On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political 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 third and final 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.
1)We have always contended that a major and very, very basic tenet and reason for having any government entity is to protect the lives and property of the citizens it serves. No matter how well a government entity does in other areas, if it cannot protect lives and property then it is a failure.
Nowhere has this tenet been so violated than in Chicago. For years, we have discussed the daily/weekly/monthly/annual carnage that Chicago residents have to worry about. Every year, hundreds of Chicago residents are killed and thousands are wounded by violence in the city streets. Thus, the city and county politicians, most recently Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, have been miserable failures in protecting Chicago lives.
Consider the latest violence numbers from the city:
Over a recent weekend, not a week, a weekend, 19 Chicago residents were shot.
Four of those 19 died from their wounds.
From January 1 through November 26, just under 11 months, a whopping 630 Chciago residents have been murdered by city violence and gun fire.
On average, this comes out to almost two murders every DAY in the city.
Definitely a failed government entity when tomorrow two people will be murdered in the city, and two will be murdered the next day, etc.
2)Sometimes it is impossible to fathom how ignorant politicians can be regarding simple numbers and simple math. Consider some of the political class insanity that is being discussed in California:
California’s governor, Gavin Newsome, created a nine member council a while ago.
The purpose of this council was to decide if and how much in reparations should be paid to African Americans citizens in the state, reparations that are supposed to pay these folks for past perceived transgressions against them but more likely, their ancestors.
Specifically, the council passed a motion back in March that eligibility be based on “an individual being an African American descendant of a chattel enslŠ°ved person or the descendant of a free Black person living in the US prior to the end of the 19th century.”
Thus, the council and governor want current California taxpayers to pay relatives of people who lived over a hundred years ago.
And we are not talking about a trivial amount of money.
The council estimates that African American state residents could get as much as $233,200, each for doing nothing except being a relative of someone who lived in the 1800s.
Since about 7% of the state residents would be eligible for reparation payments, the total cost to the state taxpayers could be $569,000,000,000 ($569 billion).
Since the ENTIRE annual state government budget is about $233 billion, the governor and the council want to give away more than double what the entire state government budget is in a year.
Since this is a government entity that has about $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars) in unfunded future liabilities, it is total insanity to put another half trillion dollars or so on top of these existing unfunded liabilities.
Even if one thinks that it is fair to reward state residents today who may or may not have ancestors who experienced bad experiences over a hundred years ago, where is this money coming from? The state is in debt. Residents and businesses are fleeing the state in greater and greater numbers, taking their tax dollars with them which will make it more impossible for the state political class to pay this half a trillion dollars. Incredible numbers insanity, numbers that are impossible to understand.
3)Far too many times in this blog we have reported on the trillions of taxpayer dollars that have been lost, stolen, or wasted by government programs that were overseen by lax politicians and government bureaucrats. From Medicare to Scoial Security to Pentagon expenditures to just plain stupid foreign aid and domestic programs, the waste of hard earned taxpayer dollars is a national disgrace., the numbers do not lie.
And to this tradition of wasting taxpayer dollars continues:
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Labor Department had almost $45 billion stolen out of its covid unemployment funds.
The New York Post reported that criminal activity across all Federal government covid relief programs is almost a staggering $600 billion.
To put this in perspective, this $600 billion is almost 80% of the Pentagon’s annual military budget of $778 billion.
Another government program, covid relief, that is rife with fraud, criminal activity, and wasteful pending. To put $600 billion in perspective:
At any time in this country there are about 500,000 homeless Americans out on our streets.
As we have previously shown, the average cost to provide a good meal for a homeless American in shelters across the country is about $2.94.
Thus, that wasted $600 billion, could have created more than 200 billion meals for American homeless folks, or 40,000 meals for each homeless person which would lead to three good meals for each homeless American for about 320 years!
In other words, that wasted $600 billion could feed every homeless American very well for very, very long.
But as usual, American homeless will go hungry while Washington’s political class continues to waste unreal amounts of taxpayer dollars.
4)Although not as bad as losing $600 billion, apparently the current U.S. taxpayer funding of the war in Ukraine against the Russian invasion is, as one would assume, not funding that has tight audit controls.
Apparently the Biden administration finally realized that it really did not know where and how $20 billion of U.S. taxpayer funded Ukrainian aid was going and how it was being spent. I would wager a guess that a large portion of that $20 billion is not doing anything close to helping the Ukranians fight back the Russian army, given the past history of Washington politicians spending money with no audit controls or paper trails in place.
Consider this scenario:
It costs, on average, just over $6,200 a year to help an American with their drug addiction problem.
If we divide this $6,200 into $20 billion we find that annually, on average, that $20 billion could help about 320,000 Americans overcome their drug addiction.
So, the question is should we as a nation spend $20 billion on a far away war without knowing where and how that $20 billion is being spent or should the money be directed to helping Americans in need?
I do not propose to answer that question here. But the numbers show how much Americans could be helped, be it the homeless or drug addicted, if the political class in this country had a better sense of priorities and certainly a better sense and respect about how taxpayer money is being wasted and stolen.
That will do it for today’s numbers: Chicago’s carnage numbers are still outrageously high, California reparations numbers are ridiculous and the government and the politicians that operate it have no idea where taxpayer money is being spent. 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:
