It’s another month so let’s review the latest greed, incompetence, screwups, insanity, and failings of various members of the American political class:
1)We have often discussed the race that exists between various U.S. cities and states that are racing to the finish line of financial bankruptcy. Cities like New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco along with states like New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California have politicians that misspend taxpayer wealth on failed programs while at the same time spending much more than what they collect in taxes, a formula that will eventually result in a city and state bankruptcy.
For a while, it was our contention that Illinois would be the first state to go bankrupt. The high tax rates, high crime rates, and general ineptness of the state’s politicians have been driving businesses and residents out of the state for years. This has reduced the taxpayer base which reduces the tax stream going to the state government which results in budget cuts and worsening quality of life which drives out more businesses and residents and the financial death spiral is in place.
But lately it looks like California is gaining in the race to go bankrupt. We have already discussed how major businesses have moved their companies or major parts of their companies out of the state including Toyota, Charles Schwab, Tesla, Uber, AirBNB, Oracle, and others, taking jobs and tax streams with them. Consider some recent developments relative to the state’s potential financial death spiral:
According to a study from the Public Policy Institute of California, the state is losing both higher income and middle income households, the type of households that provide the bulk of the taxes to the state government.
The report found that over 200,000 wealthy households left the state in 2021, up from 150,000 in 2019.
Half of those that left the state were working remotely and no longer needed to live in the high tax state of California.
According to Kerry Jackson, a research fellow at the Pacific Research Institute's Center For California reform: “If people aren’t tied to an office, when they can work from anywhere, many are going to choose to live where their dollars go further than they do in California. The cost of living here is a burden, even for many who are considered wealthy. It starts with housing. California’s punitive taxes also make moving out appealing. Remote work is an escape hatch.”
Those high taxes include a top state income tax rate of 13.3% and an 8.84% business tax.
The reality that housing costs twice the national average is also a driving force of out migration.
Overall, almost 700,000 Californians left the state between April, 2020 and July, 2022 according to Census data.
As we have always said, people want to be free and that includes keeping and enjoying as much of their hard earned wages as possible. And when that freedom is threatened, people will take actions to maximize their freedom. And when they leave, politicians usually do not reduce the budget and inefficiencies of the government functions they oversee to account for the reduced business and resident taxes and the death spiral has begun.
2)We have often maintained that the country can survive bad Presidents (.e.g. Nixon, Carter, Obama, Biden) and other bad politicians but it is doubtful that the country and our freedoms can survive a corrupted, biased, and tainted press industry, a press industry that slants news, ignores facts, and favors certain political entities over others, violating the integrity of their duty to provide insightful and honest reporting.
It has been pretty clear over the years that the New York Times has been an extremely biased news organization, going out of its way to slant news and events to make Democrats and liberals look better than they deserved to be. But a recent article has gone way over the line to protect a Democratic President, Joe Biden, who has been in the throes of declining cognitive ability ever since he campaigned for President.
Biden's gaffes, both actions and words, have been a continuing embarrassment for the country on both the domestic and international scenes. He obviously has very little clue on what is going on, endangering lives, freedoms, and the very well being of the country. But according to the New York Times, this cognitive decline is no big deal:
To the Times writer, David Leonhart, it really doesn't matter if Biden is failing mentally because, in his opinion, the United States government can function without a fully functional, mentally stable President.
According to Leonhart: “Strange as it may sound, the American government can function without a healthy President.”
Seriously, the New York Times thinks that a President, one likely stricken with dementia, is no big deal.
He inanely tries to compare FDR to Biden, a President who was 20 years younger than Biden and a President who was physically impaired not mentally impaired: “In each case, White House aides, Cabinet secretaries and military leaders performed well despite the lack of a fully engaged leader.”
For the height of hypocrisy, this is the same writer who said that Trump should be removed from office because of his perceived “mental instability.”
“Not The Bee” summed up this insanity nicely: “The New York Times, the ‘truth to power’ people, the nation’s Paper of Record, is really suggesting that it doesn’t matter whether or not we elect a literal corpse for the Democrats.”
Leonhart then basically contradicts his hypothesis that a corpse of JFK could also be an effective President: “Biden’s strategy of minimizing public appearances suggests that his staff believes the risk often isn’t worth the reward.”
Of course they minimize public appearances because every time they allow that type of exposure he makes a fool of himself and the country. An obviously extreme example of the mainstream press being completely dishonest and out of integrity. No one who listens to Biden can assert he is in control of his responsibilities and duties. The denial of that reality proves that the journalism industry in this country is corrupt to the core.
3)To illustrate how dumb the previous discussion was, consider the following report from Axios:
Axios recently reported that Biden is really only functional between the hours of 10:00 am through 4:00 Monday through Friday.
He is basically out of touch with the world outside of those hours and days.
According to Axios: “Biden’s close advisers say he’s mentally sharp. But even some of them concede his age has diminished his energy, significantly limiting his schedule.Many White House officials say they’re amazed at Biden’s stamina — often adding the caveat: ‘for his age.'”
Biden’s entire 2023 schedule includes only four events prior to 10:00 am, 12 events after 6:00 and at least 12 weekends where he is nowhere to be found.
Despite a recent visit to Ireland, a kid at a recent Presidential event had to tell him that his latest visit was indeed to Ireland when Biden could not remember where he was less than two weeks ago: “I’ve met with 89 heads of state so far. So, uh, I’m trying to think what’s the last place I was. … It’s hard to keep track … uh.” “Ireland!” a kid in the crowd yelled. “Yeah, you’re right, Ireland,” he replied. “That’s what it was. How did you know that?”
A telling symptom of dementia type diseases is lack of focus, especially later in the day, the “sundown syndrome.” Given Biden’s age and continuing lack of focus and gaffes, can there really be any doubt that he is in the throes of cognitive decline? And the New York Times does NOT have a problem with that. We are so screwed as a nation: a cognitive impaired President and a mainstream press outlet who says “No problem.”
4)This post is turning into a Biden disaster:
At a recent event, Biden declared that he is rooting for the Philadelphia Flyers to win the Stanley Cup playoffs this year.
No problem for him rooting for his favorite team except for the reality that the Flyers did not even make the NHL playoffs, which means it is impossible for the Flyers to fulfill Biden’s wish.
In fact, the Flyers were one of the worst teams in the league, finishing second to last in the Metropolitan Division with only 31 wins vs. 51 losses and thus, no even coming close to making the playoffs.
When he cannot even get details straight on his favorite hockey team right, are you still comfortable with him having access to the nuclear codes?
5)Unfortunately, Biden is not the only inept person in his administration. Peter Buttigieg is Biden’s Secretary of Transportation and the country’s transportation situation has been a disgrace since he took over:
He could not resolve the massive supply chain problem that bogged down the country and economy early in Biden’s tenure.
We have had more train derailments in the past two years than many previous administrations combined.
The nation’s airline industry has suffered serious delays and hassles because of incompetence at the FAA.
Given the major problems the country is facing in transportation, one would hope that Buttigieg is laser focused on fixing those problems.
But as always with American politicians, hope is never a reality. In a recent interview Buttigieg somehow managed to tie pending Congressional legislation that would prevent men from playing against women in sports to the need to fix the country’s infrastructure: “That was the priority for the House GOP that day. So these things really are getting in the way of our ability to get work done. We’re literally building bridges, and they are literally banning books.”
How is debating a topic that is non-transportation related having a significant impact on infrastructure needs? Is Congress supposed to only focus on his area and fixing his screwups? My gosh, talk about deflection. He cannot do his job because Congress has other issues to address. Senator Ted Cruz summed up all of Buttigieg’s nonsense very nicely: “What in the hell does Pete Buttigieg have to do to get fired? Like in the history of this country, has there ever been a transportation secretary who has screwed more things up?”
Unfortunately, the same could be said for most of Biden’s Cabinet secretaries, useless and ineffective.
Alright, enough insanity: California politicians continue to drive the state into a financial death spiral. Biden is not mentally fit to continue to be President and his transportation was likely never fit to be in that job.
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