Februrary, 2016, Part 1, Political Class Insanity: Immigration Follies, DHS Incompetence, and More

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.

So let’s get started with the latest insanity:

1) We often have a debate during these insanity reviews trying to figure out what is the most incompetent Federal government entity. Is it the Veterans Administration that despite Congressional and public scrutiny still does a horrid job at serving our veterans? Is it the IRS that somehow fails to collect untold hundreds of billions of dollars a year from tax evaders and pays out billions of dollars a year to criminals? Is it the Department of Homeland Security whose TSA organization failed to detect fake bombs and weapons passing through airport security 95% of the time?

The candidates for ineptness are wide but this month the award for incompetence probably goes to the the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the organization tasked with protecting us from terrorists. DHS inventory reports obtained by the news website, Complete Colorado, via a Freedom of Information Act request, found that hundreds of DHS security badges, credentials, cell phones, and guns have been lost or stolen in recent years from DHS employees. Obviously, this raises very serious security issues if these items fell into terrorists’ hands.

The reports show that between 2012 and 2015, a 31 month period, DHS employees somehow managed to lose or have stolen over 1,300 DHS badges, 165 guns, and 589 cell phones. This comes out to roughly 40 badges a month, 5 guns a month, and almost 20 cell phones a month. Tom Miller, a retired Secret Service special agent told FoxNews.com: “It’s scary that you’d have that number of credentials out there that someone could manipulate.” Miller went on to say that the badges and credentials could allow access to high security areas at airports.

The DHS did not deny that the reports were accurate when contacted by Complete Colorado but did tell FoxNews.com that they were working to improve their procedures when DHS assets are stolen. But the fact that the thefts were going on for at least 31 months does not give one a warm feeling that the DHS was on top of the problem. 

2) One does not have to be an immigration expert to know that the Obama administration has done a horrible job of securing our borders. Last summer thousands and thousands of Central and South American kids stormed our borders. Every week or so it seems like Border Patrol officers are apprehending young males from Middle Eastern countries trying to sneak into the country. The flow of drugs continues unimpeded with recent reports saying that the cartels are now using drones to transport illegal drugs literally “over the border.” The story of “rape trees” has emerged, which are trees that are used to display the undergarments of women who were sexually assaulted by human traffickers as the women tried to sneak into the country. Illegal immigrants are involved in almost daily reported violent crimes across the country, e.g. the Kate Steinle murder.

Anyone with a lick of common sense and who reads the papers or news reports knows that the border is far from secure. Which has not stopped a Texas Congresswoman from denying this reality. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee recently proclaimed that Obama had already fixed the border: “The president has spent $108 billion on border security, and we have been successful,” Jackson Lee said in a recent Homeland Security committee meeting. “Oh we’ve had our moments, but we have been successful.”

Huh? Widespread rape, drug running, human smuggling, etc. and this is viewed as a success? At a cost of $108 billion? Note: I question where she got the $108 billion estimate from but if it is correct, we certainly did not get our money’s worth. But we should not be surprised since this is the same multi-term Congresswoman who wondered out loud if a Mars rover would be driving near the spot where Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, who thought the Constitution was 400 years old, who thinks there are still two Vietnams, and who wanted Congress to formally honor Michael Jackson for being a “global humanitarian.” 

Did I mention that she is a multi-term member of Congress? Insanity.

3) Continuing on the illegal immigration line from the previous point, The Eagle Rising website recently ran a news article that described how a Texas city councilman was caught smuggling illegal immigrants into the country. Yes, an elected political official has gotten into the act of human trafficking. 

Crystal City, Texas councilman Marco Rodiguez was pulled over by a Border Patrol agent and after a brief discussion allegedly tried to run away. He was eventually taken into custody along with three illegal immigrants he had with him. In the eventual criminal complaint filed on the incident, Rodriguez admitted to being hired to transport the three illegal immigrants. 

He also reportedly told a Federal agent involved with the case that on two other occasions he had also transported illegal immigrants to San Antonio. He told authorities that he had been paid a total of $1,900 for these two previous endeavors.

To put a cherry on top of this whole sordid affair, the vehicle that Rodiguez was driving when caught was a stolen truck.

Now, the good councilman is innocent until proven guilty but it seems he has already confessed to a number of immigration crimes. Tough to respect these types of people in public office who continually act as if the laws of this country do not apply to them, from the White House to Congress to Crystal City, Texas. Does not sound like this councilman got the memo from the Congresswoman that the immigration problem has been resolved successfully.

4) Onan Coca, writing for the Eagle Rising website on January 28, 2016, reported how someone named Ali Muhammad Brown was recently given a 36 year prison sentence after being found guilty of armed robbery in New Jersey. He has also been accused of committing four murders to protest the U.S.’s foreign policy and being involved in terrorism.

What is even worse than these brutal crimes is the reality that Brown was on a Federal government terror watch list. If the government and the political class that operate it already are suspicious about a person but that person still goes on to kill four Americans, how is that government and political class going to protect us when the Obama administration allows thousands of unvetted Middle East refugees into the country? The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are already on record of saying they cannot possibly totally screen out violent refugees and this case just proves them right. 

5) Liberals and Democrats in Washington’s political class are always trying to divide and conquer America along different dimensions but their most popular, and tired tactics, involved trying to divide Americans by income level, their so-called income inequality approach. But Paul Bedard, writing for the Washington Examiner on January 25, 2016, showed the high level of hypocrisy of these politicians:

• According to research done by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, Washington D.C., the locale of these politicians harping about income inequality, has the worst ratio of income equality in the entire nation. 
• The ever growing size of the Federal government and its high priced employees, give the city the highest annual wage level in the country at $72,963, more than 40% higher than the overall national annual wage level.
• The research found that the richest 20% of people living in Washington D.C. make 7.3 times more money than the poorest 20%.
• The top 20% average $161,348 while the poorest 20% earn only $22,185.
• Adding insult to injury, D.C. has the highest unemployment rate according to the research....and you can bet it is not the highest 20% of earners that are unemployed.

And despite having the first African American President living within the district: "The situation is most dire for households of color. African-American and Latino households in D.C. are significantly more likely to live below the federal poverty line compared to white households. Even more startling, new data show that businesses owned by whites in D.C. are valued almost seven times higher than businesses owned by African-American residents."

In addition, while Washington liberals and Democrats are trying to force flawed Common Core education standards on the rest of the country, D.C. reading proficiency ranks at the bottom in the country. "The District's 8th-grade math and reading proficiency rates (19.1 percent and 18.6 percent, respectively) are the worst in the nation." said the report.

Insanely hypocritical and pathetic. Telling us how to behave when the capital of the country is setting a terrible example of income inequality, suppressing the success of minority residents, and running inept schools and education processes. 

That will do it for this month’s initial political class insanity. Hypocrisy in Washington, incompetence at the DHS, and political immigration embarrassments. More insanity tomorrow.

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

Busting Poliitical Myths, Part 4: Income Inequality and Racism

We are having a little fun over the past several days at our politicians’ expense, exploring the many myths that the politicians of this country would like us to believe. You see, if we believe the myths that they create than we are more likely to vote for them to resolve the unreal issues and problems associated with these myths. 

[Note: I thought we could finish the political class myth deconstruction in two posts but we also needed yesterday and today, four posts total, to finish up what is becoming a very interesting and apparently widespread problem, courtesy of the American political class.]

But what if what they tell is not the true reality? What if we are getting all worked up and headed in the wrong direction for a mythical problem that does not exist or for a mythical solution that resolves nothing? All it does is send us chasing our tails while the same inept politicians get reelected over and over based on nothing more than their own greed, their rigging of the election processes, and the myths that they feed us and control us with.

So starting earlier this week, we are going to look behind the myth curtail and reveal what is the true reality. With that truth we may finally start resolving some of the major issues of our times. Lord knows the political class has failed miserably over the past fifty years in eradicating poverty, winning the lost war on drugs, fixing our failing public schools, securing our borders, etc. 

Maybe it is because we have allowed them to work on myths that they created and not the true problems of our age. Keep in mind the following wise words of Groucho Marx over the next few posts: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” Sounds like myth building to me.

1) If you were to listen to politicians, particularly those that lean Democrat and liberal, one would think that America never progressed out of its racist past where white slave owners reigned over black slaves and the Jim Crow laws of the south were still in effect. This myth allows politicians to stake out positions and “energize their voting base” to get themselves elected over and over based on this issue that they constantly raise and harp on.

But is America still a racist country, based on reality and actual data, or is that a myth that allows politicians to divide us and set one voting bloc against another? While we fight and argue with each other, they can then get by without resolving new major issues that affect us all but instead, root for the antagonisms to grow and fester which helps them stay in office.

Let’s look at some real life data in graph form that was recently published by the Independent Journal Review. More details and similar graphs on racism in America can be found at the original article: 

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/133024-10-charts-show-racist-america-really/

According to this graph of Gallup poll results, the acceptance of interracial marriages is quite high in America and trending upwards, a good sign for racial harmony and a bad sign for the myth. The positive, increasing trend held firm whether or not a Democrat or Republican was President and actually jumped the most, by about 14 percentage points from 65% to 79% during the Bush administration.

Now in a perfect world, one would want that graph to top out at 100%. But given that the acceptance rate is up more than four fold since 1968 and still apparently trending up, we are in good shape relative to racism in this measure, despite what myths on racism Democrats and liberals may put forth.



Same results in this interracial marriage trend chart, newly married couples have a much higher percentage of interracial couples being married than the percentage of currently married couples. One would expect this kind of result given the growing acceptance of interracial marriages we discussed and observed in the first chart above. Another good sign that the races are growing closer and more accepting of each other. 



Another anti-racism myth. The percentage of Americans who would vote for a qualified African American for President is actually quite close to the utopian level of 100%. This trend is also growing steadily, has grown steadily regardless of what party controlled the White House and Congress, and is up more than double since 1960. 

This might dispel any sub-myths that liberals put out that people disapprove of Obama’s performance in office because he is an African American. This chart would indicate that they disapprove of his actions because of his incompetence and inability to lead and bring forth change, not because he is not white. The key word in the survey was “qualified,” maybe the current President does not meet that criteria.

And finally, relative to the rest of the world, we are a very tolerant society. When people were polled around the world, and asked to pick from groups of people they would not want as neighbors, less than 5% of Americans chose “people of another race.” Compare that level of tolerance to the levels in India and the Middle East, and parts of Europe, who were a lot less tolerant of other races living next door to them as neighbors.

Is there still racism in America? Probably yes. Will there always be racism in America? Probably yes. But to listen to the politicians tell us how bad it is without heeding the above data that is actually very good and trending better in these charts, is to cater to their myth of hatred and disharmony that they use for their own good and not for the growing harmony between all of us.

2) One last myth before we wrap up this series. Democrats and liberals, particularly those in the northeastern part of the country, are always harping on the myth that they take better care of the poor and needy within their areas than the rest of the country. They point to more government welfare programs, more government job training programs, more government housing programs, higher minimum wage levels and all kinds of other political, higher tax levels that funnel money to those in need, and government initiatives to help the needy and poor. If only the rest of the country would be so generous and pro-government, all the needy in the country would be better off.

But is that assertion true or is that a myth also? Does having a very proactive, heavily indebted welfare state actually help the poor and needy? Or is that also a myth? 

One way to explore that possibility is to look at income equality. Do those states that have a much heavier government hand in helping the needy actually help them and balance out the income inequality levels that liberals and Democrats are always harping on?

There is actually a government statistic that measures income inequality called the Gini coefficient. I will not try to explain it here, I am sure there are explanations on the Internet if you are interested. The U.S. Census Bureau annually calculates the Gini coefficient for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. According to their analysis:

• According to 2012 Census Bureau data (the latest available figures), the District of Columbia, New York, and Connecticut have the highest measure of income inequality of all the states.
• Wyoming, Alaska, Utah, and New Hampshire have the lowest Gini coefficients. 
• The three states where income inequality is the most unequal—Washington, D.C., New York and Connecticut—are dominated by liberal policies and politicians and extensive, and expensive, welfare programs.
• The top three states with the lowest Gini coefficients and thus the lowest income inequality generally considered conservative red states.
• An exception in the northeast, the state with the lowest Gini coefficient is New Hampshire (.430), which has no income tax and a lower overall state tax burden than that of its much more liberal neighbors Massachusetts (Gini coefficient .480) and Vermont (.439). 
• Texas is often viewed as a deep red state with very conservative roots and California is held up as the model of liberal, more heavy handed government. Thus, it is no surprise that Texas has a lower Gini coefficient (.477) and a lower poverty rate (20.5%) than California (Gini coefficient .482, poverty rate 25.8%).
• Those states with a higher minimum wage than the rest of the country, e.g. Connecticut ($8.70), California ($8), New York ($8) and Vermont ($8.73), have significantly wider gaps between rich and poor than those states that don’t have as a high a minimum wage.
• A Cato Institute report found that the higher the welfare benefit levels, the higher the Gini coefficient. 
• States with high income-tax rates aren’t any more equal than states with no income tax. 

Thus, it appears we have busted another political class myth. Those states that give more to the poor and needy end up not benefiting the poor and needy but creating a bigger gap between poor and non-poor as measured by the Gini coefficient. This myth of heavy handed government welfare is also destroyed by looking at the first five years or so of the Obama administration. 

This administration has expanded the earned income tax credit for the poor, increased the food stamp assistance program by 50% or so, continually extended unemployment benefits, etc. But the reality of these interventions by the welfare state government, despite what liberals will tell you, has resulted in over 20 million Americans unemployed or under employed, a substantial drop in the median American household income in the past four years, and a national Gini coefficient that is worse now than the last day of the Bush administration.

All of these income inequality programs sound good on paper, they should work, but the reality is they are a myth. They make the income inequality numbers worse, the rich do get richer not because of anything they do but because the political class in this country do not know how to grow the economy. Growing the overall economy, and not the welfare state, which would get some of those 20 million Americans better jobs and offset the growing income inequality programs that the Obama administration, and others, have put forth.

John F. Kennedy once wisely said that “a rising tide lifts all boats.“ Rather than perpetuate the myth that income inequality is all-important, and then put forth programs that actually make income inequality worse, it would be better for America if the political class focused on economic growth via lower taxes, fewer regulations, simpler tax processes, etc. But that would reduce our dependence on politicians and reduce their power and control over their lives, a reality that they would rather disguise in a myth.

Okay, it took longer than I expected but we killed ten political class myths in just four days using reality checks and real data. Not bad, but I am assuming we will be coming back to this topic since the myth machine in Washington and state capitals around the country never rests. 

The first post in this series can be viewed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/06/destroying-political-class-myths-part-1.html

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

January, 2014 Economic Crisis Update Part 2: Why Politicians Should Not Be Allowed To Play With Economics

Yesterday, we did our first in a three part series on the dire economic conditions the country and its citizens find themselves in at the start of a new year, 2014. As a quick recap, consider the following economically depressing news and statistics:

• There are a record number of Americans, over 20 million, that are either unemployed or under employed.
• There are a record number of Americans that are receiving food assistance from the Federal government, almost 50% than when Obama took office.
• Over half of the recent college graduating classes could either not find a job or could not find a job in their area of interest.
• A very high percentage of jobs created over the past few years have been only part time or temporary jobs.
• Household income has dropped steadily over the past five years despite the fact that the recession ended well over three years ago.
• Until recently, official national unemployment levels (U3) had been at record highs for record lengths of time.
• Increased costs of health insurance as a result of Obama Care will likely result in less disposable household income available in the coming years to expand the economy.
• The national debt has jumped to about $17 TRILLION, up over six TRILLION dollars since Obama took office in 2009.
• Monthly trade balance deficits with other countries continue at very high rates.

The current Washington political class has gotten us in this bad shape financially despite having the benefits of a record setting $830 billion economic stimulus program, record setting low interest rates for a record length of time by the Federal Reserve, record setting Federal Reserve liquidity creation by the Federal Reserve “printing money” and calling it “quantitative easing,” and an energy revolution that is providing low cost, and plentiful energy sources and higher paying jobs. Its pretty hard to screw up an economy when you have that much going for you but our political class managed to do so, from the White House to Congress to the Federal Reserve.

Our conclusion yesterday is that the economy is in very bad shape, especially the employment situation. While the government announced an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate in December, we maintained that the drop was due to hundreds of thousands of frustrated Americans dropping out of the work force and not do to the brilliant economic policies coming out of Washington.

Don’t believe us? Consider some reputable news sources, along with President Obama’s own words, and what they are saying about the latest sad economic news, as gathered and published by the fabulous website, Bankrupting America:

Economic Stimulus Program Background

- In 2009, the White House promised that the $830 billion economic stimulus package and program would reduce 2009’s high unemployment levels to 5% by 2014. Well, it’s 2014 and the nation’s unemployment rate is nowhere near 5%, having set records for being above 7% since 2009 for a record number of months. This prediction of 5% was from Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, “The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act,” The White House, 1/10/09.

- Over the years, the President kept on insisting that the stimulus was working, which is either another set of lies and deceptions similar to Obama Care (e.g. “If you like your insurance you can keep your insurance.”) or pure, unadulterated economic ignorance”

• In 2009: President Obama said: “This Plan [the economic stimulus program] Will Save Or Create 3.5 Million Jobs.” “Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.” (President Obama, “Remarks of President Barack Obama To A Joint Session Of Congress,” 2/24/09). We now know that none of these “shovel ready” projects ever happened, with economic stimulus funding being spend on far more stupid and inane programs, many of which we have discussed in this blog in the past and which had nothing do to with long term economic vitality or job growth.
• In 2010 President Obama stated: ”After Two Years Of Recession, The Economy Is Growing Again.” “The plan that has made all of this possible, from the tax cuts to the jobs, is the Recovery Act. That’s right -– the Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus bill. … And after two years of recession, the economy is growing again. Retirement funds have started to gain back some of their value. Businesses are beginning to invest again, and slowly some are starting to hire again.” (President Obama, “2010 State Of The Union Address,” 1/27/10). He neglected to say how painfully slowly businesses were hiring again, a hiring rate that had hardly any impact on the unemployment rate in the country. He also failed to mention that economic growth during his administration after the last recession was the lowest post recession growth performance in the past century.
• In 2011 President Obama stated: “The Stock Market Has Come Roaring Back. Corporate Profits Are Up. The Economy Is Growing Again.” “We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again. But we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone. We measure progress by the success of our people. By the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer.” (President Obama, “Remarks By The President In The State Of The Union Address,” 1/25/11). Over 20 million Americans are either unemployed or under employed so that yardstick of “the quality of life those jobs offer” is coming up a little short of the Presidential rhetoric. Over 20 million Americans have not been successful in finding the right, quality job or position of employment. Almost 50 million Americans still need Federal food assistance so the only progress he brag about is how quickly he rose the nation’s dependence on government food assistance.
• In 2012 President Obama stated: “We’ve Come To Far To Turn Back Now.” ”In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. … The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we’ve come too far to turn back now. As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum.” (President Obama, “Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address,” 1/24/12). While he claims 3 million jobs were created, a large percentage of them were temporary or part time jobs. While 3 million sounds impressive, it is quite low relative to every other post recession economic activity. 

Let’s now move from the President’s historical remarks and how far off his economic predictions and salvations were and examine what some reputable news sources are saying about our unemployment and economic plight:

2013 Year In Review: Weak Job Growth And Labor Force Participation Rate at 35 Year Low

- CNN Money: “2013 ends with weakest job growth in years” Annalyn Kurtz, CNN Money, 1/10/14

- MarketWatch: “U.S. economy adds just 74,000 jobs in December” Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch, 1/10/14)

- MarketWatch: Smallest Jobs Increase Since Start of 2011. “The U.S. added just 74,000 jobs in December to mark the smallest increase since the start of 2011, suggesting that the nation entered 2014 with less momentum than a raft of other economic indicators had signaled.” Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch, 1/10/14.

- Market Watch: “Participation rate in labor force matches 35-year low” Market Watch, 1/10/14/

- MarketWatch: Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1978. “The participation rate in the labor force declined one-fifth of a percentage point to 62.8% in December, matching October’s level, which was the lowest since 1978."  Market Watch, 1/10/14.

- National Review: “A Big Miss: 74,000 Jobs Created, Labor Force Shrinks Again” Patrick Brennan, National Review, 1/10/14.

- National Review: Unemployment Rate Fell Mainly Because More People Dropped Out Of Work Force. “The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 6.7% from 7.0% – the lowest level since October 2008 – but the decline appeared to occur mainly because more people dropped out of the labor force.” Patrick Brennan National Review, 1/10/14.

And The CBO Warns That Debt Will Remain Historically High:

- Congressional Budget Office: Federal Debt Held By The Public On The Rise In The Long Term: “By 2023, CBO projects, the budget deficit would grow to 3.3 percent of GDP under current law, and federal debt held by the public would rise to 71 percent of GDP and would be on an upward trajectory…” Congressional Budget Office, “Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023,” November 2013.

- Congressional Budget Office: High Deficits Will Cause Federal Debt Held By The Public To Be Far Higher Than Average. “With such deficits, federal debt held by the public is projected to remain above 70 percent of GDP—far higher than the 39 percent average seen over the past four decades.” Congressional Budget Office, “Updated Budget Projections: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023”, May 2013.

- Congressional Budget Office: Such High Debt “Would Have Significant Negative Consequences For Both The Economy And The Federal Budget” “In fact, such high and rising amounts of federal debt would have significant negative consequences for both the economy and the federal budget. Those consequences include reducing the total amounts of national saving and income relative to what they would otherwise be; increasing the government’s interest payments, thereby putting more pressure on the rest of the budget; limiting lawmakers’ flexibility to respond to unexpected events; and increasing the likelihood of a fiscal crisis.” (Congressional Budget Office, “Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023,” November 2013)

So what is the White House and Washington concerned with in 2014? Are they focused on making it easier for businesses to create jobs? 

Are they focused on reducing the extreme regulatory burdens this administration has placed on the economy since 2009, a burden that is mostly done only to justify bureuacrats’ jobs in Washington? 

Are they focused on job training so that the almost 50 million people on food stamps can find a way off of government dependence? 

Are they focused on fixing our public schools so that American kids can better compete in this increasingly high tech world economy? 

Are they focused in on cutting wasteful spending and starting to get the national debt down, as strongly recommended by the Congressinal Budget Office?

Unfortunately, they are focused on none of these critical needs. Instead, they are focused on a new political talking point called “income inequality.” If you look beyond the public relations catch phrase, ”income inequality,” all you find is the desire to raise the minimum wage:

White House Turns Focus To Income Inequality in 2014

The Washington Post Wonk Blog: “Obama wants to make inequality the defining issue of 2014” Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas, “Obama wants to make inequality the defining issue of 2014,” The Washington Post Wonk Blog, 1/16/14.

Politico: Income Inequality Campaign To Intensify Later In 2014. “The inequality campaign will intensify later in the year with a push in the Senate to raise the federal minimum wage that will be synced with President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, which is expected to dig heavily into the issue of economic disparity.” Burgess Everett, “Dems seize on income inequality for 2014,” POLITICO, 1/5/14.

“Income inequality” is another name for “we have no basic understanding of economics.” In a sour economy such as ours, where businesses are struggling with inflation and Obama Care taxes and regulations and ever increasing other government regulations, there is not a lot of growth potential. Without growth potential, business expense budgets are pretty tight. Tight budgets mean no increases and if the Federal government forces some businesses to pay more money to employees, many employers will just have to go to fewer employees. The math of the whole wage thing is pretty simple.

Higher salaries for fewer employees usually means higher unemployment, more on food assistance, etc. That is what happens when you let politicians play with economics. It is like giving a drunk teenager the keys to the family car, you know it will not end well.