Bad Moon Rising

JM Simpson

President Biden has recently proposed spending $2.3 trillion plus to fund his American Jobs Plan.

In listening to the president discuss how higher taxes on corporate businesses will pay for much of this “once-in-a-generation investment in America,” I was reminded of a story behind the writing of John Fogerty and Credence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 hit song, “Bad Moon Rising.”

In a 1993 Rolling Stone Magazine interview, the songwriter related that he had been inspired to write the medley after watching a 1941 black and white film entitled The Devil and Daniel Webster.

The movie related how an 18th century New Hampshire farmer, Jabez Stone, is economically struggling. In a moment of frustration and fear he swore, “it’s enough to make a man want to sell his soul to the devil.”

The very next day, the devil appeared. A soft-spoken, well-dressed man calling himself Mr. Scratch, he told Stone that if he sold his soul to him he would grant him seven years of prosperity. At the end of that time, however, Scratch would return for Stone’s soul.

A deal was struck; a contract was drawn up and signed; and in short order Stone’s fortunes were reversed.

However, when the time came for Stone to meet the terms of Scratch’s contract, he wanted out of the deal. In desperation Stone hired Senator Daniel Webster to represent him. At the end of a long and difficult trial, the senator won the case and freed Stone’s soul from eternal damnation.

Not surprisingly, many Americans can relate to the fictional Stone’s frustration and fear in wanting a return to economic growth and prosperity. They also understand that the president’s proposed American Jobs Plan offers a way back to prosperity.

But is it the right way? Paying for the plan will be done by increased taxation (the Made In America Tax) on corporations. While this sentiment sounds good, it seems to be devilishly counterproductive in that it places a great economic burden on the very businesses that shape and sustain the nation’s economy.

Is there any member of Congress from either side of the aisle willing to make the difficult argument that such taxing of corporations will do more harm than good to the economy?

Is there anyone today like Daniel Webster (who served in both the House and Senate and as Secretary of State to three presidents in the 19th century) who can convince the current administration to break this devilish bargain of “tax and spend” as he did for farmer Stone?

If no one argues for another way to pay for the American Jobs Plan, then the devil of wasted and misappropriated tax money will take the soul of the economy in the form of fewer businesses, lower national savings and income levels, larger and multiple tax hikes, fewer investments, and more – much more - economic hardship.

Perhaps Fogerty was on to something more than he could have ever imagined when he wrote in the first two lines of his classic song: “I see the bad moon a-rising; I see trouble on the way.”