Politicians Say The Darndest Things....And Usually They Are Wrong and Ignorant

In some past posts I have made references to an old television show from the fifties which was called "Art Linkletter's House Party." A favorite segment on every episode of the show was called "Kids Say The Darndest Things." Mr. Linkletter would ask questions of some children, usually aged between three and eight, and some of their responses were hilarious. This segment was spun off later into a show unto itself and was hosted by Bill Cosby.


This recollection reminds me of our present day politicians and how they also say the darndest things. Unfortunately, they are not as cute, cuddly, or funny as the kids that Linkletter and Cosby elicited answers from. In fact, they are down right depressing to think that these people are actually in control of the country and our lives and there is nothing funny about what they sometimes say:

1)Ihan Omar is a U.S. Congresswoman from Minnesota. She is an  immigrant from  Somalia who has experienced the American dream: a poor immigrant who becomes a member of Congress, earning well over $170,000 every year. Given her wonderful American experience, you would expect and hope that she would appreciate her success story and protect the interests of American citizens. 

But that hope would not be a good one, given her recent comments: 

• During a recent speech, she claimed that she and others are, “Somalians first, Muslims second.” There was no mention of where Americans were on her list of priorities.

• In that same speech she proclaimed that her “No. 1 Job” is to look out for Somalia and that one day, Somalia will go after other countries to “unify all Somalia-speaking people.”

So she was elected to represent American citizens in her Minnesota Congressional district but Americnas do not make her top two priorities. Her district probably is facing a number of problems including crime, homelessness, drug addiction, and other scourges negatively affecting her  constituents but her  No.1 job and priority is to unify people from her homeland that live halfway around the world from her Congressional district. Disgusting priorities.

2)Recently, a Twitter user posted a tweet that listed out the states that had the highest gun ownership rates. Turns out these ten states are dominated by Republican and conservative politicians whose policies are probably in line with most Texan politicians. 

Rather than respect the opinions and views of those Americans  living in those ten  states, Texas Democrat state representative Gene Wu responded to the tweet with a picture of an American Air Force bomber dropping bombs. His obvious but silent comment is that Americans that have a different view than him need to be bombed into oblivion for simply exercising their Constitutional rights. 

This is an elected official in America that would like to see those with a different view to die, a disgustingly violent attitude. How can anyone in this country, never mind an elected official, call for the violent death of other innocent Americans?

3)It is not just politicians that say stupid things, those on politicians' staffs also do a good job saying stupid stuff.  In late September, Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said: “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”

These words were found to be really ignorant about a week later when Hamas launched a brutal and inhumane attack on Israeli citizens, killing about 1,200 Israeli civilians in a very short amount of time. It is amazing how far off reality a Presidential administration can  be.

And just recently, Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had this quote: “I think it’s very important to note that this is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East. I would argue that we’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.”

So in only three  months or so, the Biden administration went from “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades” to “We’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973.” This immense miscalculation of reality certainly does not give one a sense that Biden and his staff have a clue of what is really going on.

4)But confusion in the Biden regime is not just around the Middle East:

• Keep  in mind that overall inflation is up about 17% since Biden became President three short years ago and some costs, e.g. food and gas, are up more than this average jump up  in prices.

• And yet Biden recently had his economic ignorance shine through with this  statement: “Inflation is coming down, it’s now lower in America than any other major economy in the world. The cost of eggs, milk, chicken, gas, and so many other essential items have  come down.”

• His ignorance is that while the rate of inflation has come down, inflation itself is still rising every month, just not as quickly as earlier in his term.

• And yes, the prices of some things may have come down recently, but not as far as down to where they were three years ago and as we just said, prices on many daily products are still going up, just not as quickly.

• Biden has confused a lowering of the inflation rate with the lowering of prices, a simple economic principle that he still cannot grasp.

• But a member  of his administration, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, correctly contradicted Biden’s ignorance with this comment: “I think  most Americans know that prices are not  likely to fall.”

Yellen gets simple economics: prices have risen under Biden and are not likely to fall.  This is a direct rebuttal to  Biden’s quote and economic understanding that the prices of “so many essential items have come down.” No, they have not come down, they are just not rising as quickly. 

Thus, it is no surprise that Biden’s staff cannot understand reality today, i.e. Sullivan’s view of the Middle East vs. Blinken’s view of the Middle  East, since Biden  himself says ignorant things, in direct opposition to what his Secretary of the Treasury is correctly saying, when it comes to the dire economic situation his policies have created for everyday Americans. 

Yes, politicians and their associates do say the darndest things: whether it is caring more about non-Americans than Americans, having no problem threatening Americans with violent death for simply having a different opinion, or completely misreading the reality of the world, be it Middle East violence of economic hardships. 

Unfortunately when they say these darndest things it makes us realize that they are clueless when it comes to resolving the problems facing the country today.

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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:

https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom

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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:

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http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

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

 

December, 2023, Part 3, Political Class Insanity: A Sure To Fail Anti-fentanyl Plan, NYC's Doomed Congestion Tax, Inflation Still Hurts, and More

   Every month we devote posts to just general political class insanity that is running rampant through the country. The members of the American political class continue to show that they are incapable of operating any level of government in this country. 

Even their best efforts are almost always inefficient and ineffective at resolving any problem facing Americans. They spend a great amount of time not trying to improve the lives of their citizens but continually ensuring their reelection and enriching themselves, their families, and their friends in the process, all at taxpayer expense.

1)We often discussed the drug addiction plague in this country, a plague that kills well over 100,000 Americans every year, We have  also often discussed the reality that this annual fatality rate is likely going to skyrocket as a result of Biden’s porous border policies that has allowed tons and tons of illegal  drugs, especially fentanyl, to flood into this country.

But rather than take the first, immediate step to save lives, and secure the border, the Biden administration has ignored this simple, immediate fix for a nebulous, longer term, likely to fail other route:

• The Department of Treasury has created a task force to combat the fentanyl epidemic.

• A first move of the task force is to send Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Mexico, the source of the majority of illegal  drugs entering the country.

• Theoretically, the Treasury task force will work with law enforcement and governments around the world to try and cut off the funding and financial backing of those that create and then ship the illegal drugs to the U.S.

• While in Mexico, Yellen is scheduled to meet with Mexican government officials and people in the private sector about this problem.

While this may have a long term benefit to disrupting the flow of illegal drugs into the country, I doubt it will have any kind of substantial impact for a number of reasons:

• Mexico cannot control the Mexican drug cartels now, what makes anyone think that Yellen’s visit and a “task force” is going to change that well entrenched corruption in Mexico?

• The Mexican government system is a dumpster fire with corruption as a result of the drug cartels and kickbacks, what makes one think that those in power in Mexico are going to clean up their corruption act for Yellen?

• Throughout all of history, if there is a demand for drugs, someone,  somehow will fill that demand, the long term need is to eliminate the demand, not go over financial records.

The need to help stem the overdose epidemic is to act now and fix the border disaster that Biden has created. That would make the importation of illegal drugs more expensive and dangerous for the cartels and more expensive for users, which is a good thing to do to reduce usage.

2)A while ago we discussed the fallacy of continuing to raise taxes in the hope of getting more government tax revenue:

• The Wall Street reported a number of years ago that the state government of Maryland raised the income tax rate for millionaires in the state.

• The higher tax rate would kick in on every dollar over a million dollars a state resident had in income.

• Seemed like a good idea: raise taxes on the rich to feed the ever rising cost of government, what could go wrong?

• However, within a very short time frame it turned out that the state government was getting less tax revenue from state millionaires than before the tax rate hike.

• The reason for lower tax revenue despite higher tax rates, is that millionaires simply moved out of the state, taking their millions of dollars in taxable income with them.

Raise taxes high enough and people will intensify ways to avoid paying higher taxes even if it means moving to a new state. And I  think New York City is going to learn this lesson on a new tax they're going to  implement:

• Businesses and residents are already fleeing New York city because of high rates, high crime rates, and lowering the quality of life.

• And now the state is proposing that a tax be  levied on every car that dares to drive into the city from other states, mainly New Jersey.

• It is called a “congestion tax” and is meant to discourage people from driving their cars into the city.

• And it will  not be cheap: it will  cost $15 a day to drive into the city, $75 over a five day work \week.

• The tax on trucks will be higher, $24 to $36 a day, and do not think you can get in for free on a motorcycle, that will cost $7.50

• Taxis and ride share services will  also get hit.

• But the $15 is only good for car owners who purchase an E-Z Pass subscription, without E-Z Pass the cost goes up 50% to $22.50

• The fee could go up 25% on so-called Gridlock Alert Days.

This has Maryland’s millionaire tax disaster written all over it. At some point, workers and businesses are going to say enough is enough. Workers will insist they be able to work at home more often to escape the congestion tax. This will reduce visits to the city and hurt restaurants, stores, and other businesses that depend on commuters. Visitors at some point take fewer trips for entertainment into the city since it costs so much, in addition to the existing tolls, to get into the city, further hurting business.

Fewer workers, fewer entertainment visitors all equal a shrinking tax base and less tax revenue, rather than more. Rather than become more efficient in the services that government provides, NYC politicians are going the typical route of failed leadership: more taxation, a strategy that rarely gets the additional tax revenue that is expected. And in the case of Maryland, raising tax rates actually REDUCED tax revenue.

3)We have recently discussed at length the failure of Biden’s economic policies and how the cost of just about everything has gone up significantly under his watch. This has put incredible financial strain on millions of American households, be it increases in food, gas, or utility prices.

And as an update, the latest inflation numbers are still out of control: inflation for the month of November was up 3.2% over the same period last year, or about 60% higher than the Federal Reserve would like it to be.

And Americans are worried. According to a recent Fox News poll, only 29% of Americans believe the worst of the economic downturn is over. 67% do not see any signs of economic recovery.

4)Dan Goldman is a New York Congressman. Consider a few realities of his life:

• He is an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.

• It is estimated that he is worth $253,000,000.

• And yet he is being sued by the landlords of his New York City home, claiming that the Congressman  owes them $360,00 to cover the remaining months on the lease.

• The Congressman pays $45,000 a month in rent. 

• $45,000 a month gets one a 3,818 square foot, five bedroom apartment in the city.

• The Congressman denies he is in arrears on the rent.

The first question to ask is that if he behind in  his rent payments, is this another case of politician ignorance of “do as I say, not as I do,” i.e. I am an elite person and regular rules do not apply to me.

The more subtle and important question is why are the American taxpayers paying him about $200,000 a year in salary and benefits when he is worth $253 million? Step number 41 in our book , “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” proposed that anyone serving in Congress who has a net worth of over $3 million would not receive a salary while serving in Congress. 

The country is $33 trillion in debt, it would be a really great symbolic gesture if the ultra rich members of Congress would forgo their salaries for the sake of fiscal responsibility. They should be  serving their country, not getting a salary and perks that they could certainly live without. Very few Americans never live in a 3,818 soiree foot house. Very few Americans are not worth $253 million. Just another example of the greed of today’s American politicians.

Enough insanity for today: ultra rich Congressman is not rich enough, inflation is still pressuring non-members of Congress, New York City’s tax fallacy, and a  sure to fail anti-fentanyl government boondoggle.

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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:

https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom

**********************

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

 

August, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 4: Biden Jets Off For A $2 Million Soccer Game, Gallup Says No Confidence But Lots Of Corruption, and More

This is our fourth and not likely last update to our monthly series on political class insanity. Our current set of politicians continue to amaze us with their greed, inability to operate an efficient and effective government, their economic ignorance, their lack of problem solving ability, wasteful spending and generally uselessness. They are so bad at so many things it makes you wonder how we continually trust them and continually reelect them, something, somewhere in our election processes has to be broken.

Don’t believe me? Let’s see what you think after reading today’s dose of insanity:

1) Economic ignorance is a specialty of this current set of politicians. They spent over $800 billion on a so-called economic stimulus package a few years ago. They gave trillions of taxpayer dollars to banks and car companies in an effort to stimulate the economy and create a healthy job creation process. 

What did we get for these trillions and trillions of dollars? Consider the following graph:

Corporations got rich off of our tax dollars. Those with large stock holdings got rich off of our tax dollars. The tens of millions of Americans who are currently under employed or unemployed? 

Hardly anything, if you consider the fact from this graph that the percentage of employed adults in the country is at the lowest levels in at least thirty years, despite the trillions of dollar spent. Pathetic economic performance, all focused on the most likely contributors to politicians’ elections campaigns, wealthy Americans and corporations.

2) Things are economically rough for many, many Americans. Unemployment in general and long term unemployment remain stubbornly high. More and more jobs are devolving to part time work as a result of Obama care and other government missteps.

But at least one American is recently had a good time at taxpayer expense despite general taxpayer suffering. Vice President Joe Biden recently jetted down to Brazil for two days to watch some World Cup soccer games. Biden, whom Obama appointed to head the Campaign to Cut Waste to root out wasteful government spending last summer racked up a taxpayer tab of $2,245,343, spread over all four hotels. For his one night stand. Over $2 million for the VP to watch a soccer game or two. Insulting to all of those that are paying a heavy tax burden or who cannot find a decent job.

But this should not come as an unexpected expense relative to how freely Biden spends taxpayer money in other ways, according to a recent article in the Independent Journal Review:

• Every weekend Biden gets a lift from D.C. to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, via Air Force Two, the V.P.’s airplane, and Marine Two, the V.P.’s helicopter. 
• And he often gets a mid-weekend lift back to the Andrews Air Force Base for a round of golf with the President.
• Estimating $22,000 an hour cost for the airtime, that works out to about $1 million per year in Biden’s commuting costs between D.C. and Wilmington. 
• That cost excludes the cost of the 20 condominiums that the Secret Service rents in Wilmington nor the cost of Air Force Two sitting and waiting for him while he plays 18 holes of golf.

So out of touch with those that support his golf and travel habits.

3) Given that it is pretty obvious that most, if not all, Washington politicians have no idea how an economy works or how to put forth sound economic policies to make that economy grow, one would have hoped that those over at the Federal Reserve Board would have a good grasp on what makes an economy tick and how to keep it tuned and humming.

You would hope but you would be wrong. In recent Congressional testimony, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen testified that she was not isn't sure what's gone wrong with the U.S. housing comeback: "I have to say that I'm somewhat surprised. Frankly, it continues to be sluggish. And I can't give you a precise reason why that's occurred." 

To prove her point, the day after her testimony, Federal agencies reported that the number of new houses under construction came in well below expectations in June, at 893,000 rather than the expected million-plus, level that would have represented gradual improvement in the housing market.

So, the Obama administration has no clue on how the economy works or falters, Congress has no clue on how the economy works or falters, and at least for a major, major piece of the economy, housing, the head of the most powerful central bank in the history of mankind has no idea how that market is functioning. What did rock musician Steve Miller once sing: "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…” Sounds about right for the abysmal level of economic sense in all facets of Washington, D.C.

4) But the Washington political class is not just bad on economics, if you believe some recent Gallup polling regarding corruption and dishonesty in the Washington political class:

An amazing chart:

• Almost four out of five Americans believe corruption is widespread throughout the government in the U.S.
• This level of perceived corruption is up 13 points or almost 20% (from 66% to 70%) since Obama came into office.
• It is up 20 points or about 34% in just seven years.
• Given the high perception of corruption, I have to think that across the political spectrum, Republicans to Democrats to Independents, the majority of Americans within those sub groups agree that government and the politicians who operate it are corrupt.

These results are bad enough but not only do we think that the political class is operating a corrupt government, we have very little confidence in their effectiveness to govern, according another recent Gallup poll:

This lack of confidence has cratered since Obama came into office but has been on a general downward trend since the early 1970s. Corrupt and ineffective, a lethal combination.

That will do it for today. Let’s review:

1. Despite spending trillions of dollars, the Washington political class has been unable to put forth a coherent and effective economic strategy to grow jobs for the millions of Americans looking for jobs.
2. At least Joe Biden is having a good time in these harsh economic times by jetting down to Brazil to watch some soccer games at a cost of over $2 million of taxpayer wealth.
3. Even the high powered and expensive bankers at the Federal reserve seem to have no clue on what is happening in a major economic segment in this country.
4. As a result of all the Keystone Kop antics of Washington, we are left with the perception that our politicians are both corrupt and ineffective.

More insanity, waste, and other political class shenanigans 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

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Please visit the following sites for freedom:

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