Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Part 10: Her Disgusting, Repugnant Comparison To Nazi Concentration Camps

Over the past year, New York City Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has established herself as a human gaffe machine. Her inability to do simple math, her outlandish ideas based on an alternative reality, her economic ignorance, and lack of common sense has resulted in an almost daily stream of idiocy, inane comments, and ridiculous ideas that have no basis in reality.

As a result, most of our recent political class insanity posts have almost always had an Ocasio-Cortez piece of insanity. Thus, we have decided to separately track her craziness and idiotic takes on economics, business, government, and whatever else on a regular basis under its own set of posts. She deserves to have a separate effort that captures all of the ridiculousness she espouses.

The original format we were going to use was to start with a set of her original inane ideas and just continue to build on that initial list as time goes by. But after just three summaries of her idiocy and stupid ideas it has become obvious that we cannot continually add to the existing set of ineptness, that list would get too large too quickly.

Thus, each new Ocasio-Cortez post will have only the latest gaffes out of her mouth. To review her previous idiocies just enter her last name in the search box above.

Let’s get started:

Before we get to her latest, and quite possibly, her most despicable contemptible, and disgusting comment ever, let’s go back in history to World War II. During that time period Hitler and Nazi Germany operated a string of what most educated people would call “concentration camps.” In fact, according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, “Definition of concentration camp:a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard —used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners.” [My emphasis added].

Again, most educated people would immediately jump to Nazi German when the words “concentration camps” are mentioned."

These “concentration camps” had numerous purposes including the elimination of Jews, gypsies, political enemies, and other undesirables and also to provide human hands and bodies to work slave labor to support the Nazi war machine. The people that were imprisoned in those camps were forcibly brought there against their own free will, were not allowed to leave, were physically and medically tortured and were denied adequate food, clothing, shelter and medical care. 

Millions of innocents were brutalized in this way, it was easily one of humanity’s worst moments in history. It gave way to the slogan ”Never Again,” as a constant reminder to never let this type of atrocity happen again.

But along comes Ocasio-Cortez with no sense of history and no sense of sensitivity to those families who lived through and survived the Nazi Holocaust. She recently and ludicrously and disgustedly tried to compare what is going on down on the border with Mexico to this Nazi situation from World War II: “The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are,” Ocasio-Cortez alleged. “They are concentration camps. And, um, if that doesn’t bother you, I don’t, I don’t know, I like, we can have, okay whatever. I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that we should not that ‘Never Again’ means something and that the fact that concentration camps are now an institutionalized practice in the home of the free is extraordinarily disturbing and we need to do something about it. This week, children, immigrant children were moved to the same internment camps where the Japanese were held in, in the early, in the earlier 20th century and this is, um, this is not even about a crisis for, this is not just about the immigrant communities being held in concentration camps being a crisis. This is a crisis for ourselves. This is a crisis on if America will remain America on its actual principles and values or if we are losing to an authoritarian and fascist presidency. And so I think that that is you know, I don’t use those words lightly. I don’t use those words to just throw bombs. I used that word because that is what an administration that creates concentration camps is. A presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist and it’s very difficult to say that because it is very difficult to accept the fact that that is how bad things have gotten but that is how bad things are.”

Alright, a few reactions:

• These are not concentration camps, these are temporary places where the U.S. government has had to improvise to handle an onslaught of people from other countries breaking our current laws.
• As a Congresswoman, if you do not like the current immigration laws and processes, then do something to change these laws rather than spewing this type of hatred and childish, whiny  rants.
• It is my understanding that she has not personally visited these detention centers so she should just shut up until she knows what is really going on and the challenges that U.S. officials and employees are facing trying to follow current laws and protect American lives and property while having compassion for those they are caring for.
• Would she prefer that all of these people being temporarily detained be set free in American cities and towns knowing that 4,200 of those being detained had to be quarantined because they had been exposed to mumps, 800 more had been exposed to chicken pox, and 100 more were quarantined because of exposure to both, is that her preferred solution, unleash these types of diseases on innocent American kids?
• Unlike real concentration camps, if these folks were not violating our borders and laws there would be no detention places for these illegal immigrants.
• Unlike real concentration camps, the people being detained for breaking U.S. laws are free to leave and go home any time they want.
• Unlike real concentration camps, these folks are not being forced to do slave labor.
• Unlike real concentration camps, these folks have a shelter over their head, are getting fed, and getting medical care.
• Unlike real concentration camps, these folks will eventually get some sort of due process under the current immigration laws of this country.
• Unlike real concentration camps, these people were not dragged out of their homes, forced onto cattle car type trains and transported hundreds and hundreds of miles to real concentration camps.
• She needs to learn a little history before she starts equating this administration and President with the Nazis and fascism since history would tell her that mandatory detention on the U.S.-Mexican border for asylum seekers was originally started as a President Bill Clinton process that was continued under Bush and Obama so if Trump is a fascist than Clinton, Bush, and Obama are fascists also.
• As always, she shows that she only cares about the THOUSANDS of people breaking the law on our southern border, who, as I mentioned above are getting free shelter, food, and medical care because of their unlawful actions, while MILLIONS of Americans are homeless, without shelter, hungry, and in need of medical care often because of no fault of their own, people she couldn't care less about.
• As always, she shows that she only cares about the thousands of people breaking the law on our southern border and does not care that many, many of those folks are gang members, cartel members, potential terrorists, human traffickers, and other bad people, bad people that have already killed, maimed, raped, and robbed thousands of innocent Americans, people she couldn't care less about.

The fact that she would conflated the six million Jews that suffered and died at real Nazi concentration camps to thousands of law breakers at our southern borders who have not died is disgusting, despicable, and beyond belief.

As you probably figured out, I find her behaviors incredibly wrong from a history perspective, wrong from a sensitivity perspective, and wrong from her not having any solution to the problem, just more of her constant whining.

And yet when people like myself called her out on her insensitivity, rather than show a touch of humility and say she was sorry for seriously hurting and bringing up bad memories of families who suffered at the hands of real evil and real concentration camps, she continued to dig her hole deeper with this response: “And for the shrieking Republicans who don’t know the difference: concentration camps are not the same as death camps. Concentration camps are considered by experts as “the mass detention of civilians without trial. And that’s exactly what this administration is doing.”

She continued to dig her hole of insensitivity deeper by quoting one historian, Andrea Pitzer, who says the situation on the southern border is “a concentration camp system” and defines a concentration camp as the “mass detention of civilians without trial.” This is certainly his right to define this situation his way but these people are being detained until their “trial,” aka their asylum hearing, not without trial. Trying to split hairs definition-wise when you have insulted the memories of Holocaust survivors and then continue to harp on the same insensitive and disgusting comments shows an incredible lack of humanity on her own soul. Stop digging once in a hole, it does not get you out of the hole, only outs you deeper down.

She obviously does not get it. The people like myself who are appalled by her insensitivity are not “shrieking Republicans.” We are people who are sensitive to the suffering of families who lost loved ones by the millions due to the real concentration camps. We are sensitive to the thousands of families who lost loved ones that were killed because of illegal criminal immigrants who got across the border. Enough with the hate mongering Congresswoman, have a little bit of empathy for those that have suffered at the hands of evil rather than grossly categorize these Americans as all “shrieking Republicans.”

Ocasio-Cortex has proven time and time again that she has uninformed opinion on everything and is usually wrong on everything, from the simple definition of the unemployment rate to not knowing what the three branches of our government are to grossly misreading a simple Pentagon audit program to dozens of other gaffes and idiotic comments. 

Here is what some of the more educated, more expert people had to say about her comments and her lack of first hand knowledge of what is really going on:

• Mark Morgan, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director: “It’s [her comments] completely inappropriate, it’s reckless, it’s irresponsible, it’s misinformed, and it’s flat out wrong, There is so much oversight in these facilities. I encourage the check and balance, I encourage inspections. I feel very satisfied that if you go to these facilities, whether it’s a border patrol facility or an (Health and Human Services) facility or an ICE facility that there will be safe and adequate conditions to detain individuals.”
• Congresswoman Liz Cheney: “Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this.” 
• Josh Holmes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former chief of staff, said Ocasio-Cortez’s comments were “an alarming and dangerous false equivalence that suggests a breathtaking lack of appreciation for the unparalleled evil of the Holocaust. Yeah, I’m not going to let @AOC pretend that she wasn’t making an equivalence to the Holocaust. When you say, ‘Never Again’ means something” after discussing concentration camps, you’ve removed all doubt about what you’re referring to.” 

Bottom line is:

• She thinks she is an expert on everything but is a novice on everything she touches or talks about [don't believe me: dig some some Congressional testimony video and you will see she gets her head handed to her every time she tries to act like an expert]
• She doesn't care about the health of American kids since she would likely release everyone from these temporary detention centers, endangering the health of kids across the country relative to mumps, chickenpox and who knows what other diseases.
• She doesn't care about the physical safety of Americans since she would likely release everyone from these temporary detention centers including murderers, rapists, and drug dealers that are among them.
• She doesn't care about the millions of Americans who are homeless, hungry, and in need of medical attention every day since she only worries about and espouses caring for those in these temporary detention centers who are getting shelter, food, and medical care every day, all paid for by American taxpayer dollars.
• She is a whiner and not a problem solver, not visiting the centers to understand what is really going on or proposing changes to laws and processes that would change what she sees as injustice, just whine whine, whine.

When she got the small things wrong it was funny and that is why we decided to track her insanity and idiocy every month. But this latest outburst, which is a smack against Holocaust and concentration camp survivors and victims, attacking the people in government trying to do both the moral thing and the legal thing to the best of their ability under dire circumstances, her stunning lack of concern for needy Americans, and especially when it was pointed out that she had hurt a lot of innocent people’s emotions and memories she just continued to pour on the hate, showing a complete lack of empathy or caring for others' feelings, life experiences, and tragic losses at the hands of real evil, The Nazis.

All of this hate has caused us to stop writing about her in the future. She doesn't deserve to be talked about, giving her any coverage or mention for her insensitivities and hatred for everything American and human is no longer funny, it is disgusting. 

Note: after this post was written but before it was published it was reported that a number of reputable experts and organizations reached out to Ocasio-Cortez and offered to present their side of the case for why they were personally hurt and insulted by her heartless concentration camp analogy, pointing out that most Nazi concentration camps were actually and officially called “concentration camps.” 

She brutally rebuffed all of these offers, including an invitation to visit Poland to visit and an actual concentration camp, somehow ignorantly conflating these opportunities for education with white wing extremism. As a human being, her insensitivity and ignorance boggles the mind.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/06/23/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-refuses-invitation-to-visit-auschwitz-concentration-camp/

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:

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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.

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Fighting Islamic Terrorism In the Wake Of Orlando, Part 2 - Situation Analysis and Long Term Resolution Assumptions

Yesterday we took some time to discuss the terrorist attack at a nightclub in Orlando a few weekends ago. We listed out a number of steps that needed to be taken in the short term, and extending into the long term, that would help prevent similar attacks in the future. These steps require extensive effort on behalf of the government and the Washington political class, something that neither has had the will or ability to do in the past. 

Instead, we get people like Obama and other liberals inside and outside of government that, as always, go to the knee jerk reaction of limiting Americans access to guns. As we pointed out yesterday, the 9-11 attackers did not storm the Twin Towers with AR 15 rifles, they used airplanes to carry their terror plans. The Boston Marathon bombers did not jump into a crowd in Boston and start shooting up the place, they used homemade bombs. Other terrorists here and around the world have used simple knives to kill in the name of terror.

We also pointed out that if a person wanted to carry out a terror attack, any new gun control laws passed by Washington would be nothing more than an inconvenience, if anyone wants a gun in this country, the drug cartels or other organized, and unorganized, criminal entity would be more than willing to make a few bucks by providing such weapons and guns. That is why the many suggestions we provided yesterday to attack the root causes of terrorism are far more important and more likely to be effective than window dressing gun control restrictions.

However, there has to be an overarching strategy to eliminate the terror threat from ISIS long term. While our suggestions from yesterday would go a long way to help protecting us, a long term strategy to settle down the violence and hatred in the Middle East is required at the highest levels of diplomacy. That is where Obama needs to be concentrating as his Presidency winds down, putting together a long term plan, strategy, and way of life that brings all of the diplomatic players together in a grand coalition and effort that finally eliminates the root cause of the ISIS terror reign.

However, since he seems more interested in changing national bathroom policies, hosting Super Bowl teams at the White House, and hiking around a national park out west, let us start the discussion today on what the grand plan might look like, why it would work and how each interested party would have to give a little to get a lot, i.e. the end of the ISIS threat.

In proposing this solution and plan, we realize that we are not trained diplomats. We have never held elected office. But we do realize that to have a final plan in any facet of life, you have to have at least a preliminary plan that is tweaked, negotiated, adjusted over time, etc. And since Obama, John Kerry, et al do not appear to have or have the ability to have a plan, they are more than welcome to start with ours.

1) Part One - Situational Analysis: You cannot resolve any problem without defining where you are today. Same thing with a diplomatic problem and hopefully, a diplomatic solution. As I see it, there are nine major players involved in the mess in Syria with ISIS:

1. ISIS - the most ruthless, heartless, and well financed Islamic terror group ever, currently dominating large parts of Syria and Iraq, composed of Sunni Muslims.
2. The United States - because we stick our noses into everything and the rise of ISIS was facilitated by the Obama administration.
3. Syria - or what is left of it, headed up by Assad, a Shiite Muslim.
4. Russia - an ally of Assad.
5. Iran - a Shiite dominated country and ally of Assad.
6. Iraq - a Shiite dominated country and an ally of Assad and Iran.
7. Turkey - bordering Syria, anti-Assad, and an ISIS sympathizer.
8. Saudi Arabia - and other Sunni Muslim Gulf states who are at least ISIS sympathizers if not more.
9. Kurds - Anti-ISIS fighters with the majority of Kurds living in northern Iraq and who want their own country.

Nine different players that can and have had major impacts on the whole Syrian civil war/ISIS rise debacle. But it gets even more confusing when you try to map out visually on how these nine entities interact, resist, or cooperate with each other. The following crude picture tries to capture the multi layers of relationships between these nine players. The red lines indicate when two of these parties are each others’ enemy and the dotted green lines indicate when two of these parties are each others’ allies:

While I am pretty sure that this graph is not comprehensive, you can see that relationships that are mapped out result in some pretty strange results:

• The United States is an enemy of Iran but we have a common enemy in ISIS. 
• The United States is an ally of Turkey who is an ISIS sympathizer
• The United States is an ally of the Saudis which is at least a sympathizer of ISIS.
• The United States and Russia do not get along at all recently but we have a common enemy in ISIS with opposing views of Assad and Syria.

You could go on and on but you get the idea, it is certainly a tangled web of enemies, allies, self interest, and the most important factor, oil and oil pipelines. (note: when I refer to oil in this post I also include natural gas.)

I mention oil for the first time because I believe that oil is a major driver of the entire crisis. One could make the case, which is the assumption that we will going under, that the Sunni Saudis and their Sunni allies would like to get rid of Shiite Assad so that they can build a pipeline for their Sunni oil through Syria. 

Such a pipeline would likely cause an economic disadvantage to the Russian oil industry so Russia would like to keep Assad in power to control any pipeline that goes through Syrian territory and work with the likes of Iran so that if any pipeline is built, it is a Shiite controlled pipeline with Russian support. Keeping Assad in place also gives the Russian military more flexibility in using the geography of Syria as a military port.

Of course there are other subplots going on but I believe oil drives the bulk of the conflict. Given all of the interdependencies, oil wealth and potential oil wealth, the whole Shiite vs. Sunni situation, etc., what is a diplomatic solution that allows each of the nine parties above to walk away with something positive from their diplomatic efforts even if it is not everything they would want? Obviously, everyone trying to get everything from this mess has not resolved this mess.

2) Long Term Resolution Assumptions - We need to make a number of assumptions before laying out the plan:

• ISIS needs to be defeated militarily and dismantled.
• The United Nations needs to be involved and engaged immediately after the defeat of ISIS to provide food, shelter, and help in reestablishing law and order to the ISIS areas.
• All countries will provide humanitarian and financial help after the ISIS defeat along the lines of the Marshall Plan after World War II.
• Refugees will be encouraged to return to their home countries with financial and transportation aid part of the encouragement.
• A United Nations peacekeeping force will be in place until no longer needed to ensure the reconstruction and terms of any diplomatic agreement are met.

Proposed details on what this grand diplomatic solution might look like, given the situation analysis and assumptions listed above will be laid out tomorrow. Included in the analysis will be a detailed look at what each of the nine parties listed above get and what they do not get as a result of the diplomatic solution. 

Hint: everyone gets something good, no one gets all of the good they would like to get.

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:


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Memorial Day, 2015 - A Soldier Remembered

This post originally appeared on Memorial Day, 2010. However, the thoughts expressed then are just as relevant two years later as we honor those that have served and who are currently serving our country in our armed forces to protect ourselves and our freedom.

No political ranting and raving today. No pointing out how the politicians continue to screw up the country, constantly denying and depriving us of our freedoms and liberties to the benefit of their political careers. Today is a day of remembrance, of the millions of Americans that have served the country in the past and in the present, many times sacrificing their lives for our freedom and liberty. Please spend a few minutes today thinking of them in any way possible and remembering that many of our fellow citizens and family members are on the front lines around the world today, facing serious danger, but unselfishly protecting us.

One soldier in particular is on my mind today. My father served in World War II with the 203rd Engineer Combat Battalion. It is my understanding that the 203rd came ashore at Omaha Beach in June, 1944, served across France, was involved in the Battle Of The Bulge in late 1944 and eventually made its way into Germany. It was destined for the Pacific Theater but had those plans cancelled when Japan surrendered. He was honorably discharged in late 1945.

I say that it was my understanding because my father rarely spoke of the war, I had to find out this information from secondary sources. He did not brag about his service, he did not boast of the battles he may or may not have seen, he did not regale us with tales of heroism. 

It is also my understanding that he is not alone in this approach. Stories abound of similar attitudes among World War II veterans. They did what had to be done, often at great cost, to protect the country and the ideals it stands for. They did not consider themselves heroes, they just did what had to be done. They then returned to become regular citizens and got on with their lives. No egos, no self-centeredness, just a dedication to country and family.

I never thanked my father for his service in the fight for liberty and freedom, not sure growing up that I fully understood the sacrifices he and others made for us. I would like to do that today, seventeen years after he passed away. I would also like to hope that our politicians eventually realize what great costs have been expended to keep us free and that they re-dedicate themselves to maintaining freedom, for all Americans in so many different ways. Making freedom the core of their service in politics and government should be their highest priority, not their re-election. May they for once forego their own egos and selfcenteredness, for the good of the country, like our military peple have done for centuries.

May, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 2: Obama Approval Dips To An All Time Low, Bad Harry Reid Priorities, Failing To Educate Our Kids, and More

This is our second post this month on our continuing monthly series on political class insanity. Seems there are endless ways in which American politicians continue to insult our intelligence, waste our wealth, prove themselves ignorant of reality, and fail to efficiently and effectively execute any kind of government operation. Their sad saga continues again today with insanity from just the past month or so.

1) I have always loved the old line of wisdom that goes as follows: “It is better to remain silent and thought ignorant than to speak up and remove all doubt.” This came to mind recently when a Congresswoman did not obey this adage when Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton stated that "perhaps the most catastrophic war of the 20th Century - invasion by the United States of America" in Iraq. How ignorant is this statement:

• First of all, the invasion occurred in the 21st century, not the 20th century.
• Although it is impossible to accurately estimate the number of humans killed in World War II most reputable sources put the death toll at between 70 and 80 million people, certainly more catastrophic than the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
• These 70 to 80 million deaths included 700,000 British military casualties and 60,000 civilian deaths, Soviet Union deaths of 26.6 million people, about 5.7 million Polish deaths, 5.3 total German deaths, and over 400,000 U.S. military deaths (source: www,worldwar2.org).
• In World War I there were about 16 million deaths and 20 million other casualties, making this war also far more catastrophic than Iraq.

Idiot speech from a Congress person, insane. Her actual ignorance is on display at the following website:

http://m.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/matt-vespa/dc-democrat-iraq-most-catastrophic-war-20th-century

2) As a country we spend a lot of money on educating our kids. Unfortunately, spending money and getting good education attainment results on our investment are usually not related. Our kids always end up behind the kids of dozens of our countries on standardized tests.

This dichotomy of high spending and low results is nicely illustrated by the following graph from the U.S. Department of Education and other reputable sources:



While we are spending almost 200% more on public schools than we spent in 1970, far above the rate of inflation, and the staffing growth in public schooling is up almost 100% since 1970, math, reading, and science performance has barely moved since 1970. 

In no other aspect of our lives would we tolerate this sort of incompetence. For some reason, though, we seem to think nothing of handing over massive resources to the political class, hoping they would improve the lot of our kids, and then sit idly by for over forty years during which no improvements are made.

Given that the current Presidential administration has been in place for more than five years and there is no sign that they have any plans or strategies to fix this four decade old problem, it is highly unlikely that this situation will change in the remaining years of this administration. Thus, we would have wasted another eight years and hundreds of billions of dollars to allow this graph to remain unchanged. 

No plans, no strategies, no changes, just massive spending for minimal results. Are we starting to see why we need term limits? Forty years of incompetence should not be rewarded with continued employment in Washington.

3) Speaking of more costs, consider the following graphs that recently appeared in a Washington Examiner article, based on data form the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

Over the past five years, quarterly growth in the nation’s health care spending has gone up between 2% and 4% on average with quarters being above 4% and some quarters being below 2%.

However, over the past two quarters, we have seen the growth rate break out of this range, so much so that in the fourth quarter of last year the quarterly growth in health care spending in this country was almost 6% and in the first quarter of this year the quarterly growth was an unprecedented 10%. It just so happens that those two quarters, which had the highest growth rate in the past five years, corresponded with the rollout of Obama Care, a piece of legislation that was supposed to reduce health care costs and spending, not increase them.

Now, the Examiner article correctly points out that these figures will likely be revised in the future as more data becomes available. However, that means they also could be higher than currently estimated. It is looking like just another case where legislation coming out of Washington is doing the exact OPPOSITE of what it was supposed to do, raising costs rather than lowering them. Only in the American political class can you get the exact opposite result of what you intended to do.

4) There are over twenty million Americans who are unemployed or under employed. The economic growth from the latest quarter is almost nothing. People are dying and homeless in the Midwest from tornados. The Ukraine is being torn apart from within and without. Wasteful government spending is out of control, our kids are not getting educating, and health care costs are going up.

So what does Senate Majority Harry Reid give a speech about on the Senate floor recently? He wants the National Football League to pressure the Washington Redskins owner to change the name of the team since in Mr. Reid’s opinion it is racist. 

No new economic policies, no strategic planning to contain the Russian threat in eastern Europe, no overhaul of our public education system, nothing of consequence to the majority of Americans. Just the name of a football team that has been around for 80 years.

Now, I am not saying the name is not racist. I am saying that a Senator from Nevada should really shut up and work on the major issues affecting all Americans vs. worrying about the name of a football team that resides almost three thousand miles away form his home state. A pathetic set of priorities.

5) One last piece of insanity today. An ABC News poll recently found that President Obama’s approval rating has sunk to 41%, the lowest level of his Presidency. This is about five years and four months into his administration. [The fact that ABC television news hardly mentioned the dire poll results is a topic of another blog on media prejudice.]

On March 7, 2006, an ABC News poll showed that President Bush’s approval rating had fallen in the same range, a 42% approval rating. Thus, it would appear that we are not much better off with this President than the previous President, especially when you consider that Obama hit the same low point in his Presidency about one year sooner than Bush hit the same level in his Presidency. 

The more things change the more they stay the same with political class failures across the board in education, war on drugs, foreign affairs, wasteful spending, and Americans’ disapproval of the job the Washington political class is doing. Term limits anyone:

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

More insanity 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:

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http://www.reason.com
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Only In Washington: A Shutdown That Is Not Really A Shutdown But Just Bitter, Immature Politics (As Usual)

The headlines scream that the Federal government has been shut down by radical Tea Party politicians, bringing hardship and terror to all of America. Politicians strut and issue pompous, and in many cases, disgusting quotes, to make cheap political points while Americans suffer. THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR!!!

Or is it? When is a government shutdown not really a shutdown? I would contend that we are looking at more of a mole hill than a mountain since:

#1 85% of all government activities are actually being funded during this “government shutdown”.

#2 Approximately 1,350,000 “essential” federal employees will continue to work during this “government shutdown”.

#3 Overall, 63 percent of the federal workforce will continue to work during this “government shutdown”.

#4 The U.S. Postal Service will continue to deliver our mail.

#5 U.S. military personnel will remain on duty and will continue to get paid.

#6 Social Security recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#7 Medicare recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#8 Medicaid recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#9 Food stamp recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#10 Those on unemployment will continue to get their benefits.

#11 Federal retirees will continue to get their pensions.

#12 The federal school lunch program has enough money to go through at least the end of this month.

#13 Public schools all over the country will continue to stay open.

#14 Almost all federal law enforcement officials will continue working.

#15 The Federal Reserve will remain “completely functional“.

#16 The Supreme Court will continue to operate normally and federal courts have enough money to keep going for at least two weeks.

#17 TSA employees will continue to molest travelers at our airports.

#18 Air traffic controllers will continue to monitor traffic at our airports.

#19 Hopelessly outmanned border patrol agents will continue to try to stem the tide of illegal immigration.

#20 Visas and passports will continue to be issued by the State Department.

#21 The Veterans Administration will continue to offer substandard medical services, and it will be able to continue processing benefit payments at least for now.

#22 The Obama administration apparently has plenty of money to spend on closing open-air memorials that are usually open to the public 24 hours a day.

#23 The Department of Defense announced the awarding of 94 new contracts worth a combined total of more than 5 billion dollars on September 30th – the day right before the “government shutdown”.

#24 The “government shutdown” has not prevented the new two billion dollar NSA spy center from opening up.

#25 Federal prisons will continue to operate normally.

#26 Amtrak trains will continue to run.

#27 The Patent and Trademark Office will be open.

#28 The Consumer Product Safety Commission will continue to issue product recalls if the products “create an immediate threat to the safety of human life“.

#29 The National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center will continue to track weather patterns.

#30 If the federal government needs to respond to a natural disaster, this “shutdown” will not affect that.

#31 NASA will continue to support the Mars Rover and the two American astronauts up on the International Space Station.

#32 All city employees of the D.C. government have been deemed “essential” and will continue to go to work.

#33 Even though the Obamacare exchanges are not working properly, people will still be able to access them.

#34 The IRS will continue to collect taxes, but it will be suspending punitive audits of conservative organizations.

#35 Barack Obama will continue to get paid for the full duration of this “shutdown”.

#36 The U.S. Congress will continue to get paid for the full duration of this “shutdown”.

#37 And everyone else is on paid leave. They’ll get their back pay when we open back up for business. In fact, according to a Washington Post article from October 6, 2013, the Pentagon has already announced that it would order almost all of its 350,000 furloughed employees due to the “shut down
 back to work this week.

Seems like this is much ado about nothing if more than three dozen heavy duty functions of the U.S. government are continuing to operate in a business as usual mode. As always, the perception of reality in Washington is totally different than the perception of reality outside of the Beltway. Very few Americans are being affected by the shut down and could care less. Just about every politician and member of the main stream media is besides themselves with rage about the shut down. Another glaring disconnect.

But there are some other interesting observations and conclusions that can be drawn as a result of this trivial and juvenile political class behavior:

Observation Number 1 - Should all politicians in Washington be arrested for breaking the law?

Consider this interesting and provocative  question: if the government is actually functioning without a budget, is the entire Federal government bureaucracy operating in an illegal mode at this point in time? If so, shouldn’t everyone responsible for operating the government, from Barack Obama to the last member of Congress, be put under arrest for breaking the law?

You cannot claim the government has been shut down because, by law, it needs a formal budget to operate when, in fact, government checks are being sent out and cashed, mail is being delivered, weather is being tracked, air travelers are being groped, etc. According to a Forbes analysis that was reported on the Against Crony Capitalism website, only about 13% of the Federal government has been shut down. 

So it is not beyond the realm of believability that the political class is acting in a felonious, illegal matter to have so much of the government still functioning without a legally required formal budget. It is also not beyond the realm of believability to say that at least 13% of the Federal budget could be cut without affecting the welfare and lives of the vast majority of Americans. 

Observation Number 2 - Is there at least 13% of the Federal government that can be immediately stripped out  without any consequences for ordinary Americans? 

We are more than a week into this so-called shutdown and virtually no one is missing the 13% of government that is not operating. Doing some rough math on this year’s $3.8 TRILLION budget, we find that trimming 13% out of the budget would reduce Federal government spending by almost half a TRILLION dollars. If these savings were evenly distributed back to every American household, each household in America would be getting about a $4,300 check from the trimmed down Federal government every year. 

Think about what a great boost to the economy that would be if every family had an extra $4,300 in their pocket EVERY YEAR. They could vacation more, buy more stuff for their homes, engage in more leisure activities, maybe send their kids to better schools, start their own business, etc. Since most people are not missing the 13% reduction in Federal spending, wouldn’t this be a much better option for the country than spending money that no one misses by the political class and Federal government?

And the financials of the Federal government would be much better off. In this past fiscal year, the Federal government deficit was about $600 billion. This almost $500 billion in annual savings would wipe out more than 80% of last year’s spending deficit, creating a brighter financial future for the Federal government and all Americans from a debt load perspective.

Observation Number 3 - Some small adjustments to this cost savings/spending reduction model would have to be made to fix some of the soulless, selfish actions of the political class.

For instance, in an act of pure childish petulance, the White House tried to bar World War II veterans from visiting their memorial in Washington even though it is an open air memorial that requires no Federal employees to be available to operate the memorial. The White House under Barck Obama also did the same petty shenanigans with the Vietnam War Memorial, forcing veterans to leave before paying their respects to their fallen comrades despite this memorial also being an open air, public display.

These, and many other acts of vindictiveness from this administration, are meant to infict the most harm and inconvenience on ordinary Americans during the shutdown to solely make make political points. But we should expect nothing better from these people. 

After the sequester, they did the same thing, closing down White House public tours, cutting aid to Native American schools, furloughing air traffic controllers, etc., all meant to sacrifice Americans' needs for their sick political games.

Thus, we would have to make some slight admjustments, and only slight adjustments, to the 13% cut, maybe settling for only a 12% cut in order to allow veterans to still visit their memorials and fallen comrades, allow national parks to stay open, etc. This would prevent politicians like President Obama from playing his political games while still trimming a hefty, and nonessential, part of the government's spending out of the Federal government.

Yes, this has really not been a shutdown, this was a slight inconvenience, made worse by petty poltiicians. But "petty politicians" is probalby redundant. Today in America it seems like these are the only kind of politicians we have.

To help change that situation, please visit our term limits website at:

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

Because really, after seeing how these politicians treat our veterans, how much worse could it get if we had a totally different set of politicians in Washington?

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

Day 5: Seven Days Of Logic and Sanity That Prove Raising Taxes On Any American Is Just Plain Stupid

This is a fifth in a eight part series that proves conclusively that there is no need for any politician in Washington to raise the taxes on any American, rich or poor, given how poorly the Federal government currently mismanages and wastes the taxes already being paid. Thus, President Obama’s insistence that the higher earners in this country pay more in taxes is ludicrous.

If the President, the executive branch of government over which he is in charge, and Congress were actually doing their jobs, the savings from making government more efficient, less redundant, and less subject to the massive criminal fraud we see today would overwhelm whatever funding shortfalls there are today to cover basic government expenses and costs.

Another major reason for not raising taxes on any American, because government will end up wasting it anyway, is that taking disposable income out of the economy via more taxation results in less economic growth. Given the high level of taxation in this country and the low economic growth in the country since Obama took office, maybe this correlation (high taxation = low economic growth) is actually a causation relationship.

Ask yourself: from an economic perspective, would you rather have higher earning Americans spending their hard earned wealth throughout the country on movies, restaurants, new cars, vacations, etc., contributing to real and meaningful economic growth or give it to Washington bureaucracies that will waste it on foreign consulate buildings that are never used, narrowly focused silly science projects that have no meaning in the real world, allow criminal elements to steal it from government agencies, etc.?

The answer is pretty clear, based on the first posts in this series. The amount of additional taxation the President wants to collect from higher earning Americans is minuscule relative to the massive government spending and deficits he has established for the bloated Federal government. It will make hardly a dent in the annual budget of the Federal government and an even smaller dent in our $16.3 TRILLION national debt.

The government has a chronic overspending problem, not an under taxation problem. Obama needs to reduce spending dramatically, not raise taxes that drain disposable income out of a struggling economy for no reason. He could surely learn a good economic lesson from a past President who understood this simple economic concept quite well.

The following post is a brief history of what Harry S. Truman did after World War II. President Truman realized that downsizing government from the massive Federal bureaucracy that was established to fight the war effort was best for the economy and the American people. He downsized government and reduced taxes, which resulted in balanced budgets, strong economic growth and low unemployment.

President Obama has taken just the opposite approach: massive increases in government spending, massive annual deficits, and now he wants higher taxes. His economic polices have resulted in persistently high unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, very low economic growth, and massive government inefficiencies, criminal fraud, and wasteful spending.

We know how wasteful government is, we documented it over the past four posts. Making government smaller and more efficient is a proven way to go for a better life for Americans. Truman already proved it, Obama is ignoring logic, sanity, and history by his insistence that any American give more of their wealth to voracious and ineffective government bureaucracy

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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Why Obama's Economic Policies Are Dead Wrong - A Real life Example In Pictures

We have talked about the many economic failures, in both strategy and execution, of the Obama administration over the past few years. These failures have resulted in heated and divisive class warfare rhetoric, skyrocketing national debt, high unemployment and underemployment, and abominable failures of economic programs:

•Failed economic programs and projects - these include, but are not limited to, Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Caulkers, Cash For Appliances, bank and auto company bailouts, the $800 billion stimulus program, Solyndra, and a number of other failed alternative energy programs.

•Regarding the massive and failed economic stimulus package, this administration claimed that unless it was passed immediately, the unemployment rate in this country could get as high as 8%. The package was passed and employment soared about 25% higher than 8%.

•Divisive class warfare - Obama constantly harps on the need to tax the wealthy in this country even more, blaming them for the skyrocketing annual trillion dollar deficits this administration has incurred. However, we have easily proven that even if you tax these Americans' earnings at 100% or confiscate all of their assets, it will have very little impact on the economic conditions in this country, quite possibly making them even worse while dividing the country along economic lines.

•Under the Obama administration, the recovery in unemployment and under employment after the last recession has been among the most anemic in the economic history of the United States.

•In the wake of of failed economic programs, divisive class warfare, and stubbornly high unemployment, the Obama administration has proceeded to run up the national debt much faster and much more dramatically, with little in return, than any President in the history of the United States.

All very good reasons to conclude that this administration has no clue when it comes to economics. Which is a shame since if you look back in our history, you will find a classic example of how to manage and grow an economy out of a crisis mode with favorable results across all major economic indices.

The example comes from the 1940s, when Harry Truman was President, certainly a time of major crisis where the United States and the rest of the world were involved in World War II fighting. Economies and lives were turned upside down as the country went into a war footing for the first half of the decade and then needed to convert back to a peace time economy in the second half of the decade.

Consider the following graph (you can double click on this and the following graphs to get a larger, more detailed view):

 

This is a graph of the size of the Federal government's annual spending volumes in the 1940s and 1950s. As you see, spending had to ramp up in the early 1940s to accommodate the massive war spending the Federal government needed to do to defeat the Axis powers.

However, look what happens when the war ends in 1945 (after the vertical line). Very quickly, Federal government spending drops dramatically (about 60%) as the government terminates its war spending. I do not believe in the history of the country have we seen such a dramatic and speedy reduction in Federal government spending.

If Obama was President in 1945, I doubt this would happen. Today, he and his political supporters refuse to seriously consider reducing government spending, insinuating that it would push the economy back into a recession. They have this misconception that unnecessary and wasteful government spending is necessary to keep the economy going. [Note: recall that our extensive analysis in this blog's past posts has shown that at least $500 billion in Federal spending a year is lost to waste and criminal fraud in government operations such as Social Security, Medicare, etc.]

What happened to the economy in the late 1940s when the Federal government made such drastic reductions in government spending? According to Obama's economic strategy, that would have had catastrophic effects on the economy.

Let's first look at the unemployment rate (double click on the graph for a larger view):

Yes, at the same time that the Federal government dramatically reduced spending, the unemployment rate did kick up a bit. This would seem to add some credence to Obama's theory that government spending needs to stay high and wasteful to keep the economy strong and growing.

In fact, there were some leading economists of the time that urged Truman to keep the war factories humming via government spending, making munitions and weapons for no purpose, just to create busy but useless work for people. This activity would create no viable economic progress since the output of the munitions and weapons factories would never be used, the war was over, but these economists, like Obama today, had this misconception that spending and wasting government money for no reason was good economic policy.

But consider a few facts from the above chart:

•Although unemployment did rise at the end of the war, it did not get above 4% for the immediate years after World War II and probably averaged 4-5% over the ten years after the end of the war, despite an initial, massive slashing of Federal spending.

•In 1945, the U.S. population was only about 139 million and at least 10% of that population was coming back into the civilian workforce after serving in the armed forces. Thus, the economy was able to absorb a very large number of new workers in the face of slashed government spending with an unemployment rate of less 5%, an extraordinary accomplishment.

Was this wonder of employment gains immediately after the war a result of massive government spending? Obama says we cannot reduce spending and have to run up horrendous deficits in order to keep the economy out of a recession. See what happened to deficits in the 1940s:

After the massive deficit spending during the early part of the 1940s that was needed to finance the war effort, Truman's Presidency not only slashed government spending, and the taxes that went with it, Truman also managed to very quickly go from a deficit riddled Federal government to a Federal government that was generally in balance, revenue about equal to spending, actually running a budget surplus in some years.

So far, Truman was able to succeed doing the exact opposite of what Obama is doing: dramatically reducing government spending and taxes, running a balanced Federal budget, and absorbing millions and millions of workers into the civilian part of the economy with minimal increase in unemployment.

One final view: did all of these efforts and results negatively impact the economy health of the country? Consider this last graph:

This GDP graph is over time, during and after World War II. As you can see, there is a little flatness in economic growth in 1946 as the nation adjusts back to a peace time economy but very shortly begins a strong growth pattern into the 1950s. Thus, dramatically slashing and reducing government spending did not negatively impact the growth and size of the nation's economy. In other words, we do not need a giant Federal government bureaucracy to have a healthy and growing economy.

So let's review:

1.Truman slashed taxes and government spending after the war ended, Obama wants to continue to raise taxes and government spending.

2.Truman ran a balanced Federal government budget after the war ended, with some budget surplus years, Obama runs massive Federal government deficits.

3.Truman's economic policies absorbed well over ten million workers into the economy that was much smaller in a nation with far fewer people, Obama's economic policies have resulted in long term unemployment and under employment for well over twenty million workers.

4.Truman's economic policies resulted in strong overall national economic growth, Obama's economic polices have resulted in weak overall economic growth.

5.And most importantly, Truman's economic polices severely reduced the role of government in our lives and economic well being, Obama's policies have dramatically increased the Federal government's involvement in our lives and economic well being, resulting in lost freedom and liberty.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration and his supporters have not looked at this simple pictorial representation of a real life economic success story. It continues to cling to the false hope and faulty economic assumption that government has to be the center of economic activity and growth in this country, an assumption that is becoming increasingly viewed as wrong when you consider our anemic economic growth, failed economic polices of this administration, and long term chronic unemployment.

An old saying goes as follows: "When you are in a hole, stop digging." Obama needs to stop digging with his failed economic policies, programs, and strategies and borrow a ladder from Truman to get us out of our ever widening, ever deepening economic hole. Just look at the pictures.

On final note: as an FYI, all of the underlying data that went into the above graphs comes from official U.S. government sources. At no point were Republican Party, Tea Party, Fox News, or any other data sources used.

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We keep coming back to the same conclusion: we need to execute Step 1 from “Love My Country, Loathe My Government,” a step that would reduce government spending across the board by 10% a year for five years. This would get us to a balanced budget, force out redundant and stupid spending expenses, reduce criminal ripoffs of government programs, increase economic freedom and personal freedom by allowing Americans to retain more of their wealth, and get government focused on a much smaller set of priorities.

Government today is unfocused on a lot of things, doing none of them well, efficiently or to completion. Step 1 would force them to do far fewer things which may allow the political class to finally accomplish something worthwhile. Truman understood economics and his polices of smaller government, reduced taxes, and more freedom allowed the post World War II America to thrive. It is a simple economic lesson that Obama should consider before he raises taxes and expands a failing government bureaucracy even more.

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