Hovde acknowledges profiting from rising inflation

Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate nominee Eric Hovde, a multimillionaire bank executive, acknowledged in interviews that recent inflation in the U.S. economy helped him make more money. He has opposed the efforts of Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin and the Biden-Harris administration to lower consumer costs.

“Look – inflation helps in the short to medium term, people who own assets – I’ve benefitted, because my real estate values go up, my equity portfolio goes up, the value of my private companies go up,” Hovde said in a 2021 radio interview with the right-wing figure Vicki McKenna, according to an Aug. 29 report in the Guardian. “But it hammers people who have a set salary, or lower-income people.”

In March, he said on “The Truth with Lisa Booth” podcast: “I benefit because I own real estate and stocks and companies. So, yeah, it makes me wealthier, but it’s hammering 90% of Americans.”

Experts say inflation began to rise as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains around the world and was further exacerbated by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Corporations taking advantage of high prices to boost their own profits has also been a factor.

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Sen. Baldwin have worked to address rising prices through legislation.

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 incentivized companies to expand the domestic manufacture of semiconductors and other technologies, lowering their production costs. 

The bipartisan 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included funds to rebuild ports and airports and to expand affordable broadband internet access. 

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies, capped out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and insulin for Medicare Part D beneficiaries, and authorized rebates and tax credits for clean energy technologies, lowering energy and health care costs for millions of Americans.

Baldwin backed all three laws.

Hovde opposed those efforts and called the Inflation Reduction Act a “big, ugly bill” in an August 2022 radio interview.

Hovde’s campaign website contains a section called “Cost of Living,” but it says little about what he would do to lower costs. “It is imperative that we start to change course and dramatically reduce our country’s federal spending and deficits,” it says, though Hovde praised President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law, which slashed taxes for the richest Americans and big corporations while adding trillions of dollars to the national debt. 

While it is not mentioned on his website, Hovde has called for tax increases for low- and middle-income families.

In July, Baldwin joined Senate Democrats Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Raphael Warnock of Georgia in introducing the Capping Prescription Costs Act, which would cap out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 per individual and $4,000 per family for 173 million Americans.

“No Wisconsinite should have to choose between putting food on the table or getting the prescriptions they need to stay healthy,” she told the Wisconsin Independent at the time. “I am proud of our progress in taking on big drug companies, but our work isn’t done and we need to provide relief for working families.”