To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.
1) One of the main and most important tenets put forth in our book, Love My Country, Loathe My Government, is that the Federal government should not be spending Federal taxpayer money on any project that does not have a significant benefit for citizens in at least five states. We have local, county and state governments to handle more local spending needs, the Federal government should not be spending money that will benefit only a small number of citizens in a small geographic location.
The reason for this principle is that sitting Washington politicians, especially the more powerful and longer serving ones, use our tax money to benefit only their local citizens and thus, their own personal political careers. If they can get the Federal government to pay for a local road improvement or other project, that means that local taxpayers are off the hook for the expense. The politician looks good for saving the local taxpayers the cost of a project that he or she hopes will get them re-elected over and over.
The other problem is that money is often spent on non-essential projects, projects that the local taxpayers would not finance but are okay that the Federal government and taxpayers throughout the country end up financing. If the local taxpayer is not willing to fund a project, then the Federal taxpayer should not be funding it either.
The latest Biden Federal government budget does nothing to adhere to this simple principle:
- The latest Federal budget has an amazing and disgusting 367 pages (out of 2,741 pages) dedicated to so-called “earmarks,” local spending for local projects that the Federal government has no business financing.
- Included is $1.6 million to promote the “development of equitable growth of shellfish aquaculture” at Rhode Island’s Roger Williams University.
- There is $800,000 to build artist lofts in California.
- There is a half a million dollars for a ski jumping facility in New Hampshire.
- New York Senator Chuck Schumer, one of the most powerful and longer serving members of Congress, shoved 142 projects into the budget for his New York voters.
- Schumer’s local projects include $1.1 million for a “rail trail,” $3 million for the Brooklyn Museum, and $1.5 million to fix up a State Island theater.
The other problem with such spending is that often those people receiving the money to actually build the lofts, fix the theater, build the ski jump, etc. end up being election campaign donors to the politicians that used the Federal taxpayer money for these projects. It is a quid pro quo arrangement: you get me Federal money for my enrichment and I will enrich your election campaign with a little donation or two to your campaign, all at the expense of the American taxpayer.
Besides being wasteful, think about the priorities. Should the Federal government be spending $1.5 million to fix a local theater or use that money to help feed and shelter millions of hungry and homeless Americans? Should the Federal government be spending half a million dollars to build a ski lift or use that money to help Americans suffering through the rampant opioid addiction epidemic? These Americans do not matter to Washington politicians, their only focus is how to look good for local voters and local campaign donors.
2) The following statistics come from the Open The Books website and discussions they have had on their website.
We often discuss the wasteful inefficient, ineffective and mostly incompetent people running the Federal government, a Federal government that seems to waste more taxpayer money than it spends on effective programs. But apparently the state government of California is just as inept, according to research done by Open The Books:
- Betty Yee is the state government controller in California.
- And as with any controller, either in business or government, it is her responsibility to ensure fiscal integrity on how budget money is spent.
- When Open The Books questioned her agency on how the state government spends $300 billion a year, they realized that Yee and the state Controller's office do not have the ability to track the 50 million payments the state government makes every year.
- This resulted in Open The Books filing 500 open records requests to try and find out where the $300 billion is going every year and whether those payments are legit or fraudulent.
3) But the California government incompetence does not start and end with the state Controllers agency:
- Apparently, there are 65,000 fake college students “enrolled” in the California junior college system.
- We say “enrolled” since all of these 65,000 students are simply fake, electronic names that have been put into the state government’s junior college system for the sole purpose of bilking the system out of funds.
- Hackers got into the state community college system involving 116 community colleges to get financial aid and student perks even though these “students” do not exist.
- Apparently, the hackers had a sense of humor in that some of the fake student names they used were Barack Obama and Clifford Clifford.
4) As we recently discussed, the state of California has recently suffered through the second consecutive year of population decline, something that may have never happened before in the history of the state. A state that at one time seemed to have everything going for it is now facing a shrinking population.
In a recent virtual interview by the Open The Books website, Victor Davis Hanson gave his opinion and some facts about the state of California. Mr. Davis has a PhD from Stanford University, is the author of several history books, and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of classics emeritus at California State University, Fresno. He is also a native California.
During the recent interview he points out some numbers and realities that the political class is causing state residents to hit the road for better lives:
- People are leaving the state because they have suffered enough by paying the highest electricity rates, gasoline rates, sales tax and income taxes in the country.
- The state’s public schools are rated the 47th out of 50, meaning only three other states do a worse job of educating their kids than California.
- The state’s infrastructure is rated 48th out of 50.
- State crime rates are high and trending higher.
- 21% of the state’s residents live in poverty while millionaires in Silicon Valley and Hollywood could care less about them.
- One out of three people in the entire country receiving welfare live in California.
- Half of the nation’s homeless live in California.
Is it no wonder the state is losing population on a year over year basis. People want to be free and California is not that place because of an overbearing political class and history.
Enough insanity today: wasting untold billions of taxpayer dollars in D.C. on nonsense, ineptness in California’s state government, and the dismal California quality of life numbers continue to send citizens packing for out of state destinations.
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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