservatives-pan-hawley-tariff-rebate-proposal

This is the same Bernie Moreno that fully supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and hailed its passage as “historic.” In the same post he lauded that the passage of the bill “means no tax on tips, overtime, or auto loans. An expanded child tax credit & historic investment in America’s future.”

So why did the Bernie Moreno that thinks a $600 tariff rebate check will be just too doggone inflationary to even consider not vociferously argue against no tax on tips, overtime, auto loans or an expanded child tax credit as being too inflationary?

Even more, why didn’t Senator Moreno argue against the tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and corporations for being inflationary? Surely giving more money to these guys will be “fiscal stimulus,” right? I mean, isn’t that supposed the point of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations? They will put more money into the economy where the “makers” can do their making thing and all of that beautiful money will rain down upon us lowly “takers” and lift all of our boats? What gives?

It is probably this:
“Overall, the richest 1% of Americans would receive an average tax cut of almost $65,000 in 2026, while people in the poorest 20% would receive a tax cut of just $110 (which will be far outweighed by the cuts to safety net programs and other Trump policies like tariffs).”
https://www.mecep.org/blog/how-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-further-enriches-the-rich-and-immiserates-the-poor/

Now, you might still rightly wonder why the senator from Ohio wouldn’t say, “oh God, no, insane. Giving $65,000 in tax breaks to wealthy families is extraordinarily inflationary. It’s fiscal stimulus.” But then after a short pause you would realize that he didn’t say that because he knows the truth: tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are only mildly stimulative at best. The wealthy are already buying everything they want, so that extra $65,000 will mostly go towards the accumulation of more generational wealth and probably back into Bernie Moreno’s campaign coffers to grease the skids for another tax break in the future. The corporations may use more of the money for things that stimulate the economy, but for the most part they will buy back stock and distribute the windfall to the same wealthy individuals getting the $65,000 break. To quote Shelley, "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

Tax cuts for corporations are not really about fiscal stimulus, and Republicans know it. They are about increasing the sweet income inequality that directly benefits their campaigns and their families. They are about amassing and concentrating wealth where they want it—wealth that can keep them in power. This is not a new story by any means. It is a story as old as the first human barter systems. It is a story that would be as familiar to ancient Greeks and Romans as it is to the people being left behind in Moreno’s Ohio.

To put an exclamation point on the insanity of it all, in the same Semafor article quoted above—the ever-insightful Ron Johnson weighed in with his own thoughts on the $600 tariff rebate:
“Once we’re down to a surplus, that’s fine. We’re about $2 trillion away from that. So no, I would oppose it. People love spending money and granting new tax cuts when we can’t afford it,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. “We’re $37 trillion in debt and running $2 trillion a year deficits, some time this madness just has to end.”

To be clear, Johnson had to be swayed to support the OBBBA through more spending reduction. He was just fine with all the expensive tax cuts. The “madness” he is talking about is giving your family more money or better government services—not shifting more money to the wealthy through non-stimulative tax policy.

But it is Bernie Moreno that really hits the nail on the head: $600 in your pocket would stimulate the economy and cause inflation because you probably need to spend that $600. $65,000 in his pocket and the pockets of his wealthy friends wouldn’t cause any dreaded inflation because it wouldn’t see the light of day again until his great great great grandchildren finally fall on hard times. Maybe that’s what he meant by “historic.”