October, 2019, Part 7, Political Class Insanity: NYC Goes Orwellian, Journalism Losses Its Integrity, and New Jersey Governor Imitates Marie Antoinette

It is another month which means it is again time to review the latest political class insanity from Washington and around the world. Political class insanity takes many forms including the wasting of taxpayer wealth, criminal fraud within government programs, inane and stupid political quotes and actions, the inability to create and implement effective and efficient government programs, stupid and ill performing economic policies and strategies, and other forms of insanity that continue to evolve and surprise and shock us.

Let’s get started:

1) Novelist George Orwell, writing in his classic novel “1984,” stated that “manipulation of language as a weapon of mind control and abuse of power.” Control the language and you can control the conversation and wherever there is control there is a loss of freedom.

Which is the situation in New York City as a result of a recent law that it enacted: 

• The law has banned people from threatening anyone by calling them an “illegal alien.”
• If found guilty of hatefully calling someone an illegal alien the penalty could be a fine up to a quarter million dollars.
• It is illegal to use the term even though from a Federal government perspective, it is an accepted legal definition.
• What exactly it means to use it in a hateful or threatening way has not been defined by the law so it is obviously open to interpretation and abuse.
• And it obviously is an affront to the First Amendment, a city government and mayor cannot go around and banning someone from saying two words regardless of how and when they are said.
• Which means after a long legal battle, the law will be struck down as being un-Constitutional and a whole lot of time, energy, and resources would have been wasted for nothing.

Besides being repugnant and illegal, why was such effort put forth on this waste of time? Would not have political efforts and capital been better spent on fixing a lousy school system, helping the homeless on the streets of the city, repairing the crumbling subway system, etc.? So many major things broken affecting millions of city residents and the politicians in the city focus on this tripe. Insane.

2) We have always claimed that a free, unbiased press is critical to the maintenance of democracy. A free press keeps an eye on the greed and corruption of the political class and should be educating citizens on facts and allowing those citizens to make informed judgments based on all of the facts and realities of the issue.

But we have also claimed that the field of journalism today is not doing what the Founders hoped they would do via the First Amendment. Media outlets today are themselves biased. corrupt, and always working an agenda rather than being good, unbiased journalists. This reality was vividly and recently pointed out by some stupid and biased comments from an MSNBC broadcast:

• Gabriel Sherman, a Vanity Fair writer, was recently interviewed on an MSNBC telecast.
• The topic of discussion was the faux impeachment drive that Democrats in the House are trying to put together without any real evidence of anything.
• Without pointing out any evidence of substance, Sherman said that the case for impeachment was so simple that “even the Fox audience can understand” how guilty Trump is.
• The obvious cruel insinuation is that Fox viewers are so stupid.

This is obviously no way to have an adult conversation on the issues of the time. This is no way to be an unbiased and respectful journalist. Another example of media news bias and disgrace.

Oh, Mr. Sherman, by the way, the Fox News audience is more than twice the size of the audience of CNN and MSNBC COMBINED so I am pretty sure that in sheer numbers Fox viewers may be as smart as the viewers of your outlet.

3) But Sherman is not the only condescending “journalist” on TV these days who is as biased and hateful as Sherman. Jake Trapper of CNN recently was talking about impeachment and said that: “He [Trump] has an army of trolls [that support him.]” So in Tapper’s mind, a great number of Trump supporters, ordinary American citizens, are nothing but mindless “trolls” in his Tapper’s mind.

Cannot get more spiteful than that. Again, talk about not being unbiased, not searching out for truths and realities like a real journalist would. Just mindlessly calling millions of citizens trolls because you disagree with their political preferences. 

Two examples, Sherman and Tapper, why I fear for democracy in this country because the press and journalism in this country have lost the only thing that made them a valuable part of a free nation: their integrity. And when you lose your integrity it is very, very difficult to get it back.

Oh, by the way Mr. Tapper, you have so few trolls tuning into CNN that many nights your ratings and CNN ratings fall below the audience levels of the Hallmark channel and shows like “Cupcake Wars” on the Food Channel. Again, the loss of integrity, when integrity is the only thing your professional stands for, is a terrible thing to waste.

4) I was born, grew up, and spent much of my working life in New Jersey so it obviously by original home state. Thus, I saw first hand for many, many years the wasteful and irresponsible spending of state taxpayer wealth on failed projects, greedy political, etc. 

I moved to Florida 14 years ago and have probably saved over $130,000 in lower property taxes and a non-existent state income tax in Florida. This all came to mind today when I found out how the current governor of New Jersey was still wasting taxpayer wealth back in New Jersey:

• According to Brent Johnson, writing for the website, NJ.com, current NJ governor, Patrick Murphy, spent over $1 million on a satellite governor’s office for himself in Newark, New Jersey.
• This is one millions dollars spent, not on his primary office in the state capital where he will spend the vast majority of his time, but on a secondary office that he will likely use very infrequently.
• He already had a Newark office but decided he deserved a larger office in that city, at a cost of $1 million.
• But it gets better: the annual rental cost, which taxpayers will pay, of the new office will be more than $145,000 a year compared to the original, smaller office which cost less than $45,000 in annual rent.
• The governor tried to defend this outrageous spending of taxpayer wealth by declaring that having an office in Newark, the state’s biggest city was important.
• But he misses the point: he already had an office in the city, he just wanted a bigger, more lavish one and spending $1 million of someone else’s money was his way to get it.

As with most pompous politicians, such a bad set of priorities:

• How many homeless and hungry New Jersey folks could have gotten a meal or two out of that unnecessary $1 million one time investment and the $100,000 more that he is paying in annual rent?
• How many drug addicted New Jersey folks could have gotten some addiction treatment out of that unnecessary $1 million one time investment and the $100,000 more that he is paying in annual rent?
• How many computers could have been purchased for inner city school kids out of that unnecessary $1 million one time investment and the $100,000 more that he is paying in annual rent.
• Patrick Murphy’s “let them eat cake moment:” I want a million dollar new office, other human priorities be damned.

That will do it for this month’s insanity: wasting money on unnecessary office space, the loss of integrity and the resulting danger to democracy from the mainstream media, and NYC goes Orwellian. More insanity sure to follow next month.

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/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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

October, 2013 Political Class Insanity, Part 2: Politicians Get Rich, Fraudsters Get Rich, Bridges Collapse, And More

Please note: Nancy Pelosi recently made the outrageous comment that there was no waste to be cut in the Federal govnerment, i.e. EVERY dollar the Washington political class spends is essential to our country. Keep this insanity in mind as we go through this month's polticial class insanity, you will quickly see that she is very much out of touch with the reality of today's wasteful federal government.

Yesterday kicked off our monthly feature where we document and lament the constant insanity and idiocy that spews forth from the American political class. We discussed how politicians pass laws for us to follow but exempt themselves form those same laws. We examined how Ohio State University now has its own personal armored car but no police department in the whole state of Ohio has the same. We reviewed how confidence in government and the economic index of freedom ranking for the United States continue to plummet. 

Let the insanity continue to roll today with the following antics:

1) The website, www.againstcronyism.org, had a disgusting little article posted on its site on September 8, 2013. Cory Booker is the current mayor of Newark, New Jersey and is currently running for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey. Despite being a full time public servant and leader of one of New Jersey’s largest cities, he has been very busy lately in any number of financial entanglements:

• While in office he has been paid over $1.3 million for giving speeches.
• While being mayor AND giving speeches AND launching his drive for a Senate seat, he also found time to start up a new business for which he named a 15 year old son of a CNN executive to the board or directors while also granting the kid stock options.
• But he still found time, according to his latest tax returns, to work over 500 hours last year for his former law firm which resulted in him getting paid $689,900 by that law firm. 
• Oh, by the way,  that law firm was granted almost $2 million in business from city government agencies overseen by the mayor.

The sad part about this type of behavior, e.g. conflict of interest with a former employer, a potential quid pro quo of salary in exchange for city contracts, blatantly bribing a news industry executive by naming the executive’s kid to the board of directors, personal enrichment, is that he will probably win the Senate seat election.  Tell me that the political class has not rigged our election rules and laws and processes to keep their type in power and riches with little regard for the people they are supposed to be serving.

2) As most informed people know, the number of Americans receiving food assistance, “food stamps,” has grown significantly since President Obama took office. And, like any other historical government program, mismanagement, outright criminal fraud, and the wasting of taxpayer wealth has followed on the heals of this increase in food assistance.

One aspect of this mismanagement comes from a recent government inspector general report. Apparently, retailers who have been banned by the Federal Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) for food stamp trafficking are still redeeming more than $65 million in benefits from the program. This finding is according to a new analysis and report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector general (IG). In other words, even when the government does its job and identifies the fraud creators, they cannot get the fraud and criminals out of the system. Insane.

The report sheds light on fraud within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), with the following scathing conclusion on government incompetence: “The Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) does not have clear procedures and guidance to carry out key oversight and enforcement activities to address SNAP retailer fraud, or adequate authority to prevent multiple instances of fraud—either by a particular owner or within a particular location.” 

“As a result, the integrity of SNAP is at risk because FNS does not consistently provide deterrents for trafficking.” SNAP “trafficking” means exchanging food stamp benefits for cash.

With record numbers of Americans are on food stamps (47,635,297 as of May 2013), the number of authorized retailers has also increased dramatically. A total of 246,565 stores participated in 2012, a 40 percent increase since 2007. With more retailers comes a greater opportunity for fraud since, according to the government’s own inspector general for this area, those in charge of safeguarding taxpayer wealth in this area lack procedures and guidance to do the right thing, i.e. minimize fraud and waste.

3) A recent Associated Press analysis of 607,380 bridges in the most recent Federal National Bridge Inventory showed that 65,605 were classified as “structurally deficient” and 20,808 as “fracture critical.” Many of them, 7,795 were both.  Thus, more than 14% of the bridges in this country are in serious danger of collapsing at any time.

But wait a moment, wasn’t this problem addressed by the economic stimulus program from the Obama administration? Didn’t we as a country spend over $800 billion to fix these kinds of problems, wasn’t that the promise? In addition, we have sent Washington trillions of dollars over the decades via taxes to do just such a thing, provide safe motoring for America. I am shocked to think that maybe that money was not spent efficiently. (sarcasm)

In fact, we already know the political class grossly mismanaged these types of programs. Another Associated Press report from several years ago showed that the economic stimulus bridge repair money was handled so poorly that about half of the bridges repaired under that program were not in need of repair, i.e. the Washington political class spent taxpayer wealth on bridges that were not broken, apparently at the expense of over 86,000 bridges that did need repair. Details of this scandal can be found at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-year-end-review-good-bad-and-ugly_02.html

But the bigger issue really is the decades worth of taxes that have been sent to D.C. for little in return except a crumbling infrastructure. While almost 50% of the economic stimulus bridge repair money was wasted, the repairs, both needed and unneeded, addressed less than 3,000 bridges. Imagine how much money is still needed to fix over 86,000 defective bridges, all because the political class did not address the problem until it has now become a crisis.  My advice: drive fast going over any U.S. bridge.

4) We have always called for a thorough “Spring Cleaning” of all levels of government since over time, stupid laws, unnecessary programs, redundant departments, etc. accumulate in government attics that cost taxpayer slots of money for no reason. A perfect example of that was illustrated in a CBS Pittsburgh story about parking in one’s own driveway in that city.

CBS found that Pittsburgh residents have been receiving tickets and warning letters for parking… in their own driveways. Apparently a local law dictates vehicles must be parked at least 30 away feet from the street, even if your driveway is not 30 feet long.

This inane law originated in the mid-20th Century and is little known among locals. However, residents on two streets in different sections of the city have been recently targeted for violating it. Apparently, you need an “occupancy permit” to legally park in their own driveways now in Pittsburgh. One unlucky family, who did not go to the trouble of getting a permit to park in their own driveway, reportedly paid $2,400 for their parking violations

However, it is still legal to park on city streets. According to the CBS report, at least one resident has decided to park on the streets of  a local business district which does not violate any Pittsburgh parking laws. However, while legal, these types of behavior probably restrict the business and economic activity of local businesses since there are now fewer parking spaces for shopper to use. Insanity.

Spring cleaning, good for your home and also good for all levels of government.

4) In a bit of good news from the Federal government, the Washington Examiner reported on August 9, 2013 that Linda Smoot Radeker, 72, of Shelby, N.C., a mental health counselor, oversaw a scheme that defrauded Medicaid of about $6.1 million. But unlike the vast majority of people that rip off the Federal government, she was caught and recently sentenced to three years in prison and required to pay back the money she extorted via her Medicaid scam.

Now the bad news from this story. First, the American taxpayer is unlikely to ever recover anywhere near $6.1 million since according to the article, she admitted she had no particular need for the money, all of which she spent.   Second, she knowingly embezzled over $6 million, she operated a network of other thieves who helped her out, she was running a criminal enterprise and she got ONLY three years in jail? Maybe if people like her were getting ten-twenty years in jail for this type of fraud we might see the fraud levels go down at least a bit. 

And finally, her fraud was committed over a four year period, averaging about $1.5 million a year. According to government estimates that we have reviewed many times, the estimated annual fraud within Medicaid is about $30-49 billion a year. Even if we use the lower estimate, this fraud was about .01% of the total fraud during an average four year period. 

Thus, I am glad she got caught, I am glad she and her accomplices are going to jail, but we need thousands and thousands of more busts and convictions like this to prevent the ongoing waste of taxpayer wealth in this program. As a callout to Nancy Pelosi, this is the kind of waste that needs to be removed despite your outrageous conclusion that nothing can be cut from the Federal budget.

That’s enough insanity for today. Politicians get rich, Medicaid fraudsters get rich, and our bridges are ready to collapse around the country. More insanity tomorrow…if you are up for it.

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

The American Political Class: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Part 2

Late last year we did a post that was structured off of the title of a classic Clint Eastwood movie, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Since then, I have had other political situations pile up that reflect the Good of the American political class (few and far between), the Bad (plenty of examples, and the Ugly (far too many examples.) I will review them today, beginning with The Good and doing The Bad and The Ugly over the next two days.

The American Political Class: The Good, Early 2010

1) An article in the Briefing column of The Week magazine's April 30, 2010 issue caught my eye since it covered a politician that apparently is making some good moves and a positive difference in his city. The politician is Mayor Cory Booker and the city is Newark, New Jersey. At one time, Newark was a bustling and successful manufacturing center for a variety of industries. Unfortunately,

• The population, which was once about 450,000, has shrunk to 280,000 as the city's middle class and industries moved to the suburbs, much of which was driven by the 1967 riots.
• In 1975, Harper's magazine called Newark America's "worst city."
• When Mayor Booker took office in 2007, the city had one supermarket and one movie theater to serve the 280,000 residents.
• The previous mayor had been convicted of corruption and was sent to jail.
• The new sports arena that opened in Newark and which is the home of the NHL's Devils and the temporary home of the NBA's Nets, has failed to generate the economic development and urban revitalization that had been expected around the arena.

Given this backdrop, what has the Mayor accomplished in three years? According to the article:

• He's raised more than $100 million from private entities including music and Hollywood stars to fund city programs.
• He received money from the Gates Foundation to fund charter schools.
• He has raised millions in private donations to expand 20 city parks.
• He has struck deals with area businesses to hire more Newark workers.
• He has fired dozens of city employees that were in non-productive patronage jobs.
• He has reduced the homicide rate by 28%, the number of shootings by 46%, and the overall crime rate by 21%. In March, Newark got through its first month without a murder since 1966.
• A new high rise luxury apartment building is being constructed, the first in almost 50 years.
• Marriott is planning the first new city hotel in 38 years.
• Professionals are moving back into the city because of the low real estate rates and convenience to NYC.

My goodness, can any other politician in the country claim such a success rate in under three years on the job? Can any politician claim to have been successful with so little to work with (i.e. dwindling population, dwindling tax base, dwindling business community, etc.)? I doubt it. We've seen and blogged about how Washington politicians worry about the sound volume of television commericals, whether or not erectile dysfunction products should be advertised on TV, whether or not the package and pricing policies of a tiny airline are fair, etc. Good luck to Mayor Booker, thank you for restoring a little faith that a politician is capable of making a positive difference in people's lives without taxing them to death or insulting them with trivial priorities.

2) The second example of The Good comes from an article in the March 7, 2010 issue of Parade magazine. The article was titled "Compassion Counts More Than Ever" and was written by Michael Berland. The article reported on the results of a poll of Americans, Americans that are living through one of the greatest economic and employment downturns of all times, and found the following results:

• 67% bought charity raffle tickets to support a cause.
• 58% purchased something unnecessary to support a cause.
• 34% sent a check to a charity after hearing or seeing a touching news story.
• 87% supported a cause financially.
• in 2009, survey respondents gave more than $400 on average to the single cause they care about most.
• 98% of respondents have been involved in at least one charitable activity to make a difference and 91% have done it in the past 18 months including 37% who delivered food to the hungry, 30% who helped organize a fund raising event, 32% who participated at a cleanup of a public area, 24% who volunteered at a soup kitchen, 21% who participated in an athletic event to raise funds, and 19% who mentored a student.

All of this was accomplished when most Americans were confronting some sort of financial crisis over the past few years. This type of behavior reinforces my view that America is still a great country with great people that are ill served by bad politicians running an ineffective and inefficient government. How much more could Americans do if they were allowed to keep a greater portion of their wealth through reduced taxes? How much more could Americans do if the political class and various government entities (see previous post on SEC employees enjoying porn on the job while the economy crashed) had not been asleep at the switch and allowed the economy to crash and the unemployment rate to skyrocket? This type of behavior, both the good of individual Americans and the incompetence of most of the political class, was the partial inspiration for my book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government."

3) The last part of The Good will be mentioned briefly here and then after some research, I will come back with a more detailed post. It has come to my attention that the citizens of Colorado Springs, Colorado are embarking on a grand experiment of government downsizing. rather than continually raise the tax burden on citizens and continually expand government payrolls and functions (which many times are not done well or not done at all), the citizens and the local government are looking for innovative ways to reduce the size of government, return tax dollars to the citizens, and make up the difference by deploying volunteer programs, generating funding through creative advertising opportunities, and other such novel approaches. Some examples include:

• Taxi drivers are recruited to be an extra set of eyes for the police.
• Residents can adopt a street light for a $100 a year.
• Volunteers now empty garbage cans at the city's 128 parks.
• Four city community centers will now be run by a church.
• A dunk tank helped raise funds for city needs.
• Negotiations are underway with big box stores that would offer a discount on a rider mower if the buyer volunteered to cut grass on city property.

As I said above, I will do some more research into this fascinating effort at restoring freedom in Colorado Springs to see how it is doing. It certainly merits attention, as does any effort to reduce the size of ineffective and inefficient government and allow people to keep more of their wealth without seriously degrading their lives.

Unfortunately, these types of behavior, an effective city politician (or any kind of effective politician), a benevolent citizenry which helps out fellow citizens, and forward thinking, freedom loving Americans seem to be in short supply in recent times. This comes particularly clear in the next two posts where we post the many instances of The Bad and The Ugly.

Our new 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.