A Note To Professional Athletes: A Plan To Create Positive Societal Change Vs. Your Empty Disrespectful Kneeling and Ranting

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the second post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

Usually in these “by the numbers'' posts we examine real numbers that exist in different areas of life and show how things got so screwed up number wise because of the arrogance, ignorance, or stupidity of politicians. We are going to go at today’s numbers from a different angle in that we are going to generate our own hypothetical numbers in an attempt to make the world a better place.

As almost all of you probably know, athletes across all of the professional sports leagues have taken up the mantles of social justice, defund the police, all police are bad, all white people have privilege, etc. Rather than just play the sport and games that they are good at, they want to tell us how to live our lives, what horrible people we are, and in the process insult and attack our country’s heritage, flag, veterans, and police officers.

Most of them lecture us about how much smarter and insightful they are than us, they take a knee when the anthem is played, they walk off the court or field when the anthem is played, or they denigrate and insult other players who have a different opinion than them relative to the flag and anthem.

Frankly, myself and probably a lot of other people are getting tired of their act, not because they have an opinion that may differ from others but because their antics and disrespect do nothing to get solutions to current day problems. Taking a knee before a football game does not make a kid safer in violence prone south Chicago. Homeless Americans in Los Angeles are no better off because these athletes refuse to respect those that fought for freedom in this country. No abused woman, a victim of domestic violence, in a shelter somewhere is better off because of their egotistical rants.

Now let’s be clear, I am fully aware that a lot of professional athletes make meaningful contributions to their communities with foundations, financial contributions, etc. And that is great. But two things:

1. I don't need a second string safety on some NFL team lecturing me on social justice when they do nothing to fix what is wrong in their communities.
2. Second, if they want me and other fans to step up our game on fixing society’s wrongs, then I want to see them also step up their game or at least get in the game since they certainly can afford to do so, more than most fans.

Which is where our hypothetical numbers come into play. Let’s start in Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis, the city where the recent social unrest, protests and violence started due to the horrific and unnecessary murder of George Floyd at the hands of some very bad police officers. If professional athletes want to do something more valuable and more positive in their communities than just making empty and meaningless symbolic gestures during the national anthem, let’s put forth the following mathematical model, using Minneapolis as the test case: 

• From what I can gather from online sources, the player salaries for the NFL, MBL, NHL, and NBA franchises located in Minneapolis is about $415 million a year.
• Let’s assume that we impose a 5% “social justice” tax on those salaries that the players would have to pay every year.
• Let’s assume that the revenue from this social justice tax would be used in the community to solve some real problems that affect real people rather than taking a knee during the national anthem that solves nothing.
• 5% of $415 million comes out to about $20.75 million every year.

Great, we now have some revenue numbers to work with, what could be done with them:

• Checking online sources, it looks like a good, middle of the road Chromebook computer costs about $300 on average.
• Thus, simple math shows that the annual $20.75 million could buy about 69,000 chrome books in a single year.
• There are currently 36,350 kids attending Minneapolis public schools.
• Which means that one year’s worth of social justice tax could buy every kid almost two Chromebooks.
• But that would not make much sense so let’s buy each kid one Chromebook which would cost $10.9 million, leaving us just under $10 million to fix other human problems in the city.
• Maybe we could take a couple of hundred thousand dollars and give it to Minneapolis resident, Korboi Balla, a retired city firefighter who invested his life savings in a city bar, an investment that was destroyed by rioters, and give him another chance to build his dream that was destroyed before his eyes in a single night of violence.
• Maybe we could take a few million dollars from that social justice tax and give it to the owner of the 7-Sigma corporation, a city business that had been operating in the city for 33 years, a business that had 50 local city residents on the payroll, and a business that was burned to the ground by rioters so that the owner could rebuild his business and save those city jobs.
• After these two acts of support there would still be millions of dollars left to help others in need, be it the homeless, the sick, the addicted, etc.

You get the idea. If you as a professional athlete want to lecture others on social justice and call others privileged and racist based on no facts or evidence, than I want to see you step up your game, step up your commitment, and finally do something more productive than take a knee, walk off the court or field, berate others that dare to have a different opinion and continue to insult those that have served and continue to serve this country, protecting your lives, your property, and your freedom.

The numbers above are just an example of what could be done in a single city based on a small sliver of the fabulous wealth professional athletes enjoy today. This would be especially true if the social justice tax money flowed directly to the schools, directly to those in need, etc. and not through any government agency or other bureaucratic organization that would find a way to mishandle, misspend or lose the money. Directly to those in need in the community. 

The numbers don't lie. A small social justice tax, properly administered, and paid out directly to those in need would create more good, more benefits, save more lives, than any number of times the national anthem and flag are abused and disrespected with players' disrespectful actions. 

So, to those that kneel, to those that walk off the field or court, to those that think you are wiser, better, and more moral than the rest of us, either pony up some money and create real, positive societal change or just shut up.

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Related thoughts: https://americanvision.org/24307/black-sports-stars-squandering-their-moral-capital/

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Note: we have done a lot reporting on the dire and ever worsening situation in Chicago. The crime, the violence, and the shootings have resulted in more wounded citizens, more fatalities and a more dangerous place to be. In those discussions we have always pointed out that the mayor and those in public office in Chicago have no idea how to fix this deteriorating situation. While the vast majority of people cannot help fix what the local political class has broken, may I suggest that a donation be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago to at least give the kids of the city a chance, a safe place to go and just be kids. The address for donating to this fine organization is:

Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Club Support Center

2102 W. Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60612

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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

By The Numbers: From New York To California To The Post Office, The Numbers Stink

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. 

Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the first this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

1) We have often talked about the reality that California is going through a difficult time, mostly because of boneheaded actions and laws put forth by the state’s political class. Crime is up, homelessness is up, quality of life is down and many residents are moving out. Here are some numbers that generally describe at least part of the situation:

• Five of the top ten (50%) cities in the country that have the most homeless people living on the cities’ streets are in California even though California accounts for only about 12% of the country’s population.
• 53% of all of America’s homeless reside in California.
• 30% of the state's electricity is generated by renewable sources as pushed by the state’s politicians, sources that are not reliable and consistent and which has resulted in planned rolling blackouts across the state.
• Adding insult to injury, in addition to the rolling blackout reality, state residents pay about 55% more for their electricity than the average across the country.
• This rolling blackout condition has frustrated residents and businesses alike: California Manufacturers and Technology Assessment Association president, Lance Hastings: “Hot weather and a cloudy day should not be able to shut down the fifth-largest economy in the world.” 
• The state ranks 3rd, trailing only New York and New Jersey, in the number of coronavirus deaths and recently reported a whopping 43,077 new infections of the virus in a single week.
• As crime skyrockets across the state, mayors of major California cities are cutting police force resources and personnel even though the state currently, before the cuts, has only 2.4 police officers per 1,000 residents, 63% less than the national average.
• The volume of homeless people in San Francisco has risen 17% between 2017 and 2019.
• California ranks 48th, third worst, in the country from a regulatory freedom perspective, given the high amount of regulations put forth by the state politicians in all aspects of life.
• The state has the highest state income top rate in the country, 13.3%, a ridiculously high rate that some politicians want to raise even higher and make the higher tax retroactive back to the beginning of the year.
• The state has the fifth highest/worst state and individual income tax collections per capita in the country.
• The state has the sixth highest/worst state and local tax burden in the country.

High taxes but poor quality of life. High electricity rates that are not constant or reliable. High homeless rate with no idea how to fix the problem. The numbers do not lie: California politicians have screwed up what used to be one of the most desirable places to live in the country. As a result, a state that constantly grew in population is now in a population shrinking mode as the numbers and the reality they represent cause more and more state residents to look elsewhere for a better life for themselves and their families.

2) New York state has many of the same problems as California has: high taxes, high homeless population, increasing crime rates. And possibly more importantly, the numbers indicate that state residents may actually be doing the same thing that California residents are doing, moving elsewhere:

• According to a recent New York Times article, the number of real estate sales closed in the state is down 54% vs. the same time in 2019.
• This is the largest year over year decline in the state in 30 years.
• The median selling price is down 17.7% over last year, the largest drop in the past ten years.

The story seems the same in each state: make a place dangerous, expensive, and highly taxed, the numbers will eventually drive people somewhere else.

3) The coronavirus crisis has been terrible for the entire country but especially bad for families who have lost loved ones to the disease. The sad part of this reality is that many of those that died because of the virus may have been spared if governors in number of states, especially New York, had not ordered that elderly real and potential coronavirus patients be housed in the same long care and nursing home facilities as other elderly, and vulnerable, residents.

As a result, the Justice Department is launching an investigation to see if those four states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, violated Federal law by imposing such a stupid requirement on hospital and care facilities. Letters were sent to those states’ governors stating that an investigation is underway to see if those governors’ actions “may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents” and that actions taken were in violation of Federal law.

The numbers seem to indicate there is a major and despicable failure of these governors’ decisions: 

• Long term care and nursing home facilities house 1% of the U.S. population.
• Now, these facilities usually house elderly folks and since the virus was especially potent against these types of people, one would not expect to see only 1% of the virus deaths to be the same as the population living in those places.
• But a whopping 42% of the total country’s virus deaths came from those living in these facilities, 42 times higher than their population percentage.
• This 42% translates to 70,000 total nursing home-type deaths out of about 170,000 deaths in total nationwide.
• This is probably a primary reason why New York led the country in virus deaths, 32,000, almost 20% of the nationwide total although the state of New York has nowhere near 20% of the country’s population, and New Jersey was second.

The numbers don't lie: New York, New Jersey and to a lesser extent, Pennsylvania and Michigan politicians, made a set of horrendous virus decisions which were fatal for thousands of Americans.

4) One last, quick set of numbers for today, all related to the Post Office:

• The postal market is in decline and has been in decline for a long time as person to person electronics communications and other online functions (e.g. bill paying) have driven down mail volumes.
• This has left the Postal System with a large fixed asset and cost base that has had less and less revenue to support over time.
• According to Reason magazine, the Post Office has lost a whopping $69 billion in the past 11 years.
• A large chunk of that, $3.9 billion, happened just in 2018.
• Its unfunded liabilities was $143 billion at the end of 2018.
• This unfunded liability is twice the size of its annual, and shrinking, revenue stream.

sanIt is a shame that the numbers don't lie because it is obvious the Post Office is in a financial death spiral and politicians for a long time have known about this coming disaster. And did nothing to fix what the numbers showed so clearly.

Post Office numbers stink, virus numbers are fatal, and New York and California numbers do not paint a pretty picture as they are staring at their own financial and quality of life death spirals. The numbers do not lie.

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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

How California Politicians Screwed Up a Perfectly Good Employment and Market Arrangement With Their Economic Ignorance

Just a short post today, one focused on a prime example of how politicians in this country have no economic common sense, education, or real life experience. Not surprisingly, this ignorance has recently come to the surface in the state of California. 

But this California political failure of common sense and inability to resolve any problem should not surprise anyone given the the many, many failures that the California political class has brought down on the residents of that state:

• California has one of the highest, if not the highest, tax burden of any state in the union.
• The state government’s financial situation is a mess with a huge budget gap and billions and billions of unfunded financial liabilities with no way to pay them.
• The state and city politicians have decided it should not be against the law to defecate, urinate, or shoot up illegal drugs in public.
• The state’s public education systems severely under educate most California kids.
• The state’s homeless population is huge and growing everyday.
• The state’s infrastructure is crumbling and the recent attempt to build a high speed rail line was a financial disaster.
• The state’s illogical and wrong headed conservation laws and regulations result in frequent and deadly wildfires.
• The state’s massive amount of silly laws, rules, and regulations on building homes and other structures has resulted in sky high housing prices in the state.
• The state crime rate, especially in the state’s larger cities, is rising.

All of the above problems are causing a net migration loss of state residents, i.e. more are moving out than are moving in, a California reality that has not been present for lord knows how long.

Wow, not a fun place to be. High taxes, low or ineffective government services, crime, homelessness, etc. Much, if not all of this, has to do state politicians doing a horrible job of managing tax dollars, not operating an efficient government bureaucracy, and just passing stupid and counter productive laws and regulations.

Okay, put that dumpster fire aside for a minute. Let’s assume that a new company comes along with a bright new service idea that has the following benefits:

• It creates a whole new industry with a lot of new good paying jobs.
• These new jobs create wages that boost the economy and widen the tax base, something you would think politicians would like.
• The people who decide to take these jobs have the flexibility of working whenever they want for as long or short as they want.
• The people who take these jobs are basically their own boss who do not have to report to an office everyday or put up with a bad immediate boss looking over their shoulder.
• Customers of this new industry get a brand new, more extensive, less expensive and possibly better experience using this new industry than the previous industry they had to rely on.
• This new industry makes the roads and driving less dangerous, saving lives and reducing accidents.
• This new industry has an extensive review process for both employees and customers so that you are aware of the type of service you are likely to experience before using this new industry.

Good jobs, good wages, work flexibility, wider tax base, safer roads, wow, what a great deal. Of course, we are talking about the ride sharing industry that Uber and Lyft created. Uber and Lyft act as a clearinghouse of matching up drivers with people that need a ride somewhere. 

People can decide to be an Uber driver, a Lyft driver or both. They work when they want for as long as they want. The pay is good and they are their own boss, always interacting with real people with real and often interesting stories to tell. 

This allows some people with other responsibilities to work in this new industry without the constraints and requirements of a typical job. Stay at home parents can work while their kids are in school. Retired folks can work and get some extra income into their retired lifestyles. College kids can work and schedule around their classes.

Customers who only had taxi service as their travel alternative, or had no travel option, now have other options which causes competition which drives down consumer transportation costs. People who have had too much to drink while out on the town can leave their cars parked and get an Uber or Lyft ride home, protecting their lives and the lives of other drivers.

Very flexible hours, good wages, interesting customer interactions, safer roads, no immediate bosses, providing a needed market service, the list of positives of this situation is quite long.

Then along comes the California political class. The state politicians decided that they would “help” out these drivers by forcing Uber and Lyft to treat the drivers not as independent contractors, which they are, but as full time employees. And as full time employees, provide the drivers with health insurance and other full time benefits.

Problem is that these folks for the most part don't want to be full time employees: they want to work on their own schedule and needs, not a full time schedule that is dictated to them. These drivers may not even need health insurance for example, they may already have it from another source or through their spouse. Plus, the cost and resultant prices of the service are built off a contractor model, not a full time employee model. 

But these massive downsides to this political class idea went unheeded and the state government passed law AB15 which required that Uber and Lyft drivers (and other independent contractors) be full time employees of any company who hired them. As a result, Uber and Lyft have made it very clear what is likely to happen if forced to live under this ridiculous law:

• Until a recent court hearing gave them some breathing room, Uber and Lyft were hours away from ceasing operations in the state of California.
• This would have and still might, force many, many Uber and Lyft drivers to be out of a job and remove a wonderful service from the market, a service that has proven itself to provide choice, reduce costs, generate jobs and economic growth.
• Uber estimates that if it is forced to go to a full time employee model that 75% of its California drivers will lose their jobs.
• Uber also told the court that if forced to change its business model, the millions of dollars needed to invest in the new business requirements would raise costs 120% for the consumers while reducing the number of consumers who would have access to an Uber ride.
• A full time employee model for the companies will require that employees work 40 hours week which would make sure that stay at home parents, retirees, and college students looking for part time work would be forced out of a job and lose the contractor paycheck that they were happy with.
• This will force both Uber and Lyft to change their business model and make significant investments to the new model being forced on them, resulting in additional costs that will be passed on to the consumers.
• Some people will see a major drop off in service since there will be fewer drivers available at most times since xx% of drivers have been axed.

Great job California politicians. Take a new, vibrant market segment, one that satisfies both contract employee and customer needs, encourages economic growth, grows the tax base and muck it up because of your economic ignorance. 

And it is not just Uber and Lyft drivers that will get screwed in the end. The law applies to ALL independent contractors, e.g. artists, free lance writers, independent truck drivers, etc. If any company wants to hire any of these California folks for a short term job contract, the law requires them to become full time company employees. 

And it is pretty obvious what will happen: a publication looking for a story to be written will not hire a California writer, they will go to another writer in another state where the contract worker relationship still exists. An independent truck driver in California will likely lose out to truckers in other states since a trucking company may want short term contract workers, not full time workers. As a result, a large swath of California independent workers and contractors will suffer significant financial hits because of this economic ignorance.

The free market, when allowed to be free, is the greatest wealth and job creator in the world. The problem is that the ignorance and egos of politicians restrict that freedom and such behavior never results in better economic conditions for anyone. 

Just ask the soon to be laid off Uber and Lyft drivers and those customers that will find it harder to get a lift and those drunks that are now out driving on the streets if life was better now that the political class jumped into something they were obviously clueless about.

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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

August, 2020, Part 15,Political Class Insanity: From Sea To Shining Sea, Political Class Insanity Reigns

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc.

To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.

1) There has been a lot of insanity coming out of New York City lately. The mayor, Bill de Blasio, has had to deal with a botched coronavirus handling of his own doing, his defunding of the police department in the presence of an ever increasing violent crime wave and a growing and dangerous homeless problem. He really has to qualify as one of the worst mayors currently in office in the country today. In fact, a Congressman from his own party recently declared him the worst mayor in the history of the country regardless of city.

Well, it seems his wife is not much better when it comes to being efficient and effective with taxpayer money:

• His wife, Chirlane McCray, heads up some sort of organization that does work for the city and is funded with city tax dollars.
• She has a staff of 14 people.
• So far, so good.
• Unfortunately, her staff’s salary expense on an annual basis is about $2 million a year, well over $100,000 per employee on average.
• This is allowed to go on despite her whiny husband’s lament that he may have to fire important people on the city payroll like police officers, firemen, and EMTs while her group sucks down $2 million a year just in salaries.
• One member of her staff is a videographer who makes a whopping $70,000 a year.
• She also has a $117,000 speech writer on her staff and a $150,000 senior advisor.
• A spokesperson for the mayor defended his wife and her high salaried employees: “The First Lady manages a robust portfolio and her team works tirelessly to carry out goals and priorities on issues like mental health and domestic violence that will improve the lives of New Yorkers.” 

So the first lady of NYC has a high priced staff of 14 employees. The First Lady of the United States has a smaller staff than 14. I think that maybe the mayor’s wife has an oversized opinion of herself, given the size of her staff and the amount of money she makes off of the NYC taxpayer.

2) While NYC has been mentioned in a lot of our posts, San Francisco is probably not too far behind as regards to bad news. And most of that bad news is due to the mismanagement and inane rules and laws the city’s political class has passed over the years. We have covered the reality any number of times that it is not illegal to defecate, urinate, or shoot up illegal drugs in public inside the city.

This has led to a continually deteriorating set of living conditions and an ever growing homeless population. What once was one of the most exciting, cool, and intriguing cities in the country has been turned into a cesspool of dirt, filth and unsanitary living conditions as outlined in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw8MACDZ3RI

Of course, some local politicians would blame Donald Trump although these conditions existed in the city, possibly less intensely, long before Trump came into office. Plus, it is the local politicians’ laws that have made the situation so bad, not anything coming out of Washington. The politicians in the city apparently have no idea how to fix what they obviously have broke.

3) Most politicians get insanely rich off of their so-called public service. We have previously covered the reality that Barack Obama owns three homes worth tens of millions of dollars despite never having worked in a lucrative part of the private sector and never having made more than $400,000 a year in salary. Nancy Pelosi is also insanely rich despite never having earned more than a few hundred thousand dollars a year as a member of Congress. The list of enriched Washington politicians could go on for a long time.

But possibly two former city managers in Texas are better at this political self enrichment scheme than any of the crooks in Washington:

• The city manager in Laredo, Texas received over $880,000 when he left his position in 2019.
• And obviously Laredo is no big time American city or not close to being the richest city either with only 261,000 residents whose average salary is only $15,127 a year.
• In May, 2017, the Laredo city council decided to promote Horacio De Leon, Jr. to be interim city manager.
• The following August he was made the permanent city manager and he earned a whopping $314,556 as an annual salary in 2018.
• De Leon had been a long term city employee with a good track record of performance.
• But in 2019, just 20 months after appointing him to be the Lardeo city manager, the town council got rid of him at a cost of $880,486, according to the Open The Books anti-corruption organization.
• Of that $880,486, almost $570,000 of that was a severance payment, vacation and sick leave pay was almost $193,000, his regular salary which was over $76,000, and other payments.
• But this was not the first expensive screw up by the city council’s politicians since in 2017 they fired the previous city manager, Jesus Olivares who got a whopping $651,867 when he was booted out of office.
• Both men will also receive lifetime taxpayer funded health insurance coverage.

The news articles about this corruption did not discuss why both men were forced out. In any case, the city council obviously screwed up royally by either picking the wrong men for the job or giving them a contract that was ridiculously expensive for Laredo taxpayers.

Seems the city council politicians are the ones that should be forced out of their positions, given how they have so mismanaged the taxpayers’ tax dollars. But for De Leon and Olivares, nicely and profitably done.

4) The hypocrisy of many politicians across the country and their “do as I say, not as I do” attitude as been disgustedly display during the coronavirus crisis:

• The mayor of Chicago had her hair salon open so she could get a haircut although she prohibited her city residents and hair salons from doing the same.
• The mayor of Beaumont, Texas had her nail salon open up to get her nails done even though she prohibited her city residents and nail salons from doing the same.
• The mayor of NYC had his gym open up so he could work out even though he prohibited his city residents and gyms from doing the same.
• The governor of Oregon was recently spotted out on a hiking trail without a mask on even though she required all of her residents to have a mask on when they are outside.

You get the idea, you must obey my commands even if I do not. And it looks like the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is guilty of the same type of hypocrisy:

• Cuomo has a hit list of about three dozen states that he says have virus infection rates that are too high for his state and NYC.
• As a result, anyone coming into his state from those other states must quarantine themselves for two weeks in order to not infect New Yorkers and increase that state’s virus infection rate.
• This is pretty ironic and hypocritical of him since early in the virus crisis, when New Yorkers were scramming out of the state to their Rhode Island vacation homes Cuomo got really upset when the Rhode Island governor did the same thing to New Yorkers coming into her state but that is a story for another time.
• More recently, Cuomo decided that he would exempt famous musicians from this mandatory 14 day quarantine restriction so that they could travel to New York City for the annual MTV Video Music Awards show.
• So if you or I travel to New York City and disobey the 14 day quarantine rule, we get fined and maybe go to jail.
• Famous people go to New York City and they don't have to follow the same restrictions that get us fined and jailed, sounds about right.
• A spokesperson for the governor tried to whitewash this hypocrisy, saying that these famous rock stars and musicians can “participate in the production of the show, but they will only interact with other members of the cast and crew and will quarantine when not working.”
• The spokesperson went to say that these people will police themselves with “rigorous safety protocols including testing and screening and compliance checks by a special compliance officer.”

Can you imagine the reaction you would get if you told Cuomo that you would police yourself with “rigorous safety protocols” and thus did not have to abide by the state’s quarantine rules? I doubt that he would let you get by with that promise.

But he allows famous people to bypass the safety protocols that he applies to everyone else. Famous people can pass on the virus just as easily as the rest of us, being a good musician has nothing to do with being less contagious. But hey, this is an American politician doing what they do best, “do as I say, not as I do.”

Wasting taxpayer money in NYC, wasting a city in San Francisco, wasting taxpayer money in Laredo, and special rules for special people in New York, political class insanity comes in many different forms.

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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

August, 2020, Part 14, Political Class Insanity: The "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" Political Class Mantra

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc.

To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.

1) Unfortunately, this first topic recurs way too many times in this blog and in the news. As we have so often said, a basic, basic function of government, at any level, is to protect the lives and property of the citizens it should be serving. In Chicago, this basic function gets less and less viable every day as politicians there seem to have no way of understanding and then quelling the ever growing violence and lawlessness in the city:

• According to the Chicago Sun Times, on a recent single Wednesday in Chicago, 21 people were shot.
• Six people were shot in a single shooting incident.
• A nine year old boy and his mother were also shot and both are in critical condition after the shooting.
• It was the third time in just four days that at least 20 people were shot in a single day.
• The mother and son were shot at 1:15 in the afternoon when a vehicle stopped, two men exited the vehicle and started shooting.
• According to the police, the two were not the target of the shooters, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• The previous weekend, 64 Chicago residents were shot over the weekend.

It never ends. In fact, it seems to be getting worse and no local or state politician seems to know how to fix what they have obviously broken.

2) One possible reason that the situation in Chicago is not getting fixed is that the mayor, Lori Lightfoot, may be more interested in protecting her own life and property than the lives and property of her citizens:

• She has directed the Chicago Police Department to ban protesters from coming onto the block where she lives.
• She pulled this stunt because she does not feel safe, given the threats that have come to her.“I think that residents of this city, understanding the nature of the threats that we are receiving on a daily basis, on a daily basis, understand I have a right to make sure that my home is secure.”
• So she makes sure that her home and family are secure but has no idea to make sure that the homes and lives of others are “secure.”
• She went on to basically say she is special because of the ever increasing violent times and cannot be compared to the police given to previous mayors because, “This is different like no other.”

So this is basically a variation of that favorite politician ploy, “do as I say not as I do.” I am going to take care of myself, my family and my property first and maybe, just maybe, once I am secure, I may find a way to do the same for you. 

3) The “do as I say not as I do” process recently played out with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. The state of California, as we have discussed previously, is a top candidate state to be the first state to go bankrupt. It has pretty heavy competition in that field, specifically Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, but California has been living beyond its means for years.

And then along comes the coronavirus and the state ends up putting out billions and billions of dollars to fight the virus. Which gets us to Newsom’ latest hypocrisy:

• Keep on mind that the good governor, according to sources, is probably worth over $20 million.
• Given how rich he is and how many businesses he owns, you could probably make a case that he should not accept the governor’s salary in these times of hardship for the state treasury.
• But he does take a salary of about $17,000 a month.
• Several months ago he recommended that he and other state employees take a 10% pay cut to help out the state’s dire financial situation.
• Nice gesture to the public, leaders helping out if only from a symbolic way.
• When he asked state workers to take the same 10% cut, he pledged he would do the same.
• However, a recent Sacramento Bee investigation found that months later, lo and behold, the governor never took that pay cut and has been drawing his full salary since making the pledge to cut his own pay.
• When pressed, a spokesperson for Newsom claimed there was an “administrative error” that prevented the pay cut."The Governor publicly committed to taking the same pay cut as other state workers when he introduced his budget in May and has officially asked the Controller to adjust his pay, effective July 1. The reductions for both July and August will be deducted for the next pay period."
• Yeah right, he makes this big announcement and sacrifice and then nothing happens, a shaky excuse for such a high visibility pledge.
• Of the top eight state government officials, only one, the State Controller Betty Vee, actually made sure that she took the 10% pay cut.

So much for leadership, tightening the belt for the greater good. One out of eight, so pathetic. Again, “do as I say, not as I do.”

4) Oh boy, it looks like we have a “do as I say, not as I do” theme underway. The governor of Oregon has been very adamant and stringent in forcing state residents to wear masks both inside and outside to theoretically combat the virus:

• But apparently that does not apply to herself and her security detail, according to a recent news story.
• Reportedly, the governor, Kate Brown, was actually out on a nature trail hiking with some of the security detail.
• An Oregon resident was out in the woods with her kids when the governor came by unmasked.
• Also, none of her accompanying people were wearing masks also, a clear violation of her own edict.

Again, this is a small gesture but a large symbolic act. If you want your citizens to wear masks everywhere, inside and outdoors, and put up with the hassle of doing so, you should do the same thing also. Otherwise, you are just another hypocrite within the American political class, “do as I say, not as I do.” 

So sad there are so few leaders in the political arena in this country today. From a Chicago mayor who makes sure she is safe while her citizens are not, to a millionaire California governor who can certainly afford a 10% pay cut but somehow it never happens until a local newspaper points it out to an Oregon governor who does not follow her own simple edict. It is no wonder that Portland is being destroyed by riots every night, this governor has little to offer in leadership skills.

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Note: we have done a lot reporting on the dire and ever worsening situation in Chicago. The crime, the violence, and the shootings have resulted in more wounded citizens, more fatalities and a more dangerous place to be. In those discussions we have always pointed out that the mayor and those in public office in Chicago have no idea how to fix this deteriorating situation. While the vast majority of people cannot help fix what the local political class has broken, may I suggest that a donation be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago to at least give the kids of the city a chance, a safe place to go and just be kids. The address for donating to this fine organization is:

Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Club Support Center

2102 W. Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60612

Thank you, be part of the solution.

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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