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)Biden’s economic policies have been a disaster for the majority of Americans: higher gas prices, higher food prices, higher mortgage costs, higher utility prices, soaring credit card debt, dramatic increase in the poverty rate, etc. And so food banks around the country are facing a double edged problem:
More and more Americans are turning to the them for food support for their families while their purchasing power to purchase food for these folks has been eroded by Biden’s inflationary economic policies.
According to the nonprofit group, Feeding America, one in seven Aericans are struggling to feed themselves and their families.
Jen Muzia is with the Seattle Ballard Foodbank and she recently said that operating the food bank has become much more expensive during the Biden era:“It’s not only our guests that come in to shop. We’re also seeing it on us as we go to buy food. It’s costing us way more to buy food.”
She went on to say her food bank has had to purchase a lot more food to keep up with the increased need this year vs. last year: “For us, we are seeing more than double what we saw pre-pandemic. And then we’ve seen even a greater increase when snap benefits were rolled back in February or March.”
Consider Brian Greene of the Houston Food Bank: “Food inflation is only running about 3% now, but rent inflation is over 7%. And for low-income or working families, rent can account for about 50% or more of their income. So, as those costs are continuing to go up, the money just isn’t going as far, and food tends to be a flexible expense.”
In the first two years of Biden’s Presidency, the Department of Agriculture reported that 13.5 million MORE Americans are “food insecure” as a result of inflation.
From Feeding America’s Vince Hall: “We estimate that almost 50 million people have visited food banks in the past year seeking help. The Federal and State governments have rolled back nearly all support that was provided for people during the pandemic at the very time that inflation was taking an extra large bite out of their income.”
So the richest country in the history of the world has political leaders whose economic ignorance and failed leadership is resulting in tens of millions of Americans worrying about who they are going to feed themselves and their families.
In the meantime, as Americans go hungry, Washington continues to send tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight an endless war that Biden and his minions have not even tried to find a solution to.
2)We have often pointed out how the inane and failed “defund the police” movement has resulted in any number of bad outcomes:
Skyrocketing crime in cities that instituted defund the police policies.
Incremental deaths of city residents as a result of police forces having their budgets slashed in the name of defund the police.
Immense staffing issues in those cities for police officers who would rather leave their jobs then continue to be berated and overworked as a result of politicians' insults and politicians’ police budget cuts.
A very basic tenet of any government entity is to protect the lives and property of those that are served by that government entity. In that very basic responsibility, defund the police has been a bitter fatal failure.
And this all creates a dangerous death spiral: defunding the police reduces police resources which creates more criminal opportunities which overworks the remaining police force which causes more police officers to leave the force which increases crime and the workload of remaining officers and the death spiral is in effect.
Consider the current situation in St. Louis, a defund the police city:
The city is dealing with a police staffing crisis as the number of current police officers has dropped to an all time low.
The police force is budgeted for 1,224 officers but currently has over 300 job vacancies.
There were just over 1,200 officers at the beginning of 2020 and just a few short years later there are less than 1,000.
Interviews of former city officers revealed that the reason they left the force not surprisingly included very heavy workloads and lack of support from city politicians.
Another case where politicians react to what makes them look best rather than make the hard decisions that make for a safer and better city environment.
3)We’ve talked a lot recently about which city will go bankrupt next, with San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago being the leading candidates. These cities, and others, are faced with failed political classes who have no idea on how to fix their cities’ rising crime rates, higher and higher taxes, and out-migration of residents and businesses.
But we are also watching the race to see what state government will go bankrupt first. These failing states include California, Chicago, New Yokr and New Jersey. The race to bankruptcy court is currently too close to call but California remains a prime candidate:
The state is facing a massive $68 billion budget deficit in 2024, the largest deficit in the state’s history.
The state government has already defaulted on a $20 billion loan from the Federal government and taxpayers.
The $68 billion deficit has caused the state government to impose a spending freeze across all state government entities.
State employees are now forbidden to replace broken office printers, buy needed office supplies, or use unused vacation days.
In addition, state employees are losing benefits and could face furloughs.
A California state politician has pointed out that in the face of these fiscal challenges the state continues to fund an inane high speed rail line that is already way over budget and 15 years late and providing free medical care to the millions of illegal immigrants that have fled to the sanctuary state known as California.
And the financial death spiral is in place. High crime, high taxation rates and the high cost of living drives residents and businesses out of state. This reduces the tax base and tax steam which further reduces the quality of life which drives more residents and businesses out of state and the death spiral is in effect.
And the current governor of California, Gavin Newsom, already realizes that the state he has helped drive into the fiscal ditch is in a death financial spiral. Earlier this year, he pushed the idea of taxing Californians who have moved out of the state, a most ridiculous, desperate move. Given that 300,000 state residents left the state in 2022, he probably knows that the out-migration is a very ominous sign.
4)Staying in California, it seems that San Francisco is now the leading candidate to be the next big U.S. city to go bankrupt. High taxes, high crime, a large and dangerous homeless problem, residents and businesses fleeing the city, etc., recently it seems that this city has been a main topic of discussion on this blog and how the city’s politicians have no idea how to fix what they have broken.
And the bad news just keeps on coming:
The current business office vacancy rate in downtown San Francisco is 35%.
Apparently this is the highest vacancy rate ever recorded in the city.
Prior to covid, the vacancy rate was in the 3-4% range and previously had never been higher than 30%.
According to Jeff Bellisasio of the Bay area Council, downsizing of tech companies, workforce, the success of working from home for both employees and employers and the city’s problems of homelessness, crime, public safety, and all around cleanliness of the city streets are all factors causing the high vacancy rate.
These dire business office results are also happening with retailers fleeing the city with companies such as Nordstrom, Cinemark, CVS, Apple, AT&T and Old Navy shutting down operations in the city.
Workers do not come back to the city center because of a number of factors reduces the viability of city businesses (restaurants, bars, stores, etc.) which drives businesses out of the city or out of business which reduces the tax base which reduces the city budget which reduces the quality of city life which drives more businesses and residents out of the city and the financial death spiral is in effect.
5)One last quick comment on the horrible Biden economic policies which has driven up the cost of just about every aspect of Americans’ lives. Far too often we have discussed the reality that inflation has driven up the cost of just about everything including utilities, rent, mortgage rates,gas, food, utilities, etc.
And this holiday season is not immune to Biden’s failed economic policies. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the average cost of a live Christmas tree this year is up 10% over last year’s Christmas season. Nothing is immune to bad government economic policy but have a Merry Christmas anyway!
Enough political class insanity for today: politicians’ policies causing food bank stress and Christmas tree stress, defund the police continues to be a fatal mistake, and certain states and cities continue to sink further into that financial death spiral.
**********************
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
**********************
