The current monthly record for the number of posts that were needed to cover one month's worth of insanity is ten. We almost equaled that record last month when we needed nine days to cover one month’s worth of political class insanity. There is a very good chance that the ten day record could fall this month since as we get closer and closer to the election, the volume of ineptness grows almost exponentially.
But today and for all of the posts this month, let’s start off with a welcome piece of honest political dialog. It comes from a State Department spokesperson. Mark Toner, who is about to start the daily State Department press briefing. In a joking matter, he makes the following quote: "Welcome to the State Department. I think we have some interns in the back. Welcome. Good to see you in this exercise in transparency and democracy."
He then burst out laughing at his own quote, indicating he also knew what a joke the Obama administration has been, especially Mr. Toner’s State Department, when it comes to cover ups, lack of transparency, denial of Freedom of Information Act requests, the prosecution of whistleblowers, etc. But at least it was a little refreshing to finally hear some actual honesty out of Washington as we see from the actual clip of the news conference:
With that context of honesty, let’s see what other insanity has been going down:
1) We have often reported on how inept and messy the accounting processes are at the Pentagon. They are so messed up that professional auditors have thrown up their hands when trying to make sense of the financial chaos at the Defense Department. That impression continues to be the reality, at least according to a recent article on the World News Daily website written by Bob Unruh on August 17, 2016:
- An audit report from the inspector general of the Pentagon found that the Pentagon cannot account for a whopping $6.5 TRILLION.
- That is not a typo, it is $6.5 TRILLION or over $50,000 for every U.S. household.
- This has been going on for a long time since former Department of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted $2.3 TRILLION was missing shortly after the 9-11 attacks.
- This $2.3 TRILLION has almost tripled to $6.5 TRILLION.
- Specifically, the inspector general reported declared that “the office of the assistant secretary of the army (Financial Management & Comptroller) (OASA[FM&C]) and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service Indianapolis (DFAS Indianapolis) did not adequately support $2.8 trillion in third quarter journal voucher (JV) adjustments and $6.5 trillion in year end JV adjustments occurred because OASA(FM&C) and DFAS Indianapolis did not prioritize correcting the system deficiencies that caused errors resulting in JV adjustments, and did not provide sufficient guidance for supporting system-generated adjustments.”
- Suspiciously, the inspector general could not find out why 16,513 financial records had been removed from the Pentagon budget system in the third quarter of 2015.
The article referenced an organization called Armstrong Economics, that had also analyzed the inspector general report, and Armstrong did a simple, yet elegant, summary of what is going on with this financial incompetence: “Let[‘s] face the truth. Government is incapable of managing even a bubblegum machine. They are completely hopeless. This money is lining the pockets of unknown people and it is funding unknown military operations.” Brilliant insight, and I dare anyone to come up with a better explanation of these disgusting misuses of taxpayer wealth.
2) The next piece of insanity again tests the age old question whether politicians really do not know when they are telling a lie or think we are to stupid to check out what they say against facts and realities. Kathryn Blackhurst, writing for the Lifezette website on August 28, 2016, brings us the latest politician who apparently is living in a different reality.
Tammy Duckworth is running for the Senate in Illinois. She recently and publicly claimed that the United States and the Obama administration are only accepting refugees from the Middle East that are not military aged men. This is obviously a ploy to reassure Americans that we have nothing to fear from the refugees coming into this country since no men of military age are being admitted.
She actually doubled down on this assertion by going on to say all of the men in the families being admitted into the country are all dead: “To come to the U.S., the UN High Commission for Refugees actually selects largely families with no men of military age, and there are no men of military age in these families because the men are dead.” And furthermore, the people coming into the country as refugees, ‘They’re widows and orphans.”
Unfortunately, she did not tell the State Department about this reality because recent data out of the State Department shows that:
- More Syrian refugees being brought to this country have been men than women so far in 2016, 4,646 males vs. 4,333 women.
- 363 of the males coming in were aged between 21 and 30, prime military ages.
- 738 of the males coming in were aged between 31 and 409 years old, still of military age.
And also consider that a Middle East female immigrant of military age helped execute the San Bernardino terrorist attack and massacre and that the terrorist who shot up the night club in Orlando likely had help from his wife setting that attack up. So it is not just MEN of military age that we need to worry about, it can also be WOMEN of military age that we need to worry about. But that reality apparently is too tough for this politician to grasp.
3) If we have proven anything over the years, it is that politicians should not do much of anything when it comes to the economy since they usually and royally screw it up. Our most recent discussion on how badly Washington and the Obama administration have messed up the economy and economic growth can be accessed at the following link:
Politicians’ latest economic insanity is this push to move the national minimum wage to $15 an hour. We have shown many times in this blog what happens when the minimum wage is jacked up so high so quickly: some employees get more money and a load of employees get fired because the economic model of the businesses and industries they are working in cannot afford much higher wages expenses. Thus, the good news is you can now earn $15 an hour, the bad news is because you can earn $15 an hour, your job has been eliminated.
Businesses use a number of tactics to survive when their wage expense explodes because of this nonsense. In the fast food industry, we now see the wider and wider use of self serve kiosks that allow customers to order their food without the need of a employee. Some industries move their businesses to other, lower cost locations, either across the county line or across the world to survive and avoid devastating wage increase expenses. Some businesses will take away other perks of the job to counterbalance the increased wage expenses such as free meals, free parking, healthcare support, etc. And some businesses just go out of business.
Chriss Street writing for the Breitbart website back in April, 2016, illustrated this type of situation out in California:
- American Apparel, until recently, provided 10% of all the apparel manufacturing jobs in the city of Los Angeles.
- However, in just a two week period back in the spring, the company terminated 500 of its employees.
- Chief Executive Paula Schneider was quoted in the Los Angeles Times that “manufacturing of more complicated pieces, such as jeans, could soon be outsourced to a third-party company.”
- However, not said was the reality that two weeks before the layoffs, the state of California had raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
- Lloyd Greif, CEO of Los Angeles investment banking firm Greif & Co., summed up what was happening when he told the LA Times: “They’re headed out of Dodge. They are going to outsource all garments. It’s only a matter of time.”
- Although the LA apparel business had taken huge hits over the past twenty years because of cheaper goods being imported from the Far East, the domestic apparel industry in LA had been undergoing a revival as the imports got more expensive, making the domestic production more attractive.
But even more insane is what Jerry Brown, the California governor said when he signed the law: “Economically, minimum wages may not make sense.” And yet, even though these laws do not make sense, he signed the law anyway, likely killing whatever competitive edge the LA apparel trade and industry had and killing a load of jobs with it.
He continued on with his completely false logic by stating: “But morally and socially and politically they make every sense, because it binds the community together and makes sure that parents can take care of their kids in a much more satisfactory way.” So the increase in the minimum wage does not make economic sense but we are going to do it anyway because it helps parents take better care of their kids. Huh? I bet that the 500 people already laid off as a result of this political class insanity do not feel this way since I would assume that by losing their jobs, they will NOT be able to take better care of their kids.
That will do it for today’s insanity, we are just getting warmed up. A governor who recognizes a piece of economic legislation makes no economic sense but he signs it anyway, a Senate candidate that is either a liar or just plain out of touch when it comes to Middle East refugees, and a Pentagon that has LOST over $6 TRILLION. More insanity for days and days to come.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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
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