Wednesday, February 28, 2024

February, 2024, Part 7, Political Class Insanity: Biden's Failed Immigration Policies Continue To Plague Americans And A Washington Politician Lives The Good Life

 Every month we devote posts to just general political class insanity that is running rampant through the country. The members of the American political class continue to show that they are incapable of operating any level of government in this country. 

Even their best efforts are almost always inefficient and ineffective at resolving any problem facing Americans. They spend a great amount of time not trying to improve the lives of their citizens but continually ensuring their reelection and enriching themselves, their families, and their friends in the process, all at taxpayer expense.


1)We have  often made the point that the Washington political class members often take care of themselves first, their political handlers and donors second, illegal immigrants third, and if they have the time and energy, American citizens. They trade on insider government information to make themselves rich. They hand out taxpayer money to their political supporters, not to make life better for Amee

ricans, but to ensure they have a steady flow of political campaigns to themselves, which they often direct towards their own self enrichment and the enrichment of friends and families.


Congressman Eric Swalwell recently reinforced this portrait of Washington greed:


  • It recently came to light that his reelection campaign organization, “Swalwell for Congress,” saw hundreds of thousands of dollars be diverted to pay for his travel expenses, high end dinners, and luxury spa visits.

  • According to Federal Election Commission records, these personal expenses came to over $350,000.

  • And these recorded expenses did not include stays at a Holiday Inn Express but stays at very high end hotels (e.g. Aman in New York and Peninsula Shanghai) along with tens  of thousands of dollars spent at high end airport lounges.

  • The dining expenses include over $200,000 in meals at high end restaurants, where meals in some cases the average cost per person was hundreds of dollars.

  • $63,500 was paid for luxury spa experiences in spas that ranged from California,  his home state,  to Hawaii.

  • Shalwell’s spokesperson not only defended the wasteful  spending on self indulgence by saying these expenses were legal but also tried to hideously claim that they were necessary for the Congressman to effectively reach out to his constituents.


If he had any type of moral  compass, he could have idled back this ridiculous opulent living and spending and donated that money to those in need in his district. That would not only buy him political gain but it would also help out those Americans in need. But no, like most in Washington, his needs come first as does his extravagant lifestyle.


2)One of the cities in the country facing dire economic hardships as a result of Biden’s failed immigration policies is Demver. We have often discussed the strain that the 40,000 illegal immigrants that have come to the city are putting on taxpayer funded resources. 


The city government, which in a sense deserves this crisis since their politicians  for years have sanctimoniously yelled that they were a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants, have had to cut government services to American citizens to feed, house, and medically service the 40,000 illegal immigrants. City residents that are homeless, hungry, and facing medical crises have taken a backseat to the care and tending of the illegal immigrants in the city.


And  now that crisis has reached another aspect of Denver’s citizens:


  • The influx of illegal immigrants is adding about 250 students to Demver public schools a week.

  • The Denver  public schools superintendent, Alex Marrero, has called this eruption of new students an “unprecedented challenge.”

  • This immigration influx of students has already cost the city $837,000 “to support additional needs across the [school] system.”

  • Obviously, it is Denver taxpayers that will be shelling out at least this amount of money for supporting the illegal  immigrant student load.

  • In the past year and half the school system has taken on 3,000 more students which has required the hiring of more staff, with the focus on bilingual teachers.


As we mentioned under the above Shalwell discussion, Washington politicians care more about illegal  immigrants and it is the American taxpayers and citizens that are paying the price for these Washington attitudes. Denver is a perfect example of Washington politicians disdain for the well being of Americans and the prudent use of their tax dollars.

3)Staying with the illegal  immigrant crisis, it is conservatively estimated that about 7,000,000 people have illegally entered the country since Biden took office. This means that, conservatively:


  • More people have illegally entered the country than the populations of 33 states.

  • These 7,000,000 illegal  immigrants, if they had their own state, would have more people than states like Maryland, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin to just name a few.

  • If they had one state, they would have more people than the populations of Delaware, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and the District of Columbia combined.


As we have often noted, while many of these 7,000,000 people just want a better life for themselves, those 7,000,000 also include drug cartel members, South and Central American gang members, children and adult sex traffickers, terrorist elements, and other not very nice people. This has resulted in  innocent Americans being raped, attacked, murdered, and robbed, atrocities that likely would have  not happened if Biden had an semblance of a strong immigration plan and enforcement.


A very, very basic tenet of any government organization is to protect the lives and property of the citizens they serve. Obviously, Biden has failed miserably in executing this government tenet.


4)Let’s revisit another failure of Biden’s immigration policies that we have discussed previously:

  • Many of the illegal immigrants that have entered the country are kids without any parent or adult attachments.

  • These often got here in the U.S. because cartels, human smuggling rings, and freelance smugglers got them into the country for a price.

  • The liberal leaning, left wing New York Times recently published two reports on the widespread abuse, exploitation, and trafficking of kids.

  • According to the Times reporting, many kids are being forced to work in meatpacking plants, food processing plants, and construction jobs, basically serving as slave labor because any money they garner is going to the smugglers who smuggled them into the country.

  • The Federal government, currently being operated by the Biden administration is responsible for caring for these kids they find coming over the border and finding sponsors to house, feed, and care for them.

  • Once a kid is placed with a sponsor the Federal  government is supposed to call their sponsor to see how the kids are doing.

  • However, government reports confirm and admit that of the 300,000 kids that the Biden administration has placed with sponsors, a whopping 85,000 of those kids have disappeared and the Biden administration has no idea where they are and whether they are safe or being exploited.


So not only does the Washington political class not care about American citizens in need but also do not seem to care about the welfare of the kids they have apprehended at the border and then lost somewhere in the country. They have literally lost the whereabouts of over 25% of the kids they once had responsibility for. They have not idea where 85,000 kids are and what their life, health, and well being is. Pathetic treatment of a most vulnerable population.


https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/biden-border-crisis/


That will do it for today’s Insanity: Biden’s failed immigration  policies continue to bring havoc to American citizens and another Washington politician continues to live the good life.


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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



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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:

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

February, 2024, By The Numbers: A State Government Going Bankrupt, The Country Going Bankrupt, and Paying More and Getting Less today

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 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 all  too often discussed the reality that residents and  businesses are fleeing certain states and  moving to other states for a better quality of life. Reasons for leaving their old states behind include:


  • Very heavy tax burdens.

  • Very high business regulation burdens.

  • High crime rates.

  • Failing schools.

  • Failing infrastructure.


Things have  gotten so bad that have predicted that relatively soon a state government will  go bankrupt,  given the financial death spiral that some may have  already entered:


  • High taxes, high crime, etc. drive residents and businesses out of a state.

  • This results in lower tax revenue to the state government which raises taxes on the remaining businesses and residents to make up the shortfall.

  • This drives even more residents and businesses out of the state, further reducing the tax stream.

  • The state government now has to raise taxes on the remaining residents and business and start cutting budgets for government services which drives more residents and businesses out of the state and the financial death spiral is up and running.


States that we feel are likely to go bankrupt include California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. They already share the profile of a financial death spiral with New York facing the following problematic numbers:

  • Bloomberg estimates that $2 TRILLION in assets have left New York and California for other states with better tax and business climates.

  • From 2020 through 2023, 370 major investment companies with $2.7 TRILLION in  managed assets have  moved their headquarters to a new state with most of the $2.7 TRILLION having left New York.

  • This represents a whopping 2.5% of total investments in the  country.

  • These assets have been moved to Texas, Florida, and other, business friendly southern states.

  • For example, two companies,  AllianceBernstein (New York) and Allspring  Global  Investments (California), have helped move $600 billion in managed assets to North Carolina.

  • In 1990, 33% of all financial  industry jobs were located in New York but as of 2023 only 17% of those jobs were in New York, an amazing 50% dropoff.

The numbers are staggering, high powered financial  firms and  jobs leaving New York for better conditions and quality of life elsewhere. As  quoted by one investment executive in a New York Post article: “It’s embarrassing what you have to put up with to do business here (New York). We look like idiots staying here.”

If people look like idiots for doing something, they are unlikely to continue to do that something. I think it is a very good bet that high powered and lucrative jobs will continue to leave New York, heightening the chance of a financial  death spiral and the bankruptcy of the state and probably the city of New York.

2)We have talked often about how Biden’s  economic policies have been a  total disaster for regular, working Americans. The current issue of Reason  magazine had a nice summary of how bad his economic policies have been:

  • Overall inflation, the cost of living, is up 18.9% since 2020. most of which  was when Biden was President.

  • In the past year, inflation is up 3.1%, 50% higher than what is deemed comfortable and bearable according to the Federal  Reserve.

  • Cable, satellite, and streaming service costs are up 16.2% since 2020 and are up 4.2% in the past year.

  • While medical drugs are up only 6.2% since 2020, they jumped 5% in the past year.

  • Sugar and sweets are up 25.6%  since 2020 and are up 5.4% in the past year,

  • Meats are up 26.8% since 2020 and are still increasing, up 3.6% in the past year.

  • The price of a gallon of gas is up about 35% since 2020.


Now, while the time frame covers all of the Biden Presidency and the last year of the Trump Presidency, most of the increased cost of living has  occurred as a result of Biden's  failed economic policies. For  example, while gas prices are up 25.5% since 2020, they actually went down during Trump’s last year in office, going from $2.636 a gallon in January 2020 to $2.338 a gallon in January 2021. This means that gas has increased about 35% since Biden took office.


These numbers are crushing household budgets across the country as the cost of food, gas, sweets, drugs, and other vital life products and services have spiked. The numbers do not lie, Biden’s economy stinks for the vast majority of Americans.


3)In 1990, the Federal  government’s national debt was about $4,000,000,000,000. As of February 16, 2023, the national debt was $34,269,060,493,915. Some interesting numbers of of these devastating numbers:


  • Every man,woman, and child in the country would have to EACH pay over $100,000 to pay off the current national debt, a number that increases every second.

  • The national debt has grown eight fold in just 33 years as a result of out of control and wasteful government spending.

  • The Congressional  Budget Office calls the current fiscal  path “unsustainable,” i.e. unless spending is gotten under control some very bad things are going  to happen very soon.

  • But the amount of debt being incurred by Washington seems to be increasing not decreasing as is so urgently needed since in fiscal year 2023, Washington spend $6.13 TRILLION but only had $4.440 TRILLION in revenue for a one year budget deficit of about $1.69 TRILLION.

  • In other words, Washington and the Biden administration spent 38% more in costs and expenses than it collected in revenue, hardly a sane, long term fiscal  policy.

  • And the year before was not much better since the deficit was still a whopping $1.37 TRILLION.


Let’s try to put this in more meaningful terms:


  • Let’s say you made $44,400 (analogous to the Federal tax revenue stream) last year.

  • But you maxed out your credit cards and  lines of credit and spent $61,300 (analogous to the amount the Federal  government spent) which put you $16,900 (analogous to the Federal deficit) in debt for the year.

  • But you already had about $320,000 in debt (analogous to the national debt) coming into the year.

  • So you made $44,400,  you spent $61,300, you incurred debt of $16,900 which added to the $320,000 you already had in debt.

  • I am pretty sure that some time very soon, banks, credit card companies, stores, etc. are no longer going to  lend you money given your dire financial straits and debt levels.

  • Which means you are going  to have to default on all of your obligations, lose your house and car to creditors, have a horrendous credit rating which means no one is ever going to lend you money, and rather than live on $61,900 you are going to have to cut back and live on a $44,400 lifestyle or less if part of your wages are garnished to pay off your debts.


That is where the Federal government is heading, a heading that will result in  higher taxes, fewer services, reduced Social Security and Medicare coverage, and rampant inflation as the cost of servicing a $34 trillion debt load gets more and more expensive.


Really bad numbers: heading for bankruptcy at the state government level, heading for bankruptcy at the Federal government  levels, and paying more for living in the meantime. Way to go Washington and state capital people, your numbers are pathetic and dangerous.


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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



**********************


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: