The IRA far exceeds the huge number that Biden mentioned. This leviathan raises taxes by $739 billion during a recession and boosts spending by $433 billion amid 8.5 percent inflation—a level of price growth best suited to the early 1980s. The IRA’s “offensive action” includes, among many others:

$160 billion in clean electricity tax credits. $35 billion for clean fuel and vehicle tax credits. $27 billion for a new EPA ‘Green Bank’. What do federal regulators know about banks? About as much as bankers do for agricultural nitrous oxide emissions

President Biden delivers remarks and signs HR 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law on August 16. Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images So, given this spending and activity, the IRA will certainly reduce expected increases in Earth’s temperature. For all those billions, the IRA is like a giant air conditioner – cooling the planet before it boils like a hissing kettle. Correctly? Wrong! The IRA will have a subliminal long-term effect on projected temperature increases. Its cooldown is, frankly, comical. Danish climate expert Bjorn Lomborg founded the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a sound science think tank. He has spoken, debated and broadcast extensively about so-called ‘global warming’. His books include “False Alarm”, “Cool It” and “Skeptical Environmentalist”. Loborg linked the IRA’s measures to the United Nations’ warming models. His resulting calculations range from surprising to hilarious.
“The new US climate law will do next to nothing to reduce global temperatures,” Lomborg explained via Twitter.
How close to nothing? “The impact of new climate legislation,” Lomborg elaborated. “Observed: 0.0009°F to 0.028°F by 2100. [0.0005°C to 0.016°C] Why doesn’t any media describe how little your $369 billion will achieve?” Wind turbines operate in Livermore, California on August 10. Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Practically, the minimal effect of the IRA would be like dropping a thermometer from 72 degrees Fahrenheit (room temperature) to 71.9991 °F. If the IRA does all its magic, the corresponding temperatures will plummet – down to 71.972°. Billy Joel’s immortal lyrics come to mind: “Is that all you get for your money?” Now, imagine America wanted to get tough and lower the expected temperature of the Earth in 2100 by 1°. Under the best-case IRA scenario, $369 billion buys a 0.028° reduction. So, 1° would cost $13.18 trillion. Worst-case scenario: $369 billion yields a 0.0009° reduction. Therefore, a 1° reduction would require $410 trillion. Keep those tax audits coming! Why such dismal results? Blame the IRA’s paltry temperature restrictions and the fact that other nations – namely China and India – refuse to do their fair share to cool the planet.
Imagine a mountain cabin where Grandma sits in a rocking chair and will quickly adore herself. Meanwhile, her two rowdy teenage grandsons throw logs into a roaring fireplace, stoke charcoal flames in a pizza oven, and heat pots of water to make steaming bowls of ramen. Don’t be surprised if Grandma barely feels any cooler, no matter how frantically she waves that fan in her face. Until China and India stopped pumping coal smoke into the air, America could pass an inflation-reducing law every decade and temperatures would drop imperceptibly before 2100. Smoke and steam rise from a coal processing plant. Olivia Zhang/AP As Loborg told the New York Sun: “Even if the entire US were net zero today and stayed at zero for the rest of the century, it would reduce temperatures by just 0.3°F by the end of the century.” But the IRA isn’t really about fighting global warming. It’s about Democrats seizing more power and control for themselves, consuming more gravy for green power donors, and unleashing 87,000 more IRS agents to extract every red body from every taxpayer.
The IRA is also a 15-figure Green New Virtue Badge that helps leftists beat their chests and show the Earth how much they care. The wags at MIT’s satirical Babbling Beaver get it perfectly: “It’s not the actual impact of climate legislation on global temperatures that matters. That’s how it makes you feel.” Deroy Murdock is a Fox News contributor.