June, 2022, Part 5, Political Class Insanity: Biden's Slipping Cognitive Ability, Biden's Failing Presidency, and Ignorance In Illiinois

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc.

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) As we have discussed so many times over the years, people in government, be they government bureaucrats or the politicians that oversee government operations, never seem to have the brain power to fix what they often have broken. Name one thing that the Federal government does well, efficiently, and effectively and I could name dozens of other efforts that are abject failures.

We are living through one of those failures now. We are in the midst of an inflationary spiral that we have not experienced since the Carter Presidency over 40 years ago. And, as usual, the Presidential administration currently running things has no clue how to fix the problem:

• Jennifer Granholm is Biden’s Secretary of Energy.
• Obviously, you would hope she would be part of the solution when it comes to the fact that gas prices have more than doubled since Biden became President.
• In a recent interview on CNN, she decided to distract the country from the reality of $5.00 gas per gallon with the following nonsensical comparison: “If you were in Brazil, you’d be paying the same amount for gas at the pump — over $5. If you were in Canada, you’d be paying over $6. If you were in Germany, you’d be paying over $8. So this is happening around the world.”
• But most places around the world do not have the energy source potential and multitude of energy options that we have in this country.
• And many places are paying far less than what we are paying today.
• And really, Madame Secretary, who cares what the rest of the world is paying, what people in Brazil are paying?
• We only care what we are paying and obviously you have no solution to fix what Biden has broken, rather than coming up with solutions you are coming up with inane and stupid comparisons to cover up your incompetency.
• Or as what the CNN interviewer asked: “Understood, secretary. We’re talking about the United States, though. We’re talking about the United States right now and what the president can do.”

But we shouldn't expect anything more from this failed government employee. She had previously blamed OPEC for the high gas prices, just like the failed Carter administration did back over 40 years ago.

2) But this blaming someone else for your problem syndrome is not surprising. Biden was Vice President when Obama blamed everyone in the world for his inability to get anything done, e.g. it was Bush’s fault, it was automation’s fault, it was Bush’s fault, it was the Japanese tidal wave’s fault, it was Bush's fault.

And apparently Biden continues on the “it’s not my fault” trend. With inflation at 40 year highs, with gas prices more than doubling during his short tenure in office, with food prices making it difficult for families to feed their kids, Biden refuses to accept responsibility for this disaster.

According to the Washington Post, a liberal, far left wing news organization that rarely criticizes any Democrat: “Biden has privately grumbled to top White House officials over the administration’s handling of inflation, expressing frustration over the past several months that aides were not doing enough to confront the problem directly.”

A President that blames everyone else, like his aides, for the problems he either created or cannot resolve is not a leader, he is a child blaming the dog for eating his homework. Be it Obama, Biden, Granholm, or most others in Washington, they all have rarely come across a problem that is their fault or a problem they can resolve.

3) It is our opinion that Biden continues to be in the midst of a significant cognitive decline. Whether it is dementia, senility, or whatever, his actions and words do not encourage confidence that he has the ability to lead, resolve problems, or show any empathy for Americans on an individual basis or national basis. Listening to him struggle to explain anything is painful and again, does not inspire confidence.

During a recent event he tried to offer condolences to a family who had just lost a beloved family member. In typical Biden manner, he completely botched his words relative to the deceased individual: “My sympathies to the family of your… uhhh… CFO who dropped dead very unexpectedly.”

Pretty heartless and cold thing to say to the family sitting in front of him. He did not even have the decency, or maybe did not have the ability, to show empathy and be prepared to say more than “...uhhh….CFO who dropped dead very unexpectedly.” This sentiment and stupidity was so bad that his deaf signer dropped her hands and stopped translating his words into sign language, that is how awful his statement was.

The Internet was quick to pick up on how cold hearted and bad his behavior was in yet another embarrassing string of embarrassments:

• “What’s the American sign language sign for ‘dropped dead’?”
• “What an asshole”
• “Shame on anyone who put this man in charge and doesn’t regret it”
• “This and Pelosi mentions that we’re at war with Iraq…Say it with me people ..Term Limits “Look at how compassionate this man is. Blessed he’s at the helm. LOL”
• “I mean with these markets, who’s CFO wouldn’t just drop dead?”
• “This is quite the masterclass on statesmanship and decorum no?”
• “I can hardly make it through the cringe in these clips of Biden.”
• “This is the guy who represents us on the world stage.”
• “Yesterday Karine Jean-Pierre was appalled that anyone would question Joe’s mental abilities lmao”
• “I know we say this all the time, but imagine if Trump spoke like this, how the media would cover it” “One More Unacceptable Absurd Insane Leftist Moment In The Obama Puppet Master World We Live In”
• “Just when you think you can’t be shocked by this idiot anymore you get this. Unbelievable!! Hahahaha”
• “So, Bo and your previous wife, “dropped dead?” Ignorant career insensitive politician.”
• “What a shitty way to phrase say that. I voted for this guy.”
• “If anyone is curious we our country is currently up sh*t creek, watch this newest video of our dually selected President”
• “Can you imagine he drop dead suddenly tough stuff” How are people even listening to this geriatric dementia ridden gravy brain”

You can see this pitiful display of heartlessness at the following link:

https://dailyheadlines.com/what-caused-bidens-sign-language-interpreter-to-just-give-up-will/?utm_source=Mailer%20DH.COM&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:96942747&utm_campaign=DH.com%206-19%204a

4) We have often discussed the reality that states with high government taxes, massive government regulation, high current and future debt levels, high cost of living levels, high crime rates, and inept politicians are quickly losing residents and businesses to other states.

This out-migration of people and businesses continue to reduce those states’ tax bases, thus reducing tax revenue, resulting in less government services and more ineffective government services. The most egregious states guilty of abusing their residents and businesses continue to be Illinois, California, New York, and New Jersey. These states are at the beginning of a financial death spiral, as we discussed in detail at the following link:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2020/11/which-city-and-which-state-will-go.html

But despite the realities of this out-migration, local politicians continue to not grasp the reality that their actions are causing the high cost of living, the high taxes, the high crime rates etc. And as a result of their ignorance, they are unable to change the migration patterns and are continually surprised when it continues to happen:

• Heavy equipment operator, Caterpillar, has had its corporate headquarters in the state of Illinois for a very long time.
• The company recently announced that it is moving its corporate headquarters out of the state and relocating it to low tax, business friendly, low crime Texas.
• And yet, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth was shocked at the announcement: "I’m shocked and disappointed by Caterpillar’s decision to move its HQ from Illinois. While this will only directly affect about 1.5 percent of IL-based employees, I'll keep working to encourage Caterpillar to preserve jobs and follow through on its promise to hire even more Illinoisans."
• This move comes on the heels of Boeing announcing that it was also moving its corporate headquarters out of Illinois.
• Illinois Congressman, Jim Durkin, seems to be one of the few politicians associated with Illinois who gets it: "I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times of what these manufacturers are paying and there’s really little for them to do. They’re getting no relief from local governments nor from the state. … When it comes back to it, it’s the cost of doing business in Illinois."

A recent survey of 700 CEOs recently rated Texas as the best state for business while it rated Illinois as the 48th best state for business. Thus, it should not be a surprise that companies, like residents, will flee to states where government and politicians make life difficult and expensive. But somehow it is always a surprise for out of touch politicians.

That will do it for today: out of touch politicians, a failing Biden Presidency and a failing President’s cognitive ability.

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/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

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

 

June, 2022, By The Numbers: Gas Prices Through The Roof, Federal Government Debt Through the Roof, and Homeless Idiocy In San Francisco Through The Roof

 On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political 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 third and final post 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 discussed the fatalistic budget and spending numbers of the Federal government. The Washington political class has run up a national debt that is now over $30 TRILLION. The Congressional Budget office estimates that in addition to this $30 trillion debt load, they predict that the amount of unfunded liabilities, future expenses that the government has no idea how to fund, mostly for future Social Security and Medicare expenses, is over $80 TRILLION.

Consider a few numbers and calculations:

• In 2021, the IRS processed about 168 million tax returns from American citizens.

• That means each American taxpayer would have to write a check for about $179,000 just to pay off the CURRENT national debt.

• In reality, they would have  to pay more since every day the Federal government spends more money than it collects.

• To pay off the $80 trillion in unfunded future liabilities, each American taxpayer would have to pay about $476,000 more in taxes.

• Thus, to dig the Federal  government out of its debt hole that the Washington political establishment has created, every American taxpayer would have to lay out $655,000 to pay off the current debt and future unfunded liabilities.

Obviously, that math is not possible, American households have nowhere near that amount of wealth available to pay off the debt. Taxing businesses to pay off the debt and liabilities would also not be feasible since: 1) there is not enough taxable revenue in the American business world to cover that debt and 2) even if there was, for businesses to stay in business to pay that amount of taxes would require them to raise prices to astronomical heights creating runaway inflation.

Taxing the rich, a rallying cry of liberal politicians would not work  either. For example, in 2021, according to Forbes, Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame was the richest American with a net worth of about $200 million. If you confiscated, not taxed, his entire wealth then the $200 billion would pay off about .7% of the national debt and about ,25% of the unfunded liabilities. If you only taxed his wealth at say 2% of the total amount, an actual proposal by some liberal Washington politicians, then you would pay off about .01% of the current national debt .005% of the unfunded liabilities.

The bottom  line is that the amount of debt being run up by Washington politicians is unsustainable, not possible to be paid off, and will eventually crash our economy and our democracy if changes are not made to government spending.

All of this lead us to the latest, and horrible, numbers that were recently crunched by the Congressional Budget Office:

• If nothing changes in Washington, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the Federal government will be spending over $1 trillion every fiscal year for the foreseeable future beyond what it collects in taxes.

• For the next decade, the annual government spending deficit will average $1.6 trillion.

• This means that the Federal  government will on average spend $43 million a DAY that it cannot cover with current tax collections.

• If nothing changes, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the 2032 annual government spending deficit will be $2.3 trillion.

• These deficits over the next ten years are projected to be worth 5.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP), the value of everything the entire U.S. economy produces. 

• Over the last 50 years, the annual federal deficit has averaged 3.5% of GDP.

• These spending deficits are the largest in both actual and percentage of GDP that the Federal government has ever operated at.

• The total national debt is projected by CBO to run near 100% of the country’s GDP every year, exceeding the record set by that metric during World War II. 

• The ratio of federal debt to GDP is more than double what it was in 2000.

You get the idea. The Federal government current and future debt is out of control and outrageously high, it cannot be covered with increased taxation, and current spending trends will make the debt situation that much worse over time. Eventually programs like Social Security and Medicare will be severely cut back in a last ditch attempt by the Federal government to avoid going bankrupt and defaulting on its debt obligations which will cause severe hardships for tens of millions of Americans.

The rest of the world will eventually lose trust in the value of the American dollar, which will contribute \to already skyrocketing inflation. And the current Washington politicians still do not understand the magnitude and depth of the problem as they continue to send money overseas, give their Federal employees free Peloton exercise subscriptions, shower themselves with benefits and high  salaries, and make sure their family members, friends and political  donors get rich while the country sinks into a sea of red ink. The numbers don't lie.

2) It is certainly no secret that gasoline prices in this country have risen to ridiculous heights since Biden became President. And while he wants us to believe that the Russian/Ukraine conflict is responsible for the gas price increase, that is a ridiculous lie to try to hoist on the American public. Gas prices started rising way before that war broke out. 

In fact, gas prices started rising almost the same day that Biden took office. His killing off of the Keystone pipeline, his suspending drilling leases on Federal lands, etc., were his doing, not Putin’s doing or impacts from the Ukraine invasion. 

There is a saying that a manager I once worked for had and managed by: “Don’t tell me the seas were rough, just tell me you brought the ship safely into port.” In other words, stop bitching and start acting to remedy the situation. Obviously, Biden had no clue how to execute that saying.  Rather than bring the ship into port and eliminate crushing gas prices, he sits around trying to place the blame on others without doing anything to fix the problem.

And it is a big problem and it has happened on his watch:

• Gas prices in this country recently hit an all time high, the average price for a gallon of gas hitting $4.60 per gallon.

• This average is about a ghastly 92% higher since Biden took office and I would bet that at least half of that increase happened BEFORE Putin invaded Ukraine.

• Gas is $.44 more expensive than it was last month.

• On  Memorial Day 2021, about a year ago, the average price for a gallon of gas was $3.05 which was less than today but was still probably up 50% since the day Biden became President.

Again, if Biden was a leader he would spend less time telling us who is to blame and more time resolving the crisis, “bringing the ship safely into port,” and we all would be better off. But given that Biden was the VP in the Obama administration, an administration that spent eight years blaming everyone and everything else than themselves for their failures, his behavior is no surprise.

What is also very interesting is the numbers that occur at the state level for

 average price for a gallon of gas:

1. Arizona: $4.95 a gallon

2. California: $6.15 a gallon

3. Hawaii: $5.44 a gallon

4. Illinois: $5.00 a gallon

5. Maine: $4.77 a gallon

6. Nevada: $5.30 a gallon

7. New York: $4.93 a gallon

8. Oregon: $5.20 a gallon

9. Washington: $5.23 a gallon

These states currently have the highest priced gas in the country. I find it interesting that states with the highest gas prices are those states that have a long tradition of being run by liberal politicians/Democrats: Washington, Oregon, New York, Maine, Illinois, Hawaii, and California. 

I  would bet on a closer look that these states also have the highest state gas taxes in the country, a double whammy on those residents in those states: high taxes on everything else, property, sales, , etc., and also gas taxes which makes the gas burden that much worse in those political blue states.

Bad times for Americans’ transportation needs and an administration  and President that are clueless on how to resolve it even though two short years ago this was not even close to being a crisis for American drivers.

3) I debated whether to put the following piece of political idiocy in this “by the numbers” post or save it for our next “political class insanity" post. I decided to go with it here since the single number it has is really a doozy:

• London Breed is the mayor of San Francisco.

• Her city has a tremendous homeless problem which manifests itself in public defecation, public urination, public use of illegal drugs, drug overdoses, violence, etc.

• Her solution: spend an additional $6.5 million over five years to remedy the situation or at least alleviate it to some degree.

• The problem: she wants the money to only alleviate homelessness of transgender people.

• Forget helping the homeless elderly who cannot find a place to live because of Biden’s inflationary policies.

• Forget the homeless veterans who may be suffering any number of maladies from their service and combat experiences.

• Forget the families who may be homeless because the breadwinner lost his or her job.

• Nope, Breed wants to spend the money only on transgender homeless people, which number only about 400, in a city with thousands and thousands of homeless people.

• Specifically: "Transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming San Franciscans are eighteen times more likely to experience homelessness compared to the general population, and we know that the rates are even higher for our minority trans communities. With one of the largest TGNC populations in the country, we not only must ensure that all San Franciscans have access to housing and essential resources through continued investments, but we can show the country that we continue to be a leader on supporting and protecting our trans communities."

$6.5 million for only a certain type of citizen. Any number of problems wrong with this stupidity:

• First off, it is probably illegal to use taxpayer money for only a certain segment of the population.

• This approach is so easy to game,  anyone could claim they are transgender to get a peice of the $6.5 million, it is not as if you can say a transgender person has a certain skin color, a certain ethnic background, a certain DNA, a person would just be able to claim their are transgender.

• If you do the math of $6.5 million over 5 years to serve only 400 people, it turns out that the city will theoretically be spending about $9 a day to help a homeless transgender person.

• I doubt you can feed and shelter a person for $9 a day, about $270 a month in a high priced city like San Francisco and that assumes the $6.5 million goes directly to the homeless transgender people.

• Once you take overhead costs out of the the $6.5 million along with government incompetence and fraud, that $9 a day goes down dramatically.

I have no idea how to handle the large and growing homeless problem in this country. But I am pretty sure helping one a small minority of those that are homeless, whatever the criteria is, does not resolve the bigger problem affecting people of all sexual orientations, genders, education backgrounds, etc. Another stupid government program as proven by some simple numbers.

Stupid spending in San Francisco, stupid and overwhelming debt driven spending in D.C., and the inability to manage an inflationary economy by Biden. The numbers don't lie even if politicians do.

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/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

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

 

 

The Failing Biden Presidency - Part 5

This is the fifth in a series of posts that document the idiocy and total failure of the Biden Presidency so far. After being in the Oval Office for a few months, the world is in much worse shape both domestically and internationally due to the failed and idiotic leadership and actions of Joe Biden. His approval ratings are sinking faster than the increase in violence and price inflation that he has caused to happen. Today’s discussion does not provide any hope that things will improve under his leadership anytime soon.

1) We have already talked about the many, many failures of the Biden administration, just a few months into its term. Just type "The Failing Biden Presidency" in the search box above and those previous posts documenting Biden failures will put up.

The Read/Act website recently ran an article where they listed out SOME of his failures, a few of which we had already discussed but this list provides a good, quick review of his failures:

1. In just a matter of a few months, Biden has managed to create a humanitarian, drug cartel, human trafficking, drug addction, and national security disaster at the border. The 180,034 illegal border crossings in the month of May hit a record as the third-highest in the 97-year history of the Border Patrol.
2. Just days into office, Biden killed off the Keystone XL Pipeline, immediately killing off 12,000 high paying American jobs, an action that will have absolutely no effect on the climate. In addition, he made the country rejoin the bogus and flawed Paris Climate Agreement that will cost the American taxpayer trillions of dollars and destroy anywhere from an estimated 400,000 to 2.7 million jobs while requiring China and India to do nothing to curb their carbon emissions.
3. His proposed tax hikes will affect every American, regardless of income level, making living costs rise and good paying jobs become scarcer.
4. His bogus infrastructure plan, that will cost Americans about $2 TRILLION, dedicates only 7% of that amount to actually fixing roads, bridges and the like, with the remaining 93% going to pet projects of politicians that will, as always, be ineffective, inefficient, and never attain their goals.
5. He chose to support teachers' union vs. the education of American kids by siding with the teachers’ union to keep schools shut down but still pay teachers while kids went uneducated or undereducated during the pandemic.
6. Biden killed the Mexico City policy which now forces American taxpayers to fund abortions overseas. Rather than take care of the homeless and underfed kids in this country, he is sending taxpayer money that could have been used for that purpose to abort babies halfway around the world.
7. Biden showed no leadership or diplomacy during the recent violent Hamas and Israeli fighting, sitting mute in the corner as people were getting killed on a daily basis.
8. Recent cost of living statistics show that prices are rising quicker than ever over the past 13 years with the price of gas, lumber, real estate, and other commodities rising even quicker and Biden having no plan to get the rising costs under control.
9. Gas prices are over 50% higher than they were six months ago, just prior to Biden taking office.

On January, 19, 2021, gas prices were about $1.00 a gallon cheaper, housing prices were not shooting through the proverbial roof, the Middle East was calm, the country was vibrantly energy independent, and the southern border was calm and secure. Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021 and this is the chaos he has caused since then with his clueless and scatterbrained leadership.

2) We have previously made the case that people are dying because of Biden’s incompetence. By encouraging people to come across our southern border like he has, people are dying trying to make that trip across some very brutal terrain, dodging drug smugglers, human smugglers,and criminal gangs in the process. The Hamas/Israeli fighting has killed hundreds. Iran’s terrorist activities have increased since Biden took over since they know he will do nothing to stop them, activities that will and have killed many people. The open border has resulted in a tsunami of illegal drugs coming into the country that will addict and eventually kill thousands of Americans. Joe Biden’s policies are not just inept, they are fatal.

Which is in line with the following harrowing and bewildering action his administration has taken:

• Trump enacted a discount program when he was in office that allowed Americans with diabetes and low income levels to get the vital insulin they need to live at a discounted price.
• Trump’s actions were aimed at requiring 340 community health centers to discount drug prices for low income patients, specifically insulin and epinephrine.
• For whatever sick reason, Biden has decided to terminate that program which will send the price of insulin and epinephrine substantially higher.
• The National Association of Health Care Centers has said Biden’s actions would “adversely impact Community Health Centers” and make it harder for low-income patients to afford the medications.

When asked the reason for eliminating the discount program by Fox News, the administration did not respond with an answer. The obvious conclusion is that the drug companies got to Biden and got their way, no discounts on the drugs they produce, but that is pure speculation. But I can't think of any other reason for doing away with a vital, simple and apparently life saving program for Americans in need.

3) Biden recently attended the G7 economic summit with other European leaders. Unfortunately, he made a fool of himself in two new ways, this time on the global stage. First off, when asked about Russia and what to do about their activity in Syria’s civil war, he rambled on and actually referred to Syria as Libya three times. Libya is not Syria, they are over 1,300 miles apart from each other and have nothing to do with each other. And yet, Biden mixed them up three times in a very few set of sentences.

Second, consider the rambling incoherent speech that Biden gave, embarrassing himself and the country with this nonsensical talk: “There is a lot going on where we can work together with Russia. For example, in Libya, we should be opening up the passes to be able to go through and provide — food assistance — an economic, I mean — vital assistance to a population that is in real trouble. I think I’m gonna very hard — by the way there’s places where — I should not be starting off by negotiating in public here, but let me say it this way — Russia has engaged in activities which we believe are contrary to international norms. They have also bitten off some real problems they’re gonna have trouble chewing on. For example, the rebuilding of Syria, of Libya — you know, this is — they’re there and as long as they’re there without the ability to bring about some order in the region, you can’t do that very well without providing or the basic economic needs of people, so I am hopeful that we can find accommodation where we can save the lives of people in, for example, in Libya consistent with the interests of — may be far different reasons — but for the same reasons.”

Totally incoherent, totally nonsense, The last sentence rambles on for over 80 words and makes no sense. Mix in the fact that he says Libya three times when he means Syria just makes it that much more embarrassing.

Look, we take no pleasure in pointing out his mistakes. It is what it is, he needs medical help and does not need the pressure of being the leader of the free world. He is not up to the task which is no fault of his own.

But people are dying because his family, his wife, and his political handlers put him in this untenable position. The country is suffering economically and from a national security perspective because of his declining mental state. The U.S. looks weak and foolish on the international stage which will have long term, negative ramifications for us all.

It was and is elder abuse by all in his circle of family, friends, and peers and we are all suffering because of their greed, their ego and their callousness.

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/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

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

 

 

California Political Class Insanity and Socialism, Part 4: More Blackouts, High Gas Prices, and Bad Budget Priorities

We have done any number of posts strictly focusing on the crises in different California cities, from going broke to large homeless problems to medieval diseases making a comeback. What was once the land of opportunity is now the land of impending disasters on several fronts, fronts we will be exploring in a series of posts.

Before going further, let’s review a few California realities we have covered previously:

• There are upwards of 30,000 homeless Americans roaming the streets of San Francisco.
• Without a home to go to, the city has made it legal to defecate, urinate, and shoot up drugs anywhere in the city including in public and on the streets of the city.
• This has led to a public health hazard and has caused the city to hire five full time government employees who go around the city each day in hazmat gear to pick up human feces and to clean the spot where it was found.
• Things are so bad that residents can use a city cell phone app to report where they found piles of feces.
• There are upwards of 60,000 homeless Americans in Los Angeles that is causing some of the same problems that are going down in San Francisco.
• Public defecation and urination in LA is causing health problems in that city which has actually led to the outbreak of at least one medieval disease, typhus, and the concern is that the bubonic plague may also make a comeback, given how the exploding rat population has fed off of the garbage that homelessness causes.

The reason we are doing so is to point out that the state that has had the most far reaching intrusions into freedom and citizens’ lives, the state that has put its nose into every aspect of citizens’ lives, the state that has has misspent and overspent its way far down the road of bankruptcy, and the state that has reduced the freedom of its citizens the most is the state of California. The state is by far the most socialistic state in the union and has basically been ruled by a single party for decades, the Democrats. 

And since a number of Democratic candidates for President have basically declared themselves to be socialists, I thought it might be an interesting subject to explore what would happen if socialism took over the whole country. What would it look like if the country took on the aspects of socialism and Democratic rule that has swept up California. Warning: the future is NOT bright if California is the leading edge.

In our first two posts we discovered nine current characteristics of living in California:

1. The rate of sexually transmitted diseases is skyrocketing.
2. Gas prices are about twice as much as the average price across the country.
3. Citizens are enduring rolling electricity blackouts.
4. Medieval diseases are making a comeback in Los Angeles.
5. Solar panels do nothing for you when the electric company blacks out your area on purpose.
6. San Francisco no longer feels like America.
7. The state government financial situation is very bleak.
8. California city governments are also deep in debt.
9. California has a dysfunctional voter registration process.
10. State politicians worry more about what other states are doing rather than fix what is wrong in their own state.

Let’s find out what other “adventures” Californians are living through:

1) The state of California has over $200 billion in unfunded future liabilities. This debt burden will likely bankrupt the entire state government in the not too distant future. But rather than work fixing overspending and debt loads, the state government politicians are working on spending more, not less taxpayer wealth:

• The Democrats in the state government and in the governor’s mansion in California have recently passed a plan that would allow the state government and the state’s taxpayers to pay two years worth of tuition at community colleges.
• This will likely cost the taxpayers $42.6 million a year and affect over 30,000 community college students.
• So the governor and state legislators are worrying about helping 30,000 students avoid paying for their education while well over 100,000 state residents are homeless and roaming the streets of the state’s cities, with about 90,000 just in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• According to the Feeding America organization, the average cost per meal to feed a homeless American is $2.94 per meal.
• Thus, in theory, that $42.6 million could provide over 14 million meals to the homeless population of California.

How many lives of needy California Americans could be helped by getting a good meal vs. paying for the college tuition of other citizens who in all likelihood know where their next meal is coming from? Such bad priorities of state politicians.

2) We have already talked about how gas costs so much more in California, in some places twice as expensive than the national average. Chris White, writing for the Daily Caller website on October 24, 2019, did an analysis of why that is the case and not surprisingly, state politicians and their over regulation of the lives of state residents are the main causes of sky high gas prices:

• The average price of a gallon of gas in the state is $4.18, about double the national cost.
• In some places in California the price is actually over $5.00 a gallon.
• In 2017, the governor at the time, Jerry Brown, signed legislation that raised the state’s gas tax 12 cents a gallon on gas and 20 cents a gallon on diesel.
• At the same time the state raised vehicle license fees from $25 to $175 per car.
• This tax increase was not an absolute number, it was based on a percentage of the price of gas so if the prices goes up the tax goes up also, a very sneaky way of increasing taxes without having to legislate it.
• According to Kara Siepmann, a spokeswoman for the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA): “State and federal laws like the recently approved gas tax, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and other fuel-related taxes and fees add a little over 92 cents to each gallon of gas and have a profound impact on California’s businesses and communities.” 
• California has the second highest gas tax in the country.
• The state’s strict, and likely unnecessary, regulations result in California requiring gas sold in the state to be blended differently, adding additional costs to refining and making it impossible to import gas from other states, reducing the potential supply and increasing the price.
• Adding insult to injury, the special California blended gas changes depending on what time of year it is, adding additional costs and reducing the supply.
• Local and state zoning strategies have reduced the available land that could be used for gas stations, further reducing supply and increasing prices even more.
• There are 40% fewer gas stations in San Francisco than there were ten years ago.
• Some California cities are suing oil companies because of their obsession with global warming and if they go too far down that road these oil companies might just stop selling and refining gas in the state which would further increase prices.

Obviously these folks in the state government have a tremendous lack of economic knowledge, supply and demand drive prices. By reducing supply in so many ways prices go up and state taxpayers get stuck with more costs of living in the state with no relief insight.

3) Let’s finish up this series on the hell that California is becoming from a daily living perspective with an update on the intentional blackouts that are still going on, blackouts that definitely reduce the quality of life in the state:

• The latest blackouts by Pacific Gas and Electric are affecting almost a million customers and likely over 2 million people.
• This is being done to try and stop the utilities’ equipment from adding to the wildfires currently raging in the state.
• These people being blacked out range over 36 counties.
• The latest blackouts will last for two days.

Now, while the utility can rightfully be blamed for these disasters and the blackouts and fires its faulty equipment causes, keep in mind it is the state government which regulates all of the utilities’ operations. They should be overseeing the operations of all utilities so the state government bureaucracy, and the politicians that oversee this bureaucracy, are also to blame for this mess.

So in summary, Democrats and liberals who dominate state and local governments in the state of California have succeeded in bringing the state’s residents high gas prices, rolling electricity blackouts, bad spending priorities, a skyrocketing homeless population, the appearance of at least one Medieval disease, skyrocketing sexually transmitted diseases, heavy government debt burdens, and a dysfunctional voter registration system. 

This is what socialism looks like as practiced in California. It is not pretty along so many dimensions and yet, Democrats think socialism is still a good idea. Proving again, that when it comes to the American political class there is still no cure for stupid.

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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