By The Numbers: From New York To California To The Post Office, The Numbers Stink

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. 

Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the first this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

1) We have often talked about the reality that California is going through a difficult time, mostly because of boneheaded actions and laws put forth by the state’s political class. Crime is up, homelessness is up, quality of life is down and many residents are moving out. Here are some numbers that generally describe at least part of the situation:

• Five of the top ten (50%) cities in the country that have the most homeless people living on the cities’ streets are in California even though California accounts for only about 12% of the country’s population.
• 53% of all of America’s homeless reside in California.
• 30% of the state's electricity is generated by renewable sources as pushed by the state’s politicians, sources that are not reliable and consistent and which has resulted in planned rolling blackouts across the state.
• Adding insult to injury, in addition to the rolling blackout reality, state residents pay about 55% more for their electricity than the average across the country.
• This rolling blackout condition has frustrated residents and businesses alike: California Manufacturers and Technology Assessment Association president, Lance Hastings: “Hot weather and a cloudy day should not be able to shut down the fifth-largest economy in the world.” 
• The state ranks 3rd, trailing only New York and New Jersey, in the number of coronavirus deaths and recently reported a whopping 43,077 new infections of the virus in a single week.
• As crime skyrockets across the state, mayors of major California cities are cutting police force resources and personnel even though the state currently, before the cuts, has only 2.4 police officers per 1,000 residents, 63% less than the national average.
• The volume of homeless people in San Francisco has risen 17% between 2017 and 2019.
• California ranks 48th, third worst, in the country from a regulatory freedom perspective, given the high amount of regulations put forth by the state politicians in all aspects of life.
• The state has the highest state income top rate in the country, 13.3%, a ridiculously high rate that some politicians want to raise even higher and make the higher tax retroactive back to the beginning of the year.
• The state has the fifth highest/worst state and individual income tax collections per capita in the country.
• The state has the sixth highest/worst state and local tax burden in the country.

High taxes but poor quality of life. High electricity rates that are not constant or reliable. High homeless rate with no idea how to fix the problem. The numbers do not lie: California politicians have screwed up what used to be one of the most desirable places to live in the country. As a result, a state that constantly grew in population is now in a population shrinking mode as the numbers and the reality they represent cause more and more state residents to look elsewhere for a better life for themselves and their families.

2) New York state has many of the same problems as California has: high taxes, high homeless population, increasing crime rates. And possibly more importantly, the numbers indicate that state residents may actually be doing the same thing that California residents are doing, moving elsewhere:

• According to a recent New York Times article, the number of real estate sales closed in the state is down 54% vs. the same time in 2019.
• This is the largest year over year decline in the state in 30 years.
• The median selling price is down 17.7% over last year, the largest drop in the past ten years.

The story seems the same in each state: make a place dangerous, expensive, and highly taxed, the numbers will eventually drive people somewhere else.

3) The coronavirus crisis has been terrible for the entire country but especially bad for families who have lost loved ones to the disease. The sad part of this reality is that many of those that died because of the virus may have been spared if governors in number of states, especially New York, had not ordered that elderly real and potential coronavirus patients be housed in the same long care and nursing home facilities as other elderly, and vulnerable, residents.

As a result, the Justice Department is launching an investigation to see if those four states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, violated Federal law by imposing such a stupid requirement on hospital and care facilities. Letters were sent to those states’ governors stating that an investigation is underway to see if those governors’ actions “may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents” and that actions taken were in violation of Federal law.

The numbers seem to indicate there is a major and despicable failure of these governors’ decisions: 

• Long term care and nursing home facilities house 1% of the U.S. population.
• Now, these facilities usually house elderly folks and since the virus was especially potent against these types of people, one would not expect to see only 1% of the virus deaths to be the same as the population living in those places.
• But a whopping 42% of the total country’s virus deaths came from those living in these facilities, 42 times higher than their population percentage.
• This 42% translates to 70,000 total nursing home-type deaths out of about 170,000 deaths in total nationwide.
• This is probably a primary reason why New York led the country in virus deaths, 32,000, almost 20% of the nationwide total although the state of New York has nowhere near 20% of the country’s population, and New Jersey was second.

The numbers don't lie: New York, New Jersey and to a lesser extent, Pennsylvania and Michigan politicians, made a set of horrendous virus decisions which were fatal for thousands of Americans.

4) One last, quick set of numbers for today, all related to the Post Office:

• The postal market is in decline and has been in decline for a long time as person to person electronics communications and other online functions (e.g. bill paying) have driven down mail volumes.
• This has left the Postal System with a large fixed asset and cost base that has had less and less revenue to support over time.
• According to Reason magazine, the Post Office has lost a whopping $69 billion in the past 11 years.
• A large chunk of that, $3.9 billion, happened just in 2018.
• Its unfunded liabilities was $143 billion at the end of 2018.
• This unfunded liability is twice the size of its annual, and shrinking, revenue stream.

sanIt is a shame that the numbers don't lie because it is obvious the Post Office is in a financial death spiral and politicians for a long time have known about this coming disaster. And did nothing to fix what the numbers showed so clearly.

Post Office numbers stink, virus numbers are fatal, and New York and California numbers do not paint a pretty picture as they are staring at their own financial and quality of life death spirals. The numbers do not lie.

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

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