The Horrors and Destruction That Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding, An Update To The Hundreds Of Accomplishments We Already Identified

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life.
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

Almost three years ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millennials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. They fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for well over two years, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just eighteen month’s time. This is obviously a very sarcastic comment when you take an unbiased look at what has happened during the Trump Presidency.

The many previous posts we did on this topic identified hundreds of good things that have happened to America and Americans since Trump became President. These posts can be found by entering the phrase “the horrors and destruction” in the search box above. 

We continually list out some of Trump’s many accomplishments and we have done that in the previous 20 posts on the topic. As the previous paragraph points out, we have already named hundreds of ways that American is better off today than it was almost three years ago when he took office. 

Today’s update to his accomplishments come from the Freedom Headlines website. We have identified many of these accomplishments already but it is a nice review of Trump’s accomplishments:

1. Because of Trump’s pro-growth policies, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth exceeded 3 percent over the last four quarters

2. More than 5 million jobs have been created since Trump’s election and the unemployment rate remains well below 4% and is currently at a 50 year low.

3. The unemployment rate for African Americans in May fell to 5.9% which is the lowest rate on record.

4. Since Trump’s election, 4.6 million Americans have been removed from food stamp dependency.

5. More than 6 million workers received tax cut bonuses and benefits.

6. Trump signed legislation that reauthorized the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, making more than $1 billion available for career education programs.

7. The female unemployment rate is at its lowest level in 65 years.

8. Trump signed legislation to roll back burdensome Dodd-Frank regulations that harmed community banks.

9. Trump negotiated a new, better trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

10. Trump held an historic summit with North Korea Chairman Kim Jong-Un, hopefully bringing beginnings of peace and denuclearization to the Korean Peninsula.

11. Trump secured a record $73.1 billion in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide quality medical care for our veterans.

12. Every quarter since taking office, Trump has donated his salary to worthwhile charities and other benevolent organizations, fulfilling a campaign promise he made.

13. Trump implemented a five-year ban on lobbying for White House employees and a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign countries.

14. In a historic show of transparency and accountability, the Trump Administration completed the Department of Defense’s first ever audit.

15. In 2018, programs at the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development helped more than 51,000 veterans find permanent housing and access supportive services.

16. Trump signed the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, making it easier to fire failing employees and protect whistleblowers.

17. Trump convinced the NATO nations to strengthen their counterterrorism activities, and NATO formally joined the coalition to defeat ISIS.

18. Trump has imposed tough sanctions on the corrupt regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

19. ISIS’ territorial caliphate has been crushed and President Trump has announced that he is starting to bring America’s troops in Syria home.

20. President Trump ended the devastating defense cuts of the past Administration and has secured historic investments to rebuild our military.

To these accomplishments, let’s add some others that the article missed:

- The U.S.unemployment rate recently dropped to 3.5%, reaching a 50 year low, and getting to a level once thought to be impossibly low by standard economic theory.

- According to Josh Wright, chief economist at iCIMS: “The unemployment rate usually rises ahead of a recession, so a fresh decline pushes out the timeline for any potential recession into late 2020 at the earliest.” 

- On average the Trump administration has eliminated 14 unnecessary government regulations for every new government regulation that his administration put in place, blowing away his campaign promise to drop 2 regulations for every new government regulation.

- The median household income is up $4,000 since Trump became President.

- A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll shows that Trump is trusted more than the media and Congress with 31% saying they trust Congress, 29% saying they trust the media, and 40% saying they trust Trump.

- Trump signed an executive order that aims to improve the fiscal health of Medicare and offer more affordable Medicare plan options.

- Trump dedicated $25 million to support the U.N. effort to promote religious freedom around the world and fight genocide against religious groups.

Okay, let’s stop the list here, you get the idea. Another 27 items of success from the Trump Presidency. The previous posts under this topic found hundreds of other successes and good things since Trump took office. Higher wages, better job opportunities, higher economic growth, better approaches to health and drug addiction, stronger actions and respect in foreign affairs, reductions in government bureaucracy, hardly the disaster that liberals, Democrats, and Hillary Clinton predicted.

For those of you that have hated on Trump since day one, and given your obvious gross error in judgment relative to Trump given the hundreds of accomplishments we have previously listed, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life.
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency. Hundreds of accomplishments in just a few years is not too shabby despite many of you wanting both Trump and the country to fail.

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

The Horrors And Destruction That Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding! Part 18

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. 
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

About 21 months ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millennials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. For the past year and a half they fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for over 21 months or so, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just eighteen month’s time. This is obviously a very sarcastic comment when you take an unbiased look at what has happened during the Trump Presidency. The many previous posts we did on this topic identified over 190 good things that have happened to America and Americans since Trump became President can found by entering the phrase “the horrors and destruction” in the search box above.

Today’s format is a little different that the previous 17 posts on the subject. Rather than listing brand new Trump accomplishments, we are going to list 24 accomplishments as posited by David Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan. We have already listed many of these listed accomplishments, with a few new ones added, but it is a nice summary of some of the most significant Trump accomplishments in one place:

1. More than 4 million jobs created since the election.
2. More Americans employed than ever recorded.
3. Economic growth last quarter hit 4.2 percent.
4. Economic growth more than twice Obama's rate.
5. Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
6. African-American unemployment lowest rate ever recorded.
7. Hispanic-American unemployment lowest rate ever recorded.
8. Asian-American unemployment lowest rate ever recorded.
9. Women's unemployment lowest rate in 65 years.
10. Youth unemployment lowest rate in nearly half a century.
11. 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election.
12. Signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history.
13. Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
14. Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada's united bid for 2026 World Cup.
15. Opened ANWR and approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
16. Record number of government regulations eliminated and billions of dollars saved.
17. Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE.
18. Secured $6 billion in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
19. Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act.
20. United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
21. Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.
22. NATO allies are spending $69 billion more on defense since 2016.
23. Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
24. Concluded a historic U.S.-Mexico trade deal to replace NAFTA.

For those of you that have hated on Trump since day one, and given your obvious gross error in judgment relative to Trump given the 200 accomplishments we have previously listed and the two dozen accomplishments listed above, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life.
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency. 200 accomplishments in a little more than a year and a half is not too shabby despite many of you wanting both Trump and the country to fail.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Horrors And Destruction That Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding! Part 16

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. 
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

About 21 months ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millennials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. For the past year and a half they fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for over 21 months or so, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just eighteen month’s time. This is obviously a very sarcastic comment when you take an unbiased look at what has happened during the Trump Presidency. The many previous posts we did on this topic identified over 190 good things that have happened to America and Americans since Trump became President can found by entering the phrase “the horrors and destruction” in the search box above.

Since the last “horrors and destruction” post an additional ten accomplishments and good tidings have occurred as a result of this Presidency:

- The New York Times actually gave Trump positive recognition for actually getting NATO allies to shoulder a bigger, fairer share of NATO’s defense costs, yes the New York Times!

- Trump’s White House staff is significantly smaller than Obama’s which could save the American taxpayer upwards of $20 million by the end of Trump’s four years as President, with Trump’s staff consisting of 374 staffers while Obama had 469 at the same time into his Presidency.

- The U.S. economy grew at a wonderful 3.5% rate in the third quarter of 2018, which, when combined with the stronger 4.2% growth in the second quarter, resulted in the strongest consecutive quarters of growth since 2014.

- The economy is on a growth rate to record the largest annual economic growth rate since 2005.

- In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, median household income rose to the highest level ever recorded.

- The number of murders in the U.S. declined by .7% in 2017, reversing a rising trend over the previous two years.

- The unemployment rate is at a 50 year low, falling from 4.8% when his term began to a current 3.7% rate.

- Corporate profits are at an all time high.

- The number of people on food stamps is at the lowest level since November, 2009, a reduction of 3.8 million people since Trump’s term began.

- The percentage of African Americans and Hispanic Americans in the country living in poverty are at the lowest levels ever since the Census Bureau began keeping track in the mid 1960s.

For those of you that have hated on Trump since day one, and given your obvious gross error in judgment relative to Trump, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life.
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

• If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency. Over 200 accomplishments in a little less than two years is not too shabby despite many of you wanting both Trump and the country to fail.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Horrors and Destruction that Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding! Part 8

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. 
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

A about 18 months ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millennials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. For the past year and a half they fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for about 18 months, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just eighteen month’s time. This is obviously a very sarcastic comment when you take an unbiased look at what has happened during the Trump Presidency. The many previous posts we did on this topic identified over 120 good things that have happened to America and Americans since Trump became President:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald_31.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald_27.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

But those posts were not enough to cover the good things that have happened since the election. I found another set of ways why the country is better off since Trump came into office and thus, today we add to that list:

- The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the African-American unemployment rate hit a record low in May, at 5.9% it was down an amazing .7% from the month before.

-The unemployment rate for Hispanic workers was 4.9% slightly worse than the record low of 4.8% set the month before.

- Unemployment rate for white workers dropped to 3.5%.

- Total wages were up 2.7% in April vs. the previous April.

- The unemployment rate for women was 3.6%, the lowest level since 1953.

- Those older than 24 years old without a high school diploma had an unemployment rate of 5.4%, close to the lowest level ever, while wages for this group of people was up an amazing 10% over the same time last year.

- Overall unemployment for the country is down to 3.8%, an 18 year low.

- The economy created 223,000 jobs in April, almost double the number of jobs needed to keep up with natural population growth.

- Previous months’ job estimates were raised by 15,000.

- The Atlanta Federal Reserve chapter estimates that GDP will rise an amazing 4.8% in the second quarter.

- Retail sales rose 4.7% in April, 2018 vs. April, 2017.

- In May, average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees rose by 8 cents, totaling a 71-cent increase over the year before which is the largest annual increase since 2009.

- So far, over 4 million American workers have received a pay raise and/or bonus because of the Trump tax reforms.

- Three million incremental Americans have found a job since Trump became President.

- The Consumer Confidence Index rose to 128, up from a revised 125.6 in April according to the Conference Board.

- The U.S. now has the most competitive economy in the world, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Center.

- The summit meeting between the U.S and North Korea is back on track with a tentative date of June 12, a possible first step to reining in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

- Initial plans are underway for a Trump/Putin summit to smooth out the many difference between the U.S. and Russia.

- Shortly after freeing three American hostages from North Korea, the Trump administration successfully freed an American hostage held in Venezuela.

- Trump has signed a set of executive orders that make it much easier to fire Federal employees that do not do their jobs.

- Trump continues to hold European NATO allies accountable to their NATO promise and commitment to have their military expenditures be at least a certain percentage of their GDP with Germany agreeing with him that it was underfunding its military forces relative to the NATO requirements and dictating to its military people to increase funding requests.

Another twenty three reasons to add to the previous 120 or so reasons why the first year and a few months of the Trump Presidency has not wrought disaster on the country.

For those of you that have hated on Trump since day one, and given your obvious gross error in judgment relative to Trump, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency. Over 140 accomplishments in a little more than a year is not too shabby despite many of you wanting both Trump and the country to fail.

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

June, 2017, Part 5, Political Class Insanity: Medical Ripoffs, NATO Ripoffs and Education Taxpayer Ripoffs

As we do every month, we review the latest idiocy, lunacy, ineptness, and general insanity from the American political class. We are getting started as little late this month since we needed to review the latest global warming.climate change insanity from the likes of Al Gore, culminating in our review of the 26 reasons why it was appropriate and necessary for Trump to pull us out of the Paris Climate Agreement:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/06/june-2017-part-4-i-am-global-warming.html

But let’s quickly get into this month’s political class insanity because over the past month or so there has been a lot of it was Washington implodes into a useless pile of incompetence:

1) We have often pointed out how horribly most public schools educate our kids these days. Despite spending trillions of dollars at every level of government over the past few decades to educate our kids, the results have almost always been abysmal. Our kids usually rank behind the kids of dozens of other countries whenever scores on standardized tests are compiled despite the trillions of dollars spent, and wasted, on education in this country.

And apparently things do not get much better for many of our college graduates either. Consider a recent report by Douglas Belkin, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

• The College Learning Assessment Plus test (CLA+) is administered to freshmen and seniors at about 200 U.SA. college across the country.
• After four years, the test results are compared between the freshmen test results and the senior year test results.
• The test is meant to determine the critical thinking skills of our college graduates, not what they think or know but how they think and reason.
• The latest results show that at more than half of the 200 schools using the test, more than a third of college graduates “were unable to make a cohesive argument, assess the quality of evidence in a document and interpret data in a table.”
• At some of the most prestigious, and expensive colleges, in the testing program, the ability to improve thinking skills from freshman year to senior year showed little or no improvement.

As the world and technology change more and more rapidly, those college graduates that have no ability to think clearly, reasonably, and logically will not only leave themselves behind but also help the country remain more and more uncompetitive vs. the rest of the world. All of this despite trillions and trillions of dollars wasted in this country on educating our kids.

And when an outsider comes into the picture, someone like Betsy DeVos, to try and change what is obviously a failed approach to education, from Head Start through college, the political establishment players go crazy. They would prefer the failed, expensive and current policies then even try to do something different.

What did Einstein say once: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” We are truly insane then when it comes to education.

2) Some people both in this country and in Europe got really upset when Trump dared to suggest that most members of NATO were not living up to their commitment to defend themselves and the NATO alliance. Given that Obama allowed these European allies to slide by for eight years without doing what they committed to do trained the Europeans to lash out when someone actually told them the truth.

But Trump was right when you consider the numbers and realities. As the U.S. continues to spend more than half a trillion dollars a year to defend itself and NATO allies during the Obama regime, consider what the Europeans were doing, as reported in a recent Wall Street Journal article:

• Although during the Cold War the Netherlands maintained a tank force of 445 tanks, by 2015 they had put its last 60 tanks up for sale and had sold off all of its helicopters and most of its minesweepers.
• During the Cold War, Germany had over 2,100 tanks but now has only 244 of which about half actually work.
• As of last year on average, 9 of German’s 48 NH-90 transport helicopters and 40 of its just 123 jet fighters were usable at any one time.
• Today, European NATO forces have less than half of the number of soldiers today vs. 1983 and less than half the number of tanks.
• The European NATO forces had 84 destroyers in 1983 but only 54 today, it had 2,672 fighter planes in 1983 but only 1,897 today, and it had 173 frigates but only 92 today.

This the reality that Trump was talking about and why he was looking out for the American taxpayer: why should we continue to pay for a defense of Europe when Europe is not willing to pay for a defense of itself. Trump was doing what all American Presidents should be doing: looking out for the welfare of Americans and America.

3) We recently reviewed the reality that the Federal government wastes or criminally loses at least $144 billion a YEAR from its government programs with Medicare and Medicaid, the main Federal health insurance programs, wasting the vast majority of that $144 billion. 

A recent article in the AARP magazine described a medical scam that was going on in California and illustrated that it is not always seedy street criminals who are stealing money via health care scams, those stealing of money from insurance companies and Medicare and Medicaid are often doctors themselves. 

While the article’s details, highlighted below, are not directly connected to Medicare and Medicaid and taxpayer ripoffs, it does illustrate what is likely going on within the criminal activities relative to those programs also:

• California state officials recently announced that a group of doctors, pharmacists, and others were arrested for ripping off $40 million from state insurance companies.
• Twenty six people were arrested in the fraud investigation.
• 13,000 victims were ripped off as were 27 insurance companies.
• A husband and wife couple who owned a medical billing and medical management companies allegedly recruited doctors and pharmacists to provide unnecessary treatments and medicine that were illegally billed through insurance companies.
• Part of the scheme involved pharmacists creating medicinal and unnecessary ointments, ointments that had no medical value, that cost very little to produce but were billed anywhere from $200 to $750 per ointment tube.
• Another part of the scheme had doctors prescribing unnecessary urine tests that were, of course, criminally billed to insurance companies.

You get the idea. If the insurance companies could not catch the criminals before $40 million was ripped off, you can imagine how many billions of dollars are currently be ripped off by doctors and pharmacists via Medicare and Medicaid using similar scams. That is how easily inept Federal government programs can lose tens of billions of dollars over the years.

That will do it for today’s insanity: medical and insurance ripoffs, European nations using American taxpayers to fund their defense, and trillions of taxpayer dollars spent but our kids are still massively under educated. More insanity to follow.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Retro 1 - U.S.Navy Ships For Sale! Cheap,Never Used, Act Now

Given family engagements in town this week, we will be rerunning some of our most popular posts, posts that have garnered the most attention and which showed that we are currently enduring the worst set of politicians America has ever had.

FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2011

U.S. Navy Ships For Sale! Cheap, Never Used, Act Now

Just when you think that you have identified the latest government waste of taxpayer money, some big new wastes jump into your face. Consider some recent news reports that reported on how the U.S. government was scrapping two of its Navy ships even though they had never seen one day of service. Details of the waste include:

• Two large Navy ships, that have never been used, are headed for the scrap yard even though they are almost completely finished and ready for duty.
• Work began on the USNS Benjamin Isherwood and the USNS Henry Eckford in 1985 at the Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company and were intended to carry fuel to the Navy's ships around the world.
• When the company defaulted on their Navy contract in 1989, the 600 foot ships were sent to Florida for completion. At the length of two football fields, these were not insignificant ships.
• The ships were eventually moved to the James River Navy yard and have sat there at 95% and 84% complete the past 18 years.
• A British company considered buying the ships and completing their build out for sale to a NATO country.
• However, since the ships are single hulled and double hulls are required for today's fuel carriers, the British company decided not to complete the construction and instead, settled on a $10 million contract and taxpayer expense to scrap the ships altogether.
• This week the ships are being towed to Texas to be cut up for scrap iron and scrap steel for recycling.

Thus, after spending $300 million to begin building the ships, almost finishing their construction, getting absolutely no use out of them, and paying to tow the ships from port to port, the taxpayers will get hit with one last insult and be charged $10 million to destroy the never used ships.

Where to start on this insanity:

1. Who is responsible for ordering the construction of these ships but never getting any use out of them? In the private market, if a business person was to incur that big of a screw up they would be out of a job.
2. Was there nowhere in the world that these ships could have been sold in order for taxpayers to get some money back rather than incurring another $10 million cost to have them destroyed? Even though the could not be used to haul fuel, was there no company in the world who would not want a sturdy Navy ship to ship other goods in its hold that was not fuel related? There must be a Chinese shipping company who could use a new ship or two, especially since China's exports in the first half of 2011 was a record level of $874 billion, 20% higher than in 2010 (The Week, July 22, 2011). Thus, not only should the people responsible for building $300 million worth of ships be fired, the people who could not get anything in return by selling the ships should also be fired.
3. This is a classic example of Step 34 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." Step 34 would remove politicians from any Congressional committee that does not do its committee job to at least to minimum standards. Whatever Congressional committee or subcommittee members were responsible for flushing $310 million of taxpayer wealth down the drain need to be removed from their committee or subcommittee posts.

The article contains a quote from Joseph Keefe from www.maritimeprofessinal.com who stated that the scrapping the ships will "close one of the saddest chapters in American shipbuilding history and for that matter, Federal fiduciary folly." In other words, what a waste of taxpayer money. Very well said, Mr. Keefe.

Another scary aspect of this story is the thought that this may not be an isolated incident. What other $300 million wastes are hanging around the Pentagon closets? With Pentagon resources deployed in three war zones, dozens of foreign countries, and probably most of the fifty states, I find it hard to believe that this is the only wasted money in the Pentagon budget. Eliminating this type of despicable behavior would reduce the Pentagon budget without further endangering the defense of the United States.

While we are on the topic of waste, let's move out of the Defense Department domain and move to another area of gross government waste. According to USA Today article, that was highlighted in the July 7, 2011 issue of The Week, the Federal government wastes about $17 billion of taxpayer wealth every year in the operation of its unemployment benefits program. Almost 12% of the program's budget is paid out fraudulently to Americans who are either collecting benefits they are not entitled to or are those people that have gotten a job but are still accepting unemployment benefits.

Compare these figures to the politically motivated ramblings of President Obama over the past few weeks. He has made a big deal about closing tax loopholes for oil companies and corporate jet users. Now, while I agree these loopholes should be closed, they are a pittance compared to the unemployment fraud. 

Over ten years, the oil company loopholes would amount to about $20 billion and the corporate jets loophole would amount to about $3 billion, a total of $23 billion or so over 10 years. Ten years worth of this type of unemployment benefits waste comes out to $170 billion, which is almost eight times more than the political gamesmanship loopholes of Obama.

It never ends. The government cannot plan its Navy needs, resulting in wasting over $300 million on just two of its ships. The government cannot efficiently run a simple unemployment benefits program, wasting 12% of its budget and $17 billion a year. The politicians worry about the smaller, trivial wastes of taxpayer money while the bigger wastes go on and on every year. 

The worst part of all, there is no apparent accountability. No one ever seems to be held responsible for all of the waste. Politicians continually get re-elected in the face of the waste. Government bureaucrats never seem to lose their jobs despite inefficiency and waste. 

You wonder what kind of world those in DC live in where how well or bad you perform your job has no ramifications on your monetary reward and career paths. Its the kind of world I would like to live in where performance is unrelated to reality. But first, I need to see if any of those ships are still available, they are too good a deal to pass up.

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