Alabama’s Brooks: Both sides for sale to Communist China
December 8, 2022
Outgoing Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) told Accuracy in Media in an interview that politicians in Washington, D.C., are both willfully blind to the effects their policies have on inflation and completely ignorant of economics, leading to corrupt political practices that see Washington always selling out to the highest bidder, which is often the Chinese Communist Party.
This year, the combination of willful blindness and ignorance has created one of the greatest inflationary surges since the end of World War II, with an annual inflation rate reaching nearly double digits.
AIM President Adam Guillette asked members of Congress earlier this year what causes inflation, and few were able to give him an answer. Brooks had the most thorough answer of the members we spoke to, so we reached out to him to speak further on the issue.
“There is no way to know for sure why Washington so badly interferes with and mismanages the American economy,” Brooks told AIM. “It’s either total economic ignorance or a desire to subvert our economy when there is political gain to be had.”
Brooks said that “anyone with a brain the size of a pea or larger” who holds elected power in Washington, D.C. knows that eventually, the economic policies of the last 30-40 years would catch up with the country, setting off an inflationary cycle that would be difficult to manage.
He said that inflation was just simply “one bad side” effect of bad economic policies that have been pursued by both sides over that time.
He warned further that international trade deficits were another bad side effect, but even more corrupting to the body politic than inflation was.
“We are empowering foreign nations, in particular Communist China, to buy up American land and businesses, and slowly but surely to make America addicted… to what Communist China now produces,” Brooks told AIM.
The result has been that foreign special interests rule Washington with money.
“Now you have to understand the mindset of elected officials in Washington. To gain political power in Congress, you have to buy it. You have to have hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. To get hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, you have to do what special interest dictates. And China, in particular, is very adroit at persuading special interests to successfully put pressure on Washington politicians to do the wrong thing rather than the right thing,” said Brooks.
Brooks said one example of this corrupting influence is that in order to be chairman of a major committee in the House, one has to buy the privilege.
“By way of example, if you want to be chairman of a major committee in the House, the minimum purchase price is a million dollars. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re Republican or Democrat, the minimum purchase price is a million dollars,” Brooks added.
Brooks said that of course, regular voters don’t have the wherewithal to make the kinds of donations that can set the hand of a would-be chairman on the levers of power.
He said, instead, that kind of money comes from special interests who demand a quid pro quo from Congress.
“Maybe it’s Chinese money from various special interests to promote the Communist Party agenda; it might be the big ag political unions; it might be Walmart that profits from selling Chinese products or other retailers who do the same thing; it might be transporters who transport Communist Chinese products; it might be entities like Boeing that wants to sell their airliners in China; or it might be longshoreman; or oceanic shippers who profit from the importation of Communist Chinese products,” said Brooks about the types of special influencers that are looking for quid pro quos from committee chairs.
“These special interests, and a lot more, who then profit from China– to the detriment of America I might add– do their utmost to ensure that candidates who are weak on fair trade policies with China are the ones who win elections,” Brooks added.
Brooks stopped short of saying that the Chinese Communist Party was making illegal contributions directly to candidates.
“I don’t know if Communist China itself is making illegal contributions or engaged in internet propaganda, but certainly these special interests profit from unbalanced trade with China and they are the ones who are motivated to buy elections for candidates who will not do anything to force balance trade policies on China,” Brooks told Accuracy in Media.
Brooks said that America is hemorrhaging its wealth to China. In turn, that is empowering the Chinese Communist Party to invest in its military and become a greater and greater threat to the freedom of democratic and republican forms of government worldwide.
The Alabama congressman said that he favors a gradual tariff system, which is tax neutral, that can balance trade with China.
“Neither, the Republicans nor the Democrats are willing to do what it takes to force fair trade policies on China, because both Republican and Democrat candidates covet campaign contributions that will help them get elected more than they love America,” Brooks said about the incoming Congress.
Brooks was equally reluctant to predict that Congress would do anything effective to combat inflation during the session.
“There is the proverbial ‘snowball’s chance’ that this Congress or this White House is going to do what is necessary to get inflation under control long term,” said Brooks.
“There are a few major drivers of inflation: One is the federal government paying people huge sums of money not to work,” added Brooks.
The result has been wage inflation, which in turn has pricing in goods and services going higher.
Another thing that is a major driver of inflation is the deficits and accumulated debt, Brooks said.
When asked at what point will the American people realize that the economy over the long term is on the road to ruin, Brooks left Accuracy in Media with the perfect, salient, quote.
“You can always count on America to do the right thing after they’ve first tried everything else,” Brooks said, in a paraphrase of a Churchillian aphorism.
Photo by Gage Skidmore.