The Flight Out Of High Tax States Continues - A New Jersey Case Study

 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.

Today we will do a quick look at the numbers as they relate to my former home state, New Jersey. In a previous post, we analyzed the states and cities that are most likely to go bankrupt first. Our conclusion was that New Jersey,  along with New York, California, and Illinois, will be the first states to go bankrupt. Our previous analysis can be found at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2020/11/which-city-and-which-state-will-go.html

Our theory is that badly run states, like the four listed above, continue to over tax, over regulate, and rob their residents and businesses of their individual freedoms. Those oppressed residents and businesses eventually migrate to other, less oppressive locations for a better quality of life for themselves and their businesses. As residents and businesses leave, the states’ tax bases get smaller and smaller which results in higher taxation on the remaining residents and businesses. These higher taxes drive more residents and businesses out of the state further reducing the tax base. And the financial death spiral is now in play.

And while we forecasted that Illinois or California would go bankrupt first, given their dire financial situation and the mass out migration of their residents and businesses, a recent analysis of New Jersey says that maybe, just maybe New Jersey may beat both states into bankruptcy:

• According to the travel  website moveBuddha, New Jersey now has the highest proportion of residents moving out of the state vs. every other state.

• The numbers are quite amazing: for every 34 moves into New Jersey, there are 100 moves out of the state.

• Thus, there is almost a 3 to 1 ratio of out moves vs.  in moves.

• One out of every four out moves from New Jersey is to Florida.

• I know from personal experience, given my move from New Jersey to Florida, that our property tax rate in Florida has been a fraction of what the property tax rate in New Jersey was.

• Also, my state income tax bill in Florida is 0% because there is no state income tax rate.

• I estimate that since I left New Jersey 17 years ago, I have easily saved over $150,000 in property taxes and state income taxes without any loss of quality of life.

• The 3 of the top 5 cities fleeing New Jersey residents are heading to include Naples, Miami, and Tampa Florida.

• New Jersey ranks 4th in the country for the total number of out moves.

• 42% of New Jersey respondents that responded to the moveBuddha migration poll said they were planning to move to another state in the next year.

• In a different study, United Van Lines found in their poll that New Jersey was ranked #1 for the  most out of state moves over the past four years.

Apparently, the state politicians in New Jersey have not learned their lesson. The out migration continues,leaving New Jersey with fewer and fewer residents, resulting in a smaller and smaller tax base. A smaller tax base results in a tax revenue shortfall and causes the state politicians to raise taxes which forces more people to leave and the spiral is in place.  The numbers don't lie even if politicians do.

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/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

 

By The Numbers: Why Ocasio-Cortez's Socialism is A Pipe Dream and Plain Ignorant of Reality

We have had a great time talking about the ignorance, verbal gaffes, and lack of historical context of newly elected Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

• Despite having an economics degree, she did not know how to compute the simple unemployment rate.
• Despite being elected to Congress, she did not know what the three branches of government are.
• Despite having a college education, she somehow thought that she alone had found $26 TRILLION in wasted Pentagon spending over a ten year period when the ENTIRE Pentagon budget over that same time period was a fraction of $26 TRILLION.
• She says she would rather be morally right than factually right, in other words she would prefer to live in a fantasy world than reality.
• She is a hypocrite since before being sworn into office, she chastised those in Congress that were accepting their salaries during the government shutdown but once in office and drawing that salary she refused to donate it to needy Federal workers or forego it altogether.

We could go on and on but you get the idea. Tough to believe anything this politician says.

She has big, socialistic plans for this country, plans that would make us all poorer and less free. But as always, she never thought through her plans to see how inane they are. For instance, she wants of implement such socialist programs as Medicare For All, the New Green Deal, free college, guaranteed Federal jobs, etc.

And she proposes to fund these massive government bureaucracies by taxing income made by Americans over $10 million at a 70% tax rate. But we did the math for her, something she obviously did not do, and proved conclusively that her plan to fund these idiotic programs with a 70% tax on earnings over $10 million could fund only a tiny fraction of a single program, Medicare For All, never mind using high earners to fund the other socialist programs listed above. That complete analysis can be seen at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2019/01/january-2019-part-8-political-class.html

Do not like my math? Consider a much more detailed analysis by someone smarter than me, as laid out in a recent National Review article by Brian Riedl on January 8, 2019, “Why 70 Percent Tax Rates Cannot Finance Socialism.” His entire article can be accessed at:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-70-percent-tax-cannot-finance-socialism/

The highlights, or lowlights for Ocasio-Cortez, are as follows, with Mr. Riedl reaching the same basic conclusions that I did: the country is not nearly rich enough to support the socialistic programs of this Congresswoman [Note: there are a lot of numbers here but Mrl. Riedl lays out the numbers and the reality they represent logically and simply so bear with the numbers, they are quite eye opening and necessary to understand how stupid these Ocasio-Cortez ideas are]:

• His overall conclusion is that the country cannot fund her programs without “hammering the middle class.”
• He believes, and we have proved it already, that, “A 70 percent tax bracket would raise very little (if any) revenue, while damaging the economy and sending income and jobs overseas."
• Of course, as with most Ocasio-Cortez ideas, there are no details about her plans, just pie in the sky pontificating, since, as we discussed above, she would rather be morally right than factually right.
• Regarding Ocasio-Cortez’s socialistic “New Green Deal” program, a comparable program proposed by Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein would have cost between $700 billion and $1 trillion a year for ten years, requiring anywhere from a 20% to 29% increase in taxes for the Federal government to fund.
• As we calculated in the post above, taxing those Americans’ earnings over $10 million would fund less than 10% of Stein’s program.
• Stein’s proposal would have eaten up 4% of the entire nation’s GDP.
• But this is just for the New Green Deal, Ocasio-Cortez also wants to fund Medicare For all (annual cost = $3.2 TRILLION), Federal jobs guarantee program (cost = $6.8 TRILLION), student loan forgiveness (cost = $1.4 TRILLION), free public college ($270 billion), Social Security expansion (cost = $188 billion), family leave (cost = $270 billion), and infrastructure improvement (cost = $1 TRILLION).
• These programs alone would eat up 21% of the country’s GDP, twice what it is now.
• Additional Federal budget deficits would bring the total up to 28% of GDP.
• Since taxing the rich at 70% would pay for just a fraction of one program, either these program would have to go unfunded or ALL Americans would have to pay SUBSTANTIALLY more in their taxes, so much so that they would be wage slaves to the Washington bureaucracy.
• The article’s analysis shows that if ALL income over $1 million was taxed at 100%, IRS data shows that would raise government spending by 3.8% of GDP, which would not even balance the budget never mind fund the New Green Deal and all of the other programs listed above.
• And that assumes that Americans would still work just as hard to earn what they earn now which is a stupid assumption since who would work hard to earn more than a million dollars if the government was going to get all of it.
• Rather than a 100% tax rate, what if Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of the socialists in Washington doubled the top two tax brackets, 35% and 37%?
• This doubling would raise 1.6% of GDP, even further away from funding the New Green Deal and all of the programs above,
• What about Ocasio-Cortez’s example of taxing income over %10 million at 70%, the analysis I did in the post above?
• According to the article, it would raise only $50 billion annually, a pittance that would be used to finance the New Green Deal, Medicare for all, free college, etc.
• Note: my analysis showed that her 70% idea would raise about $105 billion, still not nearly enough, but twice what this article predicted.
• The difference is that the $50 billion estimate realized that half of what these high earners usually earn is from capital gains which would not be subject to the 70% nonsensical tax rate and thus is more accurate, and smaller than my $105 billion estimate that assumed all of these high earners’ income was wages.
• The $50 billion is also probably too high since as the author points out, people this rich would have super smart accountants and lawyers working to shield their income taxable income from the 70%, something regular Americans could not afford.
• For instance, “Jeff Bezos [founder and chairman of Amazon] may be worth $160 billion, but in 2017 he reportedly paid himself an annual salary of just $81,840, with total compensation (including deductible expenses) of $1.6 million. Taxing 70 percent of all salary and wages above $10 million (or even $1 million) would not even touch the Amazon founder.”
• The article then moves on to other tax raising schemes, all of which come nowhere close to funding Ocasio-Cortez-s socialist pipe dreams: “Realistically, additional income and payroll taxes on families earning $400,000 or more could raise at most 1 or 1.5 percent of GDP. So, let’s move outside the income tax. Popular liberal proposals to impose a 30 percent minimum tax on “millionaires” and to more aggressively tax banks, hedge-fund managers, and oil and gas companies would raise a combined 0.1 percent of GDP, according to CBO data. Doubling corporate tax rates would add 0.7 percent of GDP until the entire Fortune 500 moves its headquarters to the Cayman Islands or Ireland.”
• All of these tax schemes would raise taxes equivalent to 2% of GDP, not close to the 4% needed to fund the annual cost of the New Green Deal before talking about the other programs.
• And this 2% assumption does not take into account how Americans would take tax avoidance steps, be it to stop working as hard, hiring accountants to shelter their income, or move their companies overseas to avoid the onerous business tax increases.
• Mr. Riedl then goes about killing the liberal fantasy that the country and economy survives 90% marginal tax rates in the 1950s and 70% marginal tax rates in the 1970s.
• In reality, the rich paid LESS in effective income tax rates during those eras than today, where the marginal tax rates are half of the high rates back then, since there were so many exclusions and shelters that Americans could use to avoid these slavery level tax rates.
• An interesting reality that I didn't know is that in 1960, eight American taxpayers paid taxes at the 90% level, not 800, not 8,000, but just 8 in the whole country.
• Today, Federal income taxes are equivalent to 8.2% of GDP while in the 1950s it was 7.2%, in the 1960s it was 7.6% and in the 1970s it was 7.9% despite tax rates in the 70% and 90% levels.
• Another reality is that no developed country in the world has anything close to Ocasio-Cortez’s 70% nonsense including socialistic Norway and England and Germany.
• These European countries finance their socialism with steep value-added taxes, i.e. a sales tax like mechanism that is added to everything purchased, a tax that savages not just the rich but every citizen.
• And finally, since the top 5% already pay 42% of ALL Federal income taxes, that tax well would get quite dry really soon since they already pay a lot despite what Washington socialists claim.
• The Congressional Budget Office did some analysis that showed that to fund this inane socialistic programs ALL Americans would have to endure a 55% increase in their tax burden or there would have to be a 115% value added tax implemented, e.g. that car that costs $20,000 would now cost over $40,000, which would mean a lot less cars got bought which means a lot less cars would be built which means a lot of Americans in the car industry, and every industry, would be out of a job which would further reduce the tax stream and the death spiral is underway.

Great article with some brutally honest and reality based numbers. There is just not enough wealth generated in this country, the greatest wealth generating country in the history of the world, to fund stupid Ocasio-Cortez fantasies. The economy would be ransacked, every American, not just the rich, would end up paying tremendously more in taxes, and the benefits would be minimal.

And consider this reality: name a Federal Government program that ever came close to being right from a budget estimate perspective? The Big Dig highway program in Boston is a classic Federal government budget example: it was supposed to cost a few billion dollars and ended up costing over $20 billion dollars. The Washington political class has shown time and time again that it can not properly budget upfront or manage a budget during the implementation of a program. Thus, while the above numbers are definitely unreachable, history tells us that the above budget estimates are likely to go higher and be even more unreachable.

Oh, and one other thing. We have previously shown that the Federal government and the state governments already have a huge $109 TRILLION revenue shortfall problem with budget deficits and unfunded liabilities. $109 TRILLION! This comes out to a debt burden of about $870,000 for every American family BEFORE trying to fund Medicare for All, the New Green Deal, free college, etc. The good news is that we are probably heading for an economic collapse long before these socialism program get much underway, these programs would only hasten that collapse.

But as always with people like Ocasio-Cortez, they never do the math. In fact, they have no idea what reality is and/or have little experience with reality, which is probably her problem on both counts. The numbers don't lie even as politicians continue to do so. 

The article points out this following reality: if the socialists in Washington knew how to fund these programs, why have they not laid out their plans and funding levels and tax mechanism already? It is either because they know these are pipe dreams that would never be possible but use them as political points, i.e. they lie, or they really are that ignorant. Until they prove they can fund these program without destroying the country they are out of integrity and/or plain lazy, not doing their homework before opening their mouths with tripe.

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:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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

July, 2017, Part 4, Political Class Insanity: Fiscal Mismanagement Around The World

As we do every month, we review the latest idiocy, lunacy, ineptness, and general insanity from the American political class. The members of the political never cease to amaze us with their greed, idiocy, gumption, and criminal activities. And just when we think there is no new way to disappoint us and tick us off, they manage to find a way to do it, wasting our tax dollars and destroying our freedoms in the process.

The political class has been very busy this month so let’s get right to it:

1) We are going to talk a lot today about how politicians both in this country and around the world are lousy economists and horrible money managers. We have talked recently about how screwed up the state of Illinois is when it comes to fiscal insolvency of its state government’s finances. It has not had a workable budget in three years, it has untold billions and billions of dollars in unfunded future liabilities, it currently has unpaid bills totalling about $15 billion, and its bond rating is about to sink to junk bond level.

But Illinois is not alone. Many liberals and Democrats in this country want us to assume the economic model of Denmark where the fallacy is everyone is healthy and happy and the government efficiently and effectively takes care of everyone’s needs. 

A recent article from the American Journal Review talked about the reality of life in Denmark, based on the experience of a Danish school teacher:

• The school teacher claims to be a school teacher in Denmark who earns about $61,000 a year.
• She does admit that there is free education for anyone who wants it and they do not have to pay for medical costs.
• But this “free stuff” is not really free since the minimum income tax in Denmark is a whopping 40%.
• Anyone earning over $80,000 a year pays an income tax rate of 68%.
• The national sales tax is 25%, somehow buying a car is taxed at 180%, and gas is taxed so high that it costs $10 a gallon, with the last two taxes precluding just about anyone in Denmark from owning their own car.
• All of these taxes add up so that about 80% of every Danish citizen’s earnings is paid out in taxes.
• The Danes average the highest amount of individual debt in the world.
• The suicide rate in Denmark is 20.8 per 100,000 residents, one of the highest in the world and almost double the suicide rate in the U.S.
• 11% of Danish adults are using anti-depressants, hardly a good sign for a happy population.

As liberals and Democrats never understand, there is no free ride, no free lunch nor free anything in life. There is always a cost and in Denmark the cost is lost freedom, lost incentive, and lost hope, with just about your whole life controlled by what is usually inept and greedy politicians. 

Overtaxing people has NEVER been a way to improve society or the lives of those that live in that society, just ask the Danes and those that live in Illinois, the home of some of the highest taxes, that are about to go even higher, in the country.



2) Let’s stay with high taxes and intrusive government and review a recent report from the fact checking organization, Politifact. It has been my experience that while Politifact claims to be non-partisan, in my opinion it definitely leans left and liberal. Thus, when it comes out and is critical of anything liberal you know it is really bad.

No one would argue that California has been dominated by the Democrats for decades so anything that goes right or wrong in that state is the result of Democrats having overwhelming control of the state government. California also has some of the highest tax rates in the country so that under taxation is not an excuse for anything that goes wrong in the state.

But finally a California politician has stated what is probably taboo among the state’s politicians, that California has the highest poverty rate in the country despite some of the highest taxes in the country: State Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes recently called poverty California’s No. 1 priority during a recent meeting of legislative types: "If you look at the official poverty measure in California, we’re about average with the rest of the country. But if you use the supplemental poverty measure, we are in the lead. We have the highest poverty rate in the nation -- higher than New Mexico, higher than any of the southern states, Louisiana, Alabama, higher than Idaho."

Politifact decided to fact check this assertion and their verdict: Mayes is right and he used the most accurate measure of poverty, the Supplemental Poverty Measure, a measure that not only looks at income levels and such but also considers the cost of living in the state.

But this should not surprise us. We recently reported on how 40% of Los Angeles residents are on Medicaid, indicating at least 40% of LA citizens have extremely low income levels, low enough to qualify for Medicaid under their low income thresholds.

Thus, a state government and state political class that has taxed its citizens at some of the highest rates in the country for decades and have racked up over $100 billion in unfunded liabilities, still has not been able to not be the most poverty stricken state in the union. 

Okay, two stories and two stories that show how higher and higher taxation results in worsening impacts on the citizens that have to pay those higher and higher taxes.

3) Okay, still not done on how badly politicians handle our financial matters and economies: Illinois almost at junk bond status, Denmark crushing incentive and stealing 80% of everyone’s income, and California driving its citizens into poverty.

Let’s turn our attention to my original home state, New Jersey. In a recent blog post we showed how New Jersey’s bond rating is the second worst in the country, with only Illinois having a worst bond rating. New Jersey also has some of the highest property tax, income tax, and sales tax rates in the country.

Consider my history of property tax. Back in 2005, just before I sold my middle class home in New Jersey, I was paying about about $4.00 in property tax per square foot of house (Lord knows what that tax rate is 12 years later). I moved to Florida into a middle class house and have yet to pay over $2.00 in property tax per square foot of house. In Florida I also pay no sales tax vs. the 7% in New Jersey.

And yet, New Jersey has the second worst bond rating in the country, has billions in unfunded pension liabilities, and still has some of the highest taxes in the country.

Consider that what the next governor will be faced with according to an article from the NJ 101.5 website by Michael Symons on July 9, 2017:

• A non-profit group has analyzed the state’s financial situation and has come up with some recommendations for the next NJ governor.
• Just to get close to being fiscally sane the state government may have to both reduce health benefits for retired public workers by $1.4 billion a year and raise taxes by $5 billion in taxes.
• The group was honest in their analysis and correctly predicted that given how badly the state politicians had screwed up the state’s financial situation, everyone in the state was going to feel the pain of the cuts in spending and increased taxes.
• But not taking these painful steps now would make the future realities even harder for the state citizens to swallow.
• The group’s tax change recommendations include increasing income taxes to boost revenues by 10 percent, undoing a law exempting more retirement income from taxes, raising the sales tax to 8 percent and expanding it to more services, reinstating the estate tax, taxing legalized marijuana and more.
• As an example of how bad the retirees benefit financial situation is that while the state will put $2.5 billion in the fund for the benefits this year, in reality experts say that $5 billion should be put away, a shortfall that will make the current dire situation even worse and still short fund education, Medicaid, and other state government costs.

So the story is the same, the more politicians and governments spend the worse their government becomes from a fiscal and quality perspective, be it in Denmark, California, Illinois, and New Jersey. And these states and governments end up in a vicious cycle, taxing more and more and more to fulfill the ever increasing size of government. The higher taxes drive away citizens and businesses who value their wealth and freedom which further reduces the tax base which reduces tax revenue which causes politicians to raise tax rates, and the death spiral continues.

More insanity to follow.

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:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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

March, 2017, Part 3, By The Numbers: Trump Approval Over 50%, Cartel Farmers Invade Texas and More

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. 

This latest set of by the numbers will focus on what Americans think, feel, and want done in Washington and elsewhere within the political class. We will show that many times what politicians are doing and what the mainstream media is reporting and harping on could not be further away from what Americans want done. Our main set of numbers will come from reputable poll taking organizations whose reputations and future rely on conducting and reporting on opinions and trends in an unbiased manner, something that most mainstream media outlets no longer feel they need to do.

1) We have often discussed that the “war on drugs”conducted by the Federal government over the past four decades has been an absolute failure. All it has done is waste trillions of dollars and create very powerful, violent, and wealthy Mexican drug cartels. A recent set of numbers show how poorly the war on drugs is going:

• Law enforcement officials have announced that they have located 15 drug cartel “marijuana plantations” containing 77,000 marijuana plants.
• The amazing thing about these marijuana plantations is that they were not discovered in a far away land, they were found in the backwoods of Texas, across nine counties.
• Yes, a Mexican drug cartel, thought to be the Los Zetas, have had enough nerve and wherewithal to actually export part of their marijuana production physically into the United States.
• The estimated value of these thousands of marijuana plants is about $101.6 million according to reporting by the San Antonio Express News since it is estimated that these plants would eventually produce almost 170,000 pounds of marijuana, about 85 tons worth of grass.

Trillions of dollars spent and the Feds cannot even stop the cartels from moving their marijuana production into the United States proper. And these locations are what the Feds have found, who knows how many other cartel marijuana plantations are still operating that law enforcement efforts have not found. Depressing numbers, a complete failure of a major Federal program.

2) We have shown many times how awful the Obama recovery and economic policies and strategies were:

• Worst economic recovery from a recession since the Great Depression.
• Annual overall national economic growth that never exceeded 3% and never once got even close to the long term annual growth average.
• Job creation that was worst than just about any other economic recovery and the jobs that were created were mostly part time, contract, and low paying positions in the services industries.
• Household income and wages that were stagnant for almost the entire length of the Obama recovery until a recent small uptick.
• Millions of Americans that want full time jobs and can only find temporary jobs or have dropped out of the labor workforce altogether.
• The labor participation rate is at levels not seen since the stagflation years of the Carter administration with about 94 million American adults not in the workforce.

But now we find out how bad the economy is relative to the middle class that has taken a beating over the past eight years relative to good paying jobs. The Affluent Christian Investor website recently put together a fascinating analysis and set of numbers that shows how the end of the Obama administration left the Trump administration with one of the worst recent housing affordability ratio ever:

• The analysis first took the median American housing price for a typical single family home in the first year of each of the past nine U.S. Presidents and adjusted those housing prices for inflation.
• The next step in the analysis was to take the median annual family income in those same initial years of each Presidential administration and adjust those income levels for inflation.
• The analysis than graphed the difference between these two inflation adjusted numbers for each initial year of each Presidential term.
• For just about every Presidency, the difference was pretty constant between $100,000 and $120,000.
• With the exception of the second term of the George W. Bush Presidency, at the height of the housing boom, the Obama administration had the highest difference between median house value and median family income levels.
• Another way to view the numbers is to create a ratio between the adjusted median housing values and median family incomes.
• When these ratios are calculated, they all fall between 2.6 and 2.8 with the exception of the second Bush and second Obama terms whose ratios are well above 3.0.

These two number analyses indicate that the average/middle class family in America today is going to have a very difficult time purchasing a home and attaining the American Dream since the difference between median housing value and median family income is about 55% higher than the historical average and the ratio of house value is seriously out of line with historical affordability levels. 

At least the economy was booming, primarily due to the housing boom, under Bush which explain those results and numbers. Under Obama, the economy never boomed but the American dream of owning a home still has taken a serious hit as the American middle class gets shredded by the Washington political class and their inept economic abilities.

3) It is no mystery that the current political class in this country has no idea on howto make fiscally and economically sound decisions. The reality that they managed to run up a $20 TRILLION national debt without resolving an even single major issue facing Americans is more than enough to prove their idiocy when it comes to managing money, namely our tax money.

Terence P. Jeffrey, writing for the CNS News website on March 10, 2017, provides the latest proof of this concept:

• The Federal government has collected $611,318,000,000 in individual income taxes in the first five months of this fiscal year.
• This sets a record for the first five months of any previous fiscal year.
• And yet despite this record of income tax collection, more taxes collected by any government in the history of mankind, the Federal bureaucracy and Washington political class somehow still managed to run a whopping deficit of $348,984,000,000.
• In other words, the Washington politicians spent 28% more than they collected in total revenue.
• Ten years ago, before the recklessly overspending Obama administration took over, the Federal government five month spending level was just over $500,000,000,000 which means that Federal spending has gone up by 20% in just ten years.

As always, the numbers show us again that we do not have an under taxation problem in this country, we have a government overspending problem in this country. How you can collect a world record and humanity record in income taxes and still not have enough money to cover your expenses still boggles the mind.

4) One last set of numbers for this month. Liberals and Democrats would still have you believe that Donald Trump’s election was some kind of cosmic fluke that never should have happened. That Americans and America are all disgusted with his antics and actions in office and that he is the worst President ever. But is that really what America thinks? Apparently not, according to a recent Rasmussen poll:

• That poll showed that 53% of U.S likely voters approve of the job Trump is doing so far.
• 47% disapprove of the job he is doing.
• 37% strongly approve of the job he is doing while 36% strongly disapprove of the job he is doing resulting in what Rasmussen calls a Presidential Approval Index of +1%.

So yes, Trump is not universally loved by all Americans. But no President ever is. His 53% approval rating in this poll is comparable to the approval ratings Obama exited with so this is not a cosmic disaster as liberals and Democrats really want to believe and want you to believe. 

If you look at Trump’s other numbers, the very early trend is good: the stock market is way up, illegal entry attempts into the country are way down, job creation numbers from last month were much higher than expected. 

Bottom line on this month’s “by the numbers” review: always believe the numbers, never believe a politician of mainstream news report.

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:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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

December, 2016, Part 1, By The Numbers: Leaving Democratic States and Moving To Republican States

Before I start today’s post, let me reiterate my voting history like I have done many times in the past:

• I have been a legally voting since the 1970s.
• Since then, I have never voted for a Republican for President.
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office over that time period.
• I have never been a registered Republican voter.

Keep that in mind as you go through the following discussion. 

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. 

Benny Johnson, Jason Howerton, and Parker Lee, writing for the Independent Journal Review recently summarized what the economic conditions currently are in the states that heavily voted in favor of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in last month’s Presidential election. Besides having the common characteristic of favoring Hillary over Trump, they also have the common characteristic of having some pretty lousy economic and out migration trends going on in their states. This conclusion is based on citing a Washington Times article by Stephen Moore.

Moore concludes from his analysis that the out migration from these Hillary strongholds is driven primarily by economic reasons including: “high tax rates; high welfare benefits; heavy regulation; environmental extremism; high minimum wages.” Amazingly, the ten states that Hillary Clinton won by the largest percentage margins saw a net loss in population from 2004 through 2014. California and New York by themselves saw a net loss of 2.75 million Americans over that ten year time frame.

As you go through the ten states economic profiles below, keep in mind that these states are almost always dominated by Democrats in elected office. Yes, occasionally, a Republican or two might get elected in these states, but for the most part these are strictly Democratic controlled and operated states. I am not saying there is a cause and effect of Democrats creating lousy economic conditions but the correlation, as you will see below is certainly quite strong.

1) Massachusetts - Between 2004 and 2014, Massachusetts lost 156,861 more residents than it gained. One reason for such a loss is that Massachusetts has a top business income tax of 8%, one of the highest overall property tax burdens in the country, and also has estate and inheritance taxes.

2 ) California - California has lost an amazing 1.3 net residents over the past decade despite having some of the richest people in the nation living in the state in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Thus, something must not be right for the over 1 million people who decided to leave the state for a better life

3) Maryland - Maryland has lost a net 145,000 residents over the past decade, possibly caused by the reality that the state ranks 44th in economic outlook according to the in-depth analysis done by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has a top personal income tax rate of 8.95%, and has the 13th highest business income tax rate. Over the past 47 years the state has had only two Republican governors.

4) New York - The ALEC ranks New York as dead last in its economic outlook ratings, a spot it has been “honored” with in six of the past seven years. It has some of the highest tax rates in the country and its net loss of population over the past ten years, 1.5 million people, is the largest loss of any other state in the union.

5) Rhode Island - The ALEC rates this state as 48th in economic performance and 35th in economic outlook. Rhode Island has a very high property tax rate and has had a net loss of 70,000 residents over the past decade, a lot considering how small the state’s population is to begin with.

6) New Jersey - My former home state has some of the highest tax rates, personal income tax, property tax, and business tax rates, in the country. The ALEC ranks the state as 48th relative to economic outlook and has had a net loss of about half a million residents since 2005.

7) Connecticut - HIgher than average tax rates and ranking 47th on ALEC’s economic outlook measure makes it no surprise this state has lost 153,000 residents in total over the past decade.

8) Vermont - The ALEC has Vermont ranked 49th in economic outlook, the state has the second highest personal income tax structure and has enacted many new tax changes that will make it more expensive to live in the state. No surprise, it has had a net loss of 9,000 residents over the past ten years.

9) Illinois - Possibly one of the biggest basket cases of all the states, given its incredibly high unfunded pension and retiree benefit liabilities for government workers, the state does have a reasonable income tax rate but higher than average business tax rates and high property taxes. As a result, it has had a net loss of 700,000 residents over the past ten years.

10) Hawaii - The ALEC found that Hawaii has the highest marginal personal income tax rates in the country and the highest sales tax rates in the country. Despite its beautiful weather, the state had a net loss of 36,000 residents since 2005.

Conversely, five states that the ALEC rank in the top 15 relative to having really good economic futures, Wyoming, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Tennessee, South Dakota and Idaho, have not only seen net gains in state populations over the past ten years but also had the highest percentage of voters that voted for Donald Trump. In fact, if you look at the ALEC table below which rank orders all 50 states relative to their economic outlook rankings, the top twenty states with the brightest futures are usually dominated by more conservative, Republican politicians.

Thus, is it any surprise that people are moving to states with lower taxes and brighter economic futures? Is it any surprise that states that are losing population are states with higher taxes and less bright economic futures? People who work hard for their money and their families realize that the best way to be happy is to keep as much as they earn and will make life decisions accordingly. 

And that more than any other reason is why an old, tired, same old Democratic politician, Hillary Clinton, lost an election to a non-politician with no Washington or international experience who was plagued by personal behavior problems and who was outspent by about a two to one margin. Freedom, the desire to keep what was earned, and to not be taxed to death is why people behave the way they do, whether it is choosing a place to live or who to vote for. The numbers do not lie.

More numbers tomorrow.

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:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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

Only In America Retro Post

Back in May, 2012 we did a post entitled, "Only In America." It used an old rock and roll song byJay and The Americans as its basis. But rather than celebrating the tradional good things about America, e.g., "go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire," we changed the essence of the song to reflect the crazy things that American politicians do that are so inane, wasteful, and stupid that only in America could that type of behavior happen. 

We repeat the post today for two reasons:

• Over three years later, the antics, idiocy, and ineptness we documented back in 2012 is still relevant today.
• Today's retro post gets us in the spirit for tomorrow's post where we will update the list with all of the antics, idiocy, and ineptness the political class has displayed since 2012.

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2012

Only In America

In the early 1960s, a musical group called Jay and the Americans had a big hit song called "Only In America." It was an upbeat song that extolled the virtues of our country where only in America could a poor person grow up to be President, a pauper could become a millionaire, and everyone could attain their dreams, including their dream girl:

Only in America
Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire

Only in America
Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

Only in America
Can a kid who's washin' cars
Take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars
Only in America
Could a dream like this come true
Could a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you

Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

It was simpler time and probably a more hopeful time. Since then, the country has become nastily divided against itself as a result of self serving politicians and our freedoms and opportunities available back then seem to have become scarcer over time. More obvious, our political class has led the country down some pretty ludicrous, bewildering, wasteful, and noneffective alleys:

1. Only in America can politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $70,000-a-plate campaign fund raising event.

2. Only in America can politicians pour more taxpayer money into education per child than any other country in the world but still severely under educate U.S. kids relative to the rest of that world.

3. Only in America can politicians talk about reducing the nation's escalating health care costs while simultaneously implementing health care reform legislation that will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the country's national debt.

4. Only in America could we have had  two of the people most responsible for our tax code — Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the House Ways and Means Committee — turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.

5. Only in America would we make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege while we discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally immediately become American citizens for free.

6. Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremists.”

7. Only in America could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check, buy alcohol, rent a car, or board an airplane but not to vote.

8. Only in America could politicians insist the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the financial return on equity of a major U.S. oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of what a company that manufactures sports shoes and apparel (Nike) makes.

9. Only in America could politicians demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when government taxes per gallon of gas are multiple times higher than the profit per gallon of gas for the oil companies.

10. Only in America can politicians tell you that they support freedom and liberty but then try tell you not to have an abortion, not to be gay, not to smoke dope, impose their will on your religious beliefs, not to call Islamic terrorists Islamic terrorists, force you to pay into a retirement system (Social Security) that is an absolute horror show of a retirement plan, force you to pay into a retirement medical plan that (Medicare) that is rapidly going bankrupt, control who gets a student loan, and wants to control your non-retirement health insurance and health care (Obama Care).

11. Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from its citizens than any nation in history of the world, still spend a trillion dollars more than it receives every year for total spending ($7 million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.

12. Only in America could the rich people who pay 86% of all income taxes be accused of not paying their “fair share” by 45% of the citizenry who don’t pay any income taxes at all.

13. Only in America can a supposedly free people not be free from paying all forms of government taxes until late April every year.

14. Only in America can the political class constantly try to dictate moral standards but itself be rife with adulterers, tax cheats, and liars.

15. Only in America can politicians spend trillions of dollars over the years without winning the war on drugs, without implementing a coherent national energy plan, without sealing our borders, and without repairing our crumbling infrastructure.

16. Only in America do you have to prove to the government that you have health insurance (under Obama Care rules) but not prove to that same government you are legally here in this country.

Only in American did we used to aspire to hope, freedom, and the chance to attain a better life for ourselves and our family. Today, in America we are subjected to self serving, ill-equipped, and ill-performing politicians, that squash hope, restrict freedom, and who make it ever more difficult to attain a better life for ourselves and our family. 

To get back to the Jay and the Americans sense of country, we need to start the process of implementing Step 39 from "Love my Country, Loathe My Government." Step 39 would implement term limits for every Federal politician so that they would be "one and done." The vast majority of current people in Congress have been there for ten, twenty, thirty or more years. Since they are obviously not part of the solution, they then must be part of the problem. Eliminate them, starting by signing the petition at: 

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

and make America "the land of opportunity" again.

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:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w