How Much Worse Could It Be If Every Washington Incumbent Lost Next Week?

Over a number of posts late last month we discussed how much debt the Federal government and several state governments have incurred, debt holes that are likely to result in dire financial consequences in the very near future. Between unfunded Medicare and Social Security liabilities to a massive national debt to unfunded state government pension obligations, there is about $109 TRILLION that needs to be found to fund everything that the American political class has promised us or has spent, and likely wasted, for us.

The sad part of all this debt is that we have very little show for it. We have a $109 TRILLION debt hole but our roads and bridges are falling apart. We have a $109 TRILLION debt hole and e still under educate our kids. We have a $109 TRILLION debt hole and we are looking at Medicare and Social Security going bankrupt.

Those October posts can be accessed at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/dont-worry-be-happy-any-short-term.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-illinois-canary.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-connecticut.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-california.html

How did we get into this dire situation? Rather than have me explain it, let me allow a journalist, Charlie Reese, who used to write for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, explain how the American political class has screwed us out of our future and our hard earned dollars:

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Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. ( The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.)

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?( John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. ) If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President's proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ..

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

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Great piece and summary by Mr. Reese. However, I could argue that it is not our politicians’ fault. It really is our fault. We are so busy fighting among ourselves on short term, minor issues that we forget that the enemy is the political class, not our neighbors, friends and co-workers who may have a different opinion than us. We have allowed our politicians to stay in office despite their pathetic performance and lack of success.

And as we fought among ourselves, we have allowed the political class to impose a variety or taxes on our hard earned money:

• The inheritance tax.
• Accounts Receivable Tax
• Building Permit Tax
• CDL license Tax
• Cigarette Tax
• Corporate Income Tax
• Dog License Tax
• Excise Taxes
• Federal Income Tax
• Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
• Fishing License Tax
• Food License Tax
• Fuel Permit Tax
• Gasoline Tax 
• Gross Receipts Tax
• Hunting License Tax
• Inheritance Tax
• Inventory Tax
• IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
• Liquor Tax
• Luxury Taxes
• Marriage License Tax
• Medicare Tax
• Personal Property Tax
• Property Tax
• Real Estate Tax
• Service Charge Tax
• Social Security Tax
• Road Usage Tax
• Recreational Vehicle Tax
• Sales Tax
• School Tax
• State Income Tax
• State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
• Telephone Federal Excise Tax
• Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
• Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
• Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
• Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
• Telephone State and Local Tax
• Telephone Usage Charge Tax
• Utility Taxes
• Vehicle License Registration Tax
• Vehicle Sales Tax
• Watercraft Registration Tax
• Well Permit Tax
• Workers Compensation Tax

All these taxes paid, nothing to show for these taxes, and now we have a $109 TRILLION debt hole to dig out of. Maybe Charlie Reese was right, maybe it is the fault of those 500 or so people in Washington. Best to vote them out next week and start over, how much worse could it be if every incumbent running for office next week did not make it back to Washington?

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Death Of Political Civility, Part 2 - Democrats and Liberals Running Amok....Most Hatefully

I doubt many Americans would disagree that political dialog, hatred, and venom is at an all time high in this country. Issues never get discussed anymore, it is all about mudslinging and insults of both political opponents and their followers. As a country, civility is now a quaint old fashioned concept.

Although I have never voted for a Republican President in my life, I did not vote for Trump, and I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life, it is my personal opinion that Democrats and liberals are, by far, the most vicious, obnoxious and hateful people in the political arena today. And it is my opinion that this is not a recent event. In a very popular previous post I laid out the eight years of hatred and vicious name calling that leading liberal/Democratic politicians, media people, and celebrities rained down on Republicans and independents. 

We actually made the case in that post that it was not Republicans that got Trump elected. Americans got so tired of being verbally abused and threatened by liberals that they reached out to someone who was not part of the abusiver political class. Their disgust with liberal abuse and hypocrisy led to the election of Trump. That post can be accessed at:https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/11/retro-3-obama-presidency-end-of-error.html

Today I want to make the case that liberals and Democrats did not learn from their mistake and their significant role in getting Trump elected. Today we will lay out the poison, hatred and venom that liberals continue to spew. Again, in my opinion, after researching and publishing the link above cataloging the Obama years of abuse and compiling the following hatred from today’s liberals, it is liberal and Democrats who are the most hateful in total than non-liberals. After reading the following real cases of liberal hysteria and hate, see if you agree with me or not.

Note: we started this discussion yesterday at the following post:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-death-of-political-civility-part-1.html

1) Eric Holder, U.S. attorney general under Obama, recently expressed this lovely sentiment when it comes to civility in our political debates and discussions: “When they go low, we kick ’em. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.” So the new Democratic Party is about at the first grade level where if you do not like someone you just kick them. Pathetic.

2) In the first post listed above we listed the violence and name calling that came from liberals and Democrat throughout the entire Obama administration. But despite this overwhelming evidence that liberals and Democrats were totally uncivil dozens and dozens of times as laid in that post, Hillary Clinton somehow thinks that it was the Republicans started this whole violence and name calling environment with the following recent quote: “That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.”

So in Hillary’s mind the Democrats and liberals that called Republican and conservative women whores, sluts, c****s, and t****s, during the Obama administration were being civil. Liberals and Democrats who called us racists, terrorists, and who were people who ”needed to be taken out” or needed to “die and go to hell,” simply because we disagreed with Obama’s policies, were being civil. That it was the Republicans who started this whole violence and name calling. How out of touch with reality is this lady?

3) One of the worst perpetrators of incivility has been Democrat Maxine Walters who called for and fostered confrontations with people who simply have a difference of opinion with her. This has resulted in violent confrontations in public places that Republicans have had to suffer and be wary of, while going about their private business of shopping or eating in a restaurant. This call for violence was something that has NEVER happened in our history until despicable people like Maxine Waters came along to destroy the privacy rights of others who have a different opinion and who openly called for them to be confronted and harassed.

4) But actions like Walters who called or physical confrontations lead some of the more unhinged people in society to go beyond this type of confrontation action. Republican Senator Susan Collins, who many incorrectly blame for getting Brett Kavanaugh put on the Supreme Court, received a letter recently that had poisonous ricin in it. It was obviously from a disgruntled liberal or Democrat who wanted to kill a sitting U.S. Senator, again simply because she had a different opinion than them. 

5) James Cronwell, a B list actor, recently stated that unless the Democrats win the midterm elections, there will be blood in the streets: “If we don’t stop [President Trump] now, then we will have a revolution for real. Then there will be blood in the streets.”Again, we have liberals playing at the first grade level, if we do not get our way we will cry and stomp our feet. But this is the adult version of stomping our feet which may very well include physical violence and actual blood being shed, simply because an election did not go someone’s way. Pathetically immature.

6) A New York resident, Ronald DeRisi, left more than 10 threatening voicemails on the phones of two Republican Senators who were involved in the Kavanaugh hearings. Mr. DeRisis was obviously not happy with their support of Kavanaugh as illustrated by the following message he left: "It's a nine millimeter. Side of your f—ing skull, you scumbag motherf—er," 

In another call to the same Senator: "We're tired of this guy. Sucking tax payers' money! Getting a free f—ing ride! How many more years you gonna do it? None! He's a dead man! Nine millimeter, side of the f—ing head! If f—ing Kavanaugh gets in, he's dead f—ing meat! Actually, even if Kavanaugh doesn't get in, he's dead f—ing meat! Nine millimeter, side of the head, you f—ing old bastard!"

Oh, and Hillary says it is the Republicans that are not being civil!

That is enough hate for one day. After two days of documenting the hatred and violence of liberals and Democrats in this country over the past decade or so, if you somehow think that the Republicans and conservatives in this country are just as mean, just as violent, and just as hateful, I welcome you to put together a list of their transgressions. We can then compare my list to your list side by side to see who is the most despicable.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Death Of Political Civility, Part 1 - Democrats and Liberals Running Amok....Most Hatefully

I doubt many Americans would disagree that political dialog, hatred, and venom is at an all time high in this country. Issues never get discussed anymore, it is all about violent mudslinging and insults, and often physical threats and attacks, of both political opponents and their followers. As a country, civility is now a quaint old fashioned concept.

Although I have never voted for a Republican President in my life, I did not vote for Trump, and I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life, it is my personal opinion that Democrats and liberals are, by far, the most vicious, obnoxious and hateful people in the political arena today. And it is my opinion that this is not a recent event. In a very popular previous post I laid out the eight years of hatred and vicious name calling that leading liberal/Democratic politicians, media people, and celebrities rained down on Republicans and independents:

We actually made the case in that post that it was not Republicans that got Trump elected. Americans got so tired of being verbally abused and threatened by liberals that they reached out to someone who was not part of the abusing political class. Their disgust with liberal abuse and hypocrisy led to the election of Trump. That post can be accessed at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/11/retro-3-obama-presidency-end-of-error.html

Today we want to make the case that liberals and Democrats did not learn from their mistake and their significant role in getting Trump elected. Today we will lay out the poison, hatred and venom that liberals continue to spew. Again, in my opinion, after researching and publishing the link above cataloging the Obama years of abuse and compiling the following hatred from today’s liberals, it is liberals and Democrats who are the most hateful, on average, than non-liberals. After reading the following real cases of liberal hysteria and hate, see if you agree with me or not:

1) Famous show business liberals have been among the most vicious and hateful people over the past few years as Trump made his way to the White House:

• Kathy Griffin was photographed holding a bloody, graphic model of Trump’s decapitated head.
• Madonna publicly stated that, “I’ve thought a lot about blowing up the White House,” presumably killing everyone inside.
• Snoop Dogg “Shoots” Trump in the Head in Music Video
• Ross Whedon: “I Want a Rhino to F**k Paul Ryan to Death”
• Shakespeare in the Park Stabs ‘Trump’ to Death in Performance of ‘Julius Caesar’
• Larry Wilmore Jokes About Suffocating Trump with ‘Pillow They Used to Kill Scalia’

Such lovely, tolerant people. You know that if someone had these same things about Obama, these same celebrities preaching death to Trump would be besides themselves if someone said the same thing about Obama. Their hypocrisy is so huge.

2) But it is not just show business people that are violent and hateful The following link to the Breitbart website lists out hundreds of times when members of the mainstream media were just as ugly, violent, and hateful:

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018/07/05/rap-sheet-acts-of-media-approved-violence-and-harassment-against-trump-supporters/

3) Liberal hatred and violent words often spill over into violent acts against non-liberals and non-Democrats. Recently, someone fired four bullets into a Republican party campaign office in Volusia County, Florida. Fortunately, no one got hit by any of the bullets. Apparently, this is a new way for Democrats to debate issues, fire four live rounds into a Republican office.

4) Staying in Florida, a man was arrested for threatening to kill Republican Congressman Carlos Curbello. His vehicle of choice to carry out this death threat was Twitter, indicating that he was probably not the brightest potential political assassin in the world.

5) In Minnesota, a member of that state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor party recently put a post up on Facebook where he suggested that Republicans be led “to the guillotines” the day after election day.

6) A Republican running for Congress in New Jersey has reported that he has received a letter where the writer threatened the lives of the Republican’s seven children: “What the f— is wrong with you … s—bag? You BETTER hope that you don’t win! Or else. How many kids do you have… 7? Unlucky 7. This is what we think of you. Time to get out of politics.” Nice guy, threatening the lives of children to get his political way.

7) But it is not just random nut cases that threaten Republicans. A sitting member of the U.S. Senate, Democrat Kamala Harris, was recently on the “Ellen Degeneres” show. Ms. Degeneres asked the Senator the following question: “If you had to be stuck in an elevator with either President Trump, Mike Pence, or Jeff Sessions, who would it be?” The Senator replied: “Does one of us have to come out alive?” Yes, suggesting the death of a politician from the opposing party, real class Kamala.

8) But Democrats are not just mean and hateful against Republicans. Consider a past statement by a current candidate for a Congressional seat in Arizona, Krysten Sinema. Apparently Sinema once held the following disgusting view on stay at home moms: “These women who act like staying at home, leeching off their husbands or boyfriends, and just cashing the checks is some sort of feminism because they’re choosing to live that life. That’s bullshit. I mean, what the f*** are we really talking about here?” Class act, would you really want such a hateful profane person representing you in Congress?

9) A Minnesota Republican candidate for Congress was physically assaulted while campaigning and as a result of the attack Republican Shane Mekeland ended up with a concussion: “While I had never met my assailant, the words he yelled at me before he attacked lead me to believe his actions were politically motivated. When I chose to run for office, I expected to be politically attacked, but never physically. I weighed whether or not to share this today, but ultimately I think we all need a reminder to be civil to each other regardless of our perspectives.”

10) But Mr. Mekeland is not the only Minnesota Republican to be recently assaulted. Minnesota State Representative Sarah Anderson was physically attacked by a confirmed Democrat.

That is enough hate for one day. We will continue the seemingly unending hatred and attacks of Democrats and liberals on anyone who dares to disagree with their views tomorrow. If you somehow think that the Republicans and conservatives in this country are just as mean, just as violent, and just as hateful, I welcome you to put together a list of their transgressions. We can then compare my list to your list side by side to see who is the most despicable.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

October, 2018, Part 4, I Am A Global Warming Doubter and A Believer In Science: Who Needs Paris (And Its Climate Agreement) and Screwing The Poor In California

Every month we have enough material to return to a continuing theme in this blog, namely that “I am a global warming doubter AND a believer in science.” This became of interest because of people like Al Gore who fanatically and verbosely claimed that you had to be an idiot to not believe in manmade global warming. It has been my life belief that anyone that is that loud and that obnoxious is hiding something, that rather than argue facts and reality it is better to beat down and insult anyone who disagrees.

As we have dove into the whole issue of man made global warming, or its new rebranded title of climate change, we found that Al Gore and people like him were guilty of a number of things:

• Ignoring science and realities that did not support their opinions and positions.
• Rather than have an adult conversation about climate, these types of advocates like Gore sank to the level of insulting those who dared look at ALL science by calling them a variety of names including racists, homophobes, terrorists, flat earth believers, and other slanderous names.
• Continuing to insist that politicians step up their intrusions into our lives with higher taxes, more regulations, and more control on our freedoms and standards of living based on a shaky theory at best.

To see the past posts and the multitude of evidence that we have compiled that showed it is perfectly okay to be a global warming doubter and a believer in science, enter the phrase "global warming doubter” in the search box above or go through the monthly historical post listed on the right side of this page.

Thus, let’s see the latest facts and science that prove you can be a global warming doubter and a believer in science, regardless of what Al Gore proclaims.

1) Just a couple of quickies today to wrap this month’s global warming discussion. We have previously discussed a few topics as they relate to the infamous United Nations Paris Climate Agreement:

• Trump was right to pull the U.S. out of the agreement since we as nation would have made all of the sacrifices while the rest of the world would make minor, if any, energy sacrifices.
• For instance, Pakistan’s pledge in the treaty was that they would reduce their carbon footprint an unspecified amount at an unspecified point in the future, hardly taking a bullet for the cause.
• India and China, along with other countries, continue to build thousands and thousands of coal burning power plants that would have wiped out any carbon reductions that the U.S. would have incurred.
• The agreement had no teeth in that there was no way to punish any country who did not meet their goals, it was more of a gentleman’s agreement.
• And as we recently reported, only nine out of the dozens and dozens of countries who actually signed the agreement have actually met their assigned carbon reduction goals, only a few years out from the agreement.

Trump, of course, got brutalized for the decision even though it was best for the American taxpayer and our economy. So how is the U.S. doing even though it is no longer bound by the agreement? Have we allowed our carbon footprint to explode, endangering the future of every living thing on Earth? 

Joseph Curl, writing for the Daily Wire website on October 28,2018, brings us up to date with the latest official statistics:

• Despite a red hot economy which should have resulted in higher and higher carbon emission levels, according to the EPA after Trump’s first year in office, our country’s greenhouse emissions actually went down despite not being a part of the Paris Climate Agreement.
• The EPA report found the U.S. carbon emissions went down 2.7% last year.
• A lot of this decrease was because emissions from U.S. power plants went down an amazing 4.5%.
• All of which makes Al Gore’s prediction/statement back in June 2017 sound so stupid today, another global warming prediction that apparently was also grossly wrong: "I think it [pulling out of the Paris agreement] was reckless. I think it was indefensible. It undermines America's standing in the world. It threatens the ability of humanity to solve the climate crisis in time."
• Another, non-EPA report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, found that U.S. carbon emissions from major energy sources dropped to the lowest levels since 1993 in 2017.
• Still another study from the June 2018 BP Statistical Review of Global Energy found that the U.S. led the world in reducing carbon emissions in 2017.
• The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) estimates that the U.S. reduced its carbon emissions by 42 million tons in 2017, far ahead of the second leading reducer, which, believe it or not, was the Ukraine, at a 20 million ton reduction.
• Canada, Spain, the European Union, and China, all of whom signed the Paris agreement, all saw their carbon emissions rise last year.
• China saw its 2017 carbon emissions go up a whopping 120 million tons, three times the size of the emission reduction of the U.S.
• The European Union increased its 2017 carbon emissions by about the same amount, 40 millions, that the U.S. reduced its carbon footprint in 2017.

So, Trump pulls the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and despite a red hot economy, the U.S. leads the world in reducing its carbon footprint. Many of those that actually signed the agreement actually added tremendous amounts of carbon emissions to the environment. Go figure, I guess Al Gore and global warming advocates were wrong AGAIN, when they predicted that exiting the Paris agreements would kill off humanity. 

The Paris agreement was a joke, an ego trip for Obama to strut around with in his pocket. It has no enforcement teeth, it was vague and non-committal in many areas, and it allowed the fastest growing economies, e.g. India and China, to bring havoc from an emissions perspective while the U.S. and its taxpayers would have paid the price.

2) The Freedom News Report website had a recent article that shows how out of control global warming enthusiasm is bad both logically and financially relative to the less wealthy in the world:

• The state government in California recently enacted legislation that would force the entire state to be carbon emission free by the year 2045 as it relates to its use of electricity.
• In other words, all electricity generated in the state by that date would have to come from renewable resources, e.g. solar and wind.
• The state’s governor, Jerry Brown, fancies himself a sovereign nation at least relative to the bogus Paris Climate Agreement we just finished discussing, claiming that his state was “sending a message to California and to the world that we’re going to meet the Paris agreement.”
• Given that California residents currently pay, on average, 60% more for electricity, and this proposed transformation will further increase the state’s power costs, this plan/dream will not come cheaply.
• For example, since renewable sources of power, solar and wind, are not constant and vary according to the current weather, massive amounts of storage would have to be set up to store non-renewable electricity generation for times when the wind was not blowing or the sun was not shining, further increasing the cost of the state’s electricity, the cost of which has been rising five times the national average over the past years.
• Research by the Boston based Clean Air Task Force estimates that for California to reach just 80% of its energy from carbon free sources, somehow a whopping 9.6 terawatt hours worth of electrical storage would have to be put online.
• With today’s technology, 9.6 terawatt hours of storage would require the purchase and installation of 500 million Tesla Powerwalls which currently cost $6,000….not including installation in order to constantly supply the state’s 40 million residents with uninterrupted electricity.
• As an aside, one wonder where the state would actually place 500 million Powerwalls, that would take up a lot of real estate.
• In today’s dollars, this comes out to a cost of $3 TRILLION or about $75,000 per resident (excluding installation costs).
• Even if you could find a way over time to reduce this cost by say 80%, you are still looking at a per resident cost of $15,000, the burden of which would be paid by the state’s resident’s.
• Thus, a California family of four would be on the hook for about $60,000 if the cost of this law’s impacts could be reduced by 80%, more than $60,000 if the cost did not come down that much.
• At that point, I would bet that the wealthier residents would say screw that and would install their own solar and wind projects to generate the electricity they need for themselves, something they could do for far less than $75,000 per person, further burdening the less wealthy residents who cannot afford their own power installation.
• Which is exactly is being anticipated by a coalition called “The Two Hundred,” a group of civic organizations who lobby for and try to protect the interests of less wealthy citizens.
• This coalition realizes that the burden for this ambitious and ego driven plan will eventually fall to those in the state that can least afford higher and higher electricity rates, a situation that will get worse with this carbon free by 2045 law and thus, they have filed suit to stop this plan.
• In the lawsuit, the group correctly claims that these types of policies “have a disparate negative impact on minority communities and are discriminatory against minority communities and their members.”
• Furthermore, “Every time they pass new regulations, the burden falls on the people who can least afford it,” Two Hundred representative John Gamboa reportedly said. “That’s the history of the environmental movement: They care more about spotted owls than brown babies.”
• The article points out that Germany’s effort to get to more renewable energy sources has seen the average cost of electricity go up 50% in the past ten years, a harbinger of what would happen under this new California law.

The U.S. is doing just fine, in fact better than anyone else, in reducing its carbon footprint even though it is not part of the Paris Climate Agreement. And California is screwing its lower income citizens just to chase what is becoming more and more likely, the global warming myth. More myth busting next month.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Horrors And Destruction That Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding! Part 16

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. 
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

About 21 months ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millennials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. For the past year and a half they fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for over 21 months or so, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just eighteen month’s time. This is obviously a very sarcastic comment when you take an unbiased look at what has happened during the Trump Presidency. The many previous posts we did on this topic identified over 190 good things that have happened to America and Americans since Trump became President can found by entering the phrase “the horrors and destruction” in the search box above.

Since the last “horrors and destruction” post an additional ten accomplishments and good tidings have occurred as a result of this Presidency:

- The New York Times actually gave Trump positive recognition for actually getting NATO allies to shoulder a bigger, fairer share of NATO’s defense costs, yes the New York Times!

- Trump’s White House staff is significantly smaller than Obama’s which could save the American taxpayer upwards of $20 million by the end of Trump’s four years as President, with Trump’s staff consisting of 374 staffers while Obama had 469 at the same time into his Presidency.

- The U.S. economy grew at a wonderful 3.5% rate in the third quarter of 2018, which, when combined with the stronger 4.2% growth in the second quarter, resulted in the strongest consecutive quarters of growth since 2014.

- The economy is on a growth rate to record the largest annual economic growth rate since 2005.

- In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, median household income rose to the highest level ever recorded.

- The number of murders in the U.S. declined by .7% in 2017, reversing a rising trend over the previous two years.

- The unemployment rate is at a 50 year low, falling from 4.8% when his term began to a current 3.7% rate.

- Corporate profits are at an all time high.

- The number of people on food stamps is at the lowest level since November, 2009, a reduction of 3.8 million people since Trump’s term began.

- The percentage of African Americans and Hispanic Americans in the country living in poverty are at the lowest levels ever since the Census Bureau began keeping track in the mid 1960s.

For those of you that have hated on Trump since day one, and given your obvious gross error in judgment relative to Trump, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life.
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

• If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency. Over 200 accomplishments in a little less than two years is not too shabby despite many of you wanting both Trump and the country to fail.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Fiscal Disaster Of California: Another Canary In the Debt Coal Mine For The Rest of The Country

We have spent the past three posts examining how the American political class, at both the Federal level and state government levels, has totally screwed up the government fiscal situation at all levels. Trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, cash shortfalls to cover short term expenses, tax revenue long term and short term revenue flows, and ominous signs of financial and economic collapse becoming more and more evident every day.

And these huge debt problems have happened in the midst of high levels of taxation. But the high taxes never got used to improve our infrastructure, better educate our kids, improve the environment and our energy usage, etc. So we have nothing to show for those high taxes except a huge debt hole.

Sadly, despite the dire numbers we have discussed previously and will discuss today, current politicians apparently either do not understand the current debt crisis, do not want to address it, or do not have the brain power to fix it. Hopefully, by discussing these numbers during these posts we can finally understand what they have done to us and finally force them to address the financial mess they created.

Our previous posts covered the following debt holes:

Federal government debt hole: https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/dont-worry-be-happy-any-short-term.html

Illinois government debt hole: https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-illinois-canary.html

Connecticut debt hole: https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-connecticut.html

And today we review the financial crisis in California, one of the three states (Illinois and New Jersey) we have long predicted would be the first states to enter bankruptcy:

• The overall poverty rate in California is 14% despite having the high income areas of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
• The poverty rate is the highest in the country likely because it has the highest cost of living in the country.
• At one time the state had the lowest poverty rate in the country.
• Children in California are more likely to live in poverty than any other state.
• One in five California are not making ends meet in their daily lives.
• The state’s income tax is the highest in the country at 13.3% and it also has the highest sales tax rate in the country at 7.25%.
• The 7.25% does not include local sales tax levies which often pushes the total sales tax cost over 10%.
• The state’s overwhelming environmental laws force state residents to pay almost twice as much for electricity than in most other states.
• The state’s overwhelming housing policies result in state average rental costs to be $400 higher than the national average.
• The USA Today reported that a movie date and dinner for two will likely cost close to $100 in San Francisco.
• The state has the highest number of illegal immigrants in the whole country with anywhere from 10 to 20% living in the state.
• And many of these illegal immigrants draw on the very generous welfare programs in the state, causing California to spend an amazing $1 trillion in welfare from 1992 to 2015.
• A U.S. News and World Report analysis found that in total, California has the worst quality of life in the entire country.
• Most of those migrating out of the state are in the middle class since middle class families do not have tax shelters like the rich, they do not get bailouts like big companies, and they do not get generous welfare benefits like the poor and illegal immigrants, they just get the check with high taxes and overwhelming government regulations.

The above dismal view comes from Frank Holmes, writing for the Horn News website. But the Mercatus Center analysis of each state’s financial situation verifies this bad state of affairs:

• California rates as the 42nd worst state from a financial viability perspective.
• Its cash flow situation is well below the national average when it comes to covering short term expenses and costs.
• Long term liabilities are higher than average.
• Unfunded pensions liabilities are almost a whopping $1.2 TRILLION.
• There is another $100 billion in unfunded non-pension liabilities.
• The state can only cover 92% of future obligations.

Not a pretty sight. High and higher taxes and yet the state’s politicians have still managed to bury the state government in a mountain of debt and unfunded liabilities. Over regulations and intrusive state government policies result in very high living costs, be it electricity, housing, or a simple date and dinner.

And in previous posts we have reported on other depressing aspects of California life. About 40% of Los Angeles’ population earn so little that they qualify for Medicaid. Homelessness is rampant throughout the state with large homeless settlements springing up in the middle of big cities and under freeway overpasses outside of the cities. The state’s schools generally under educate the kids in the state and the state’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair.

Thus, another state and another large state government debt hole. The sooner we address these debt obligations the less arduous and painful it will be to get the country fiscally sound. The longer we wait, the more difficult and more dire situations millions of Americans will find themselves in as taxes go up, economic growth goes, down, and promised retirement benefits shrink significantly. While politicians may lie these debt numbers do not.

We need to respect and live according to the old adage: “When stuck in a hole, stop digging.” When stuck in a debt hole, stop spending money that you do not have and will likely never have.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Fiscal Disaster Of Connecticut: Another Canary In the Debt Coal Mine For The Rest of The Country

A few posts ago we did an analysis that showed how pathetically in debt we are as a nation. The total debt and unfunded liabilities of the Federal government and state governments is well over $100 TRILLION:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/dont-worry-be-happy-any-short-term.html

Our last post looked at one “special” state in particular, Illinois. Illinois was rated the state in the worst shape from a fiscal condition perspective with unfunded pension liabilities that are likely never to be paid off. That post and the dire conditions in Illinois can be accessed at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-illinois-canary.html

This debt burden issue has often caused to ask what state will go fiscally up in flames first, with our favorites for fiscal meltdown usually being New Jersey, California, and Illinois. However, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the state of Connecticut is now a dark horse candidate to financially meltdown first given that:

• Despite nine years without a recession, a time when the overall country’s and most states’ economies managed to create year over year economic growth, the state GDP of Connecticut actually shrank 9.3% from 2007 to now.
• Over the past eight years the length of time of the current governor, the state’s economy has shrunk an average of .5% a year.
• Compare this to history when from 1976 to 1991 the state led all other states in state GDP growth, likely due to low taxes and relative lower cost of living despite being in the usually expensive northeast part of the country and adjacent to New York.
• If the state’s economy had grown at the same rate as the overall U.S. average since then, it would now be collecting an additional $3.9 billion in taxes annually and its economy, and the jobs that would have been created, would be about $50 billion bigger.
• But in 1991 Connecticut levied an income tax on state residents of 4.5% for the first time, a tax rate that has grown higher and higher over the years.
• That tax rate now tops out on the margins at 6.99% as a result of the outgoing governor’s efforts and he also imposed 10% surtax on business income over $100 million.
• The state’s 8.25% top business income tax rate is the highest among all neighboring states.
• As a result of the ever increasing taxation, residents and businesses have pulled up stakes and gone to lower taxing states in order to keep more of their hard earned income.
• Thus, rising tax rates usually do not deliver the promised tax revenues because the tax base continues to shrink and Connecticut is no exception.
• This out migration has cost the state the ability to tax $8.8 billion since that taxable income has gone to other states, mostly to Florida which has no state or local income tax.
• Even with all of these additional taxes, state politicians have managed to fund only 50% of its future pension liabilities and face a $2 billion budget shortfall next year, again, even in the face of these additional and ever rising taxes and tax rates.
• It’s outgoing (Democratic) governor now rates as the second most unpopular governor of the entire country.
• But apparently the Democratic candidate to replace him, Ned Lamont, has no concept of why the state is dying fiscally since rather than get taxation and government spending under control he wants MORE government spending and MORE taxation despite the failures of both actions over the years.

But it is not just the Wall Street Journal that has identified the dire financial conditions of the state:

• The Mercatus Center, in its annual review of each state’s financial conditions, rates Connecticut as the 49th worst state in the union, just ahead of Illinois, the worst state in the union.
• Its total long term unfunded liabilities are at 230% of anticipated assets, a shortfall of over $17,000 for every state resident.
• Revenues currently cover only 92% of its expenses.

Wow, this state could really give the big three, California, New Jersey, and Illinois a run for their money when it comes to which one will be the first state to fiscally implode. 

And as we said with Illinois in our last post, that state and now Connecticut could both serve as the debt canaries in the debt coal mine. Since the Federal government has over $100 TRILLION in long term debt and unfunded liabilities, what happens to these two states, from a bankruptcy perspective, will likely give us an idea to what is going to happen to all of us when the Federal government debt bomb implodes.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Fiscal Disaster Of Illinois: The Canary In the Debt Coal Mine For The Rest of The Country

A few posts ago we did an analysis that showed how pathetically in debt we are as a nation. The total debt and unfunded liabilities of the Federal government and state governments is well over $100 TRILLION:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/dont-worry-be-happy-any-short-term.html

This debt burden has often caused us to ponder what state will go fiscally up in flames first, with New Jersey, California, and Illinois the leading candidates. 

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University recently published their annual analysis of state governments’ financial status and their analysis made the case that the state politicians of Illinois have done the best job of screwing up their state’s financial condition, i.e. the Illinois is ranked as the least fiscally healthy state in the union:

• The state Illinois government has a backlog of $7.1 billion of unpaid bills and other budget shortfalls since it took them years to finally pass a budget.
• It ranks 49th out of 50 states in cash solvency, i.e. it will be difficult to fund its short term expense and debt obligations going forward.
• In 2016, the state collected only 92% of the revenue needed to cover its expenses which set off a long, arduous process to close that gap.
• This tax revenue shortfall ranked it 46th out of 50 states when it comes to budget solvency.
• The long term trend has seen Illinois state government funding rise on average 2% a year while tax revenue growth has grown annually only about 1% a year on average, not a formula for success over time.
• The state’s long term liabilities are an amazing, and depressing, three times larger than the assets that are currently available to cover them, ranking it 49th from a long term solvency position.
• While most every state has this same unfunded liability issue to deal with, since 2006, Illinois’ long term liability growth has averaged 11% per capita a year.
• The state’s politicians have funded only about 21% of the state government’s long term pension liabilities.
• A J.P. Morgan study found that the state will eventually have to dedicate 50% of its tax revenue just to fully fund its unfunded pension liabilities, meaning that only half of its tax revenues would be available for education, infrastructure improvement, police and fire protection, etc.
• Alternatively, that same study found that to fully fund those unfunded liabilities, the state government would have to increase tax revenues by 25%, increase worker pension contributions by 689%, or attain pension investment returns to increase to 11.5%, a long term investment impossibility.
• The likelihood of any of these solutions happening is very small, given the history of state politicians not fixing fundamental fiscal problems as illustrated in 2011 when the state raised taxes dramatically but the state government politicians ended up spending the increased tax money elsewhere and not making a substantial dent in the state’s unfunded liability crisis.
• Illinois is one of only eight states that explicitly, in one way or another, constitutionally guarantee the payment of the current level of benefits, making slashing future benefits highly difficult from a legal perspective and it has one of the strictest protection of pensions of any of those eight.
• All of this Illinois fiscal deterioration has occurred in the midst of a nine year economic growth period for the country, i.e. we have not a recession since 2009 and yet the state financial situation has gotten way worse, imagine how much faster it will go downhill when the next inevitable recession hits.
• Even worse, despite a growing national economy, personal income levels in Illinois have grown at less than half the growth rate of the national growth rate of personal income, leaving less wiggle room to raise taxes and not hurt Illinois families and businesses than in other states with higher income growth rates.
• On top of this mess, businesses and families are fleeing the state, leaving a smaller and smaller tax base, resulting in larger and larger tax shortfalls resulting in higher tax rates resulting in more out migration, and the death spiral is complete.

What a disaster the Illinois political class has gotten itself and its citizens into. The debt and unfunded liability hole is huge, its tax base is shrinking, and anyone reading the above details of the situation would probably agree with the Mercatus conclusion [Note: I added the emphasis]: “Illinois finds itself in a deep hole with no fully reliable ladder to climb out. Some even think that the only solution to their mess is to file for bankruptcy and ask the Federal government to bail them out, an event with no legal precedent. There is not one panacea solution for the state to move forward. Their recent attempt to reform pensions through offering buyouts signals that they’re thinking beyond short-term fixes like tax increases, but more work needs to be done in this direction. Illinois needs long-term solutions that will involve regulatory, tax, and pension reform.”

No way out. Bankruptcy. The need for long term solutions. Given that it took decades to get in such a bad position it is highly likely that the politicians in the state will not be able or willing to find a long term solution which will result in the now way out scenario and avoid eventual state bankruptcy. This will likely result in dramatically reduced pensions and benefits to government retirees, more increased taxation and everyone loses.

But going back to the original post on fiscal dangers across the country referenced above, Illinois is the so-called canary in the debt coal mine. Why we can all be thankful that most of us are not living in a state in as dire a situation as Illinois, with the exception of a few states like New Jersey, California, and Connecticut that are not much better than Illinois, as we outlined in the post above, the country as a whole has a debt hole of existing national debt and unfunded liabilities of over $100 trillion. 

All of which means that these “no way out, bankruptcy, and the need for long term solutions” conditions await us all in the not too distant future, given the ineptness, lack of ability, and lack of courage of the American political class at all levels of government.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w