The White House He responded at least for the second time in as many days today to tweets from the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos In a war of words that ended, well – the parties also argued over what the argument was.
Bezos tweeted this morning, “The administration did their best to add another $3.5 trillion to federal spending. They failed, but if they succeed, inflation will be higher than it is today, and inflation today is at its highest level in 40 years.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates responded with an assessment on Twitter from Jeff Stein, White House economics correspondent for the Bezos-owned Washington Post, in which Stein responded directly to the newspaper’s owner.
“WH’s long-term spending plans have been offset by substantially higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, leading Larry Summers and other prominent economists to argue that their inflationary impact will likely be negligible by reducing demand.”
WH’s long-term spending plans have been met with significantly higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, leading Larry Summers and other prominent economists to argue that their inflationary impact will likely be negligible by reducing demand. https://t.co/S2LmCmA8IQ
– Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) May 16 2022
Biden He has often advocated greater taxation of the country’s richest citizens and businesses, lists on which Bezos and Amazon feature prominently. The president also recently met with the leaders who formed a union for Amazon warehouse and spoke to union members last week, two decisions the White House later hinted had affected opposition to Bezos.
It all started on Friday afternoon when President Biden wrote on the social media platform, “Want to cut inflation? Let’s make sure the richest companies pay their fair share.”
Want to reduce inflation?
Let’s make sure the richest companies pay their fair share.
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 13, 2022
That evening, Bezos decided to share his reaction.
“The newly created disinformation board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new non-sequential board instead,” he wrote in part. “It is good to discuss raising corporate taxes. Taming inflation is crucial to the discussion. Bringing them together is just a misdirection.”
The newly created Disinformation Council should review this Tweet, or perhaps they need to form a new Non-Serial Council instead. Increasing corporate taxes is a good thing to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to the discussion. Combining them together is just a misdirection. https://t.co/ye4XiNNc2v
– Jeff Bezos May 14, 2022
Sometimes the richest man in the world jumped back into the scrum on Sunday morning, leveling Disinformation claim again and assert that the White House sought a stimulus package when the economy was already overheating before saying that “inflation is a regressive tax that harms the richest”.
Three hours later, on Sunday, the department responded by firing for the first time. In what was certainly a Bezos adjustment, the official Bates WH shared interaction The card Bezos owns:
“It doesn’t take a giant leap to see why one of the richest individuals on earth would oppose a middle-class economic agenda that lowers some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation in the long run, and adds to the historical value of reducing the president’s deficit by demanding the richest payers Taxes and corporations pay their fair share.”
The White House statement continued, “It is also unsurprising that this tweet came after the president met with labor regulators, including Amazon employees.”
Amazon paid no federal taxes in 2017 and 2018, a fact Biden has repeatedly pointed out when calling for higher taxes on the richest individuals and businesses. In 2019, the then Democratic presidential candidate got another nominee Twitter spat Where Amazon itself said, “No company that generates billions of dollars in profits should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers,” Amazon responded that it has paid $2.6 billion in taxes since 2016.
The latest brawl escalated on social media this morning, as Larry Summers, the former Obama and Clinton administration economist, tweeted in support of Biden, and Bezos cited “squirrel!” Mimi from Pixar Top, Reporter Stein reflects on the reports that bolstered the Biden case and then Bates turns to Bezos again. You can continue below.
Their best bet is to add another $3.5 trillion to federal spending. They failed, but if they succeeded, inflation would be higher than it is today, and inflation today is at its highest level in 40 years.
– Jeff Bezos May 16 2022
I suspect @Jeff Bezos He’s mostly wrong in his last attack on @Joe Biden responsible. It’s perfectly reasonable to believe, as I do and Tweet embed He asserts that we should raise taxes to lower demand to contain inflation and that the increases should be as progressive as possible.
– Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) May 16 2022
White House hits back at Bezos’ criticism, suggesting the rich will pay more under WH agenda
WH also notes that Bezos’ criticism of Biden comes after the president met with the Amazon workers’ union leadership
statement from MustafaHosny Oh God, Amen https://t.co/DjOoV3oYbx pic.twitter.com/rkGSpBdPsz
– Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) May 16 2022
Amazon, 10/2/21: “We support investments in #infrastructure & #BuildBackBetter Bills to reduce emissions in energy and transportation
Axios, 5/5/22: “Biden meets with the leader of the Amazon labor union at the White House”
Larry Summers, Today: “I think @Jeff Bezos It’s mostly wrong.” https://t.co/yQNYbnGZfA pic.twitter.com/Z8FU1TIIXO
– Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) May 16 2022
“Infuriatingly humble analyst. Bacon maven. Proud food specialist. Certified reader. Avid writer. Zombie advocate. Incurable problem solver.”
