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
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