On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class 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. 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)Unfortunately, far too often we have had to discuss the reality that is the failure of Chicago politicians: the very, very basic government function of protecting the lives and property of the citizens of Chicago. It seems every weekend in the city that dozens and dozens of people are shot, many die from their wounds, and the local politicians have no idea how to stem the violence despite stringent gun control laws.
The latest crime numbers bear out this reality:
Since the new mayor took office in May, crime increased 38% within a month.
Year to date, robberies are up 17%.
Over the past three years, crime is up 30%.
In a recent weekend we reported that 23 citizens had been shot and three had died, in a single weekend, not a single week, not a single month.
And in an insane reaction to the crime and these numbers, city Alderwoman, Maria Hadden, came up with this brilliant idea: in a recent email newsletter she proposed that gang members not shoot anyone between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm. Seriously, are you kidding me? This is the best that the city political class can come up with? So sad.
2) The law enforcement and crime situation is not much better out in Los Angeles:
Remember that Los Angeles politicians were big adiovates of slashing police budgets and capabilities and bad mouthing law enforcement officers any chance that had.
As a result, the current size of the LA police department is less than 9,000 officers.
This is the smallest the force has been since the 1990s, about 30 years ago.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League attributes this decline in size to a number of factors including anti-police sentiment, according to their spokesperson, Tom Saggau: "They're leaving to either go work in a different agency or just to leave the profession completely ... Los Angeles costs a lot to afford a home, pay rent, commute times; but also, some of the anti-police rhetoric wears on you. We have a difficulty because we're pulling officers from specialized gang assignments and high-crime areas and drug operations because you've got to fill patrol to be able to respond to those 911 calls, so this lack of officers has a trickle-down effect, and it's a city-wide impact."
The city wants a force of 9,500 law enforcement officers and thus, is at least 500 officers short of what is needed.
Given that there are currently only 29 recruits going through police training, the situation is not likely to improve anytime soon.
Just another example of how stupid and ill thought out the concept of “defund the police” was. Fewer officers means higher crime, not a hard concept.
3)Biden has failed the country is so many ways: horrid and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan, decades high inflation, a non-existent foreign policy which has emboldened our enemies and endangered our citizens, soaring Federal government deficits, no plan to fix any of the major broken government programs, e.g. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, sending over $100 billion of taxpayer wealth into the money pit that is the Ukraine/Russia war, etc.
But quite possibly his worst failure concerns the reality that he has opened up our southern border to millions of unvetted, unvaccinated, and unknown illegal immigrants. And a very serious side effect of his failed border policy, an effect that will likely result in the incremental deaths of American citizens, is the tsunami flood of illegal drugs that Mexican and other drug cartels are funneling across the border.
The numbers are terrifying:
Federal officials recently announced that in April, 2023, they had the highest level of fentanyl seizures EVER.
So far in 2023 they have seized more fentanyl than they seized in all of last year.
This year they have already intercepted 17,400 pounds of fentanyl vs.14,700 pounds in all of 2021 and 4,900 in 2020.
Thus, the amount of fentanyl has increased over three fold in just two years.
That 17,400 pounds is about 8.7 TONS.
In 2013, the government seized 2 pounds of fentanyl.
According to the CDC, overdose death attributed to fentanyl increased by 24% in 2021, the first year of Biden’s Presidency and will probably go much higher as additional years’ results are totalled.
Over 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021 (the last year data is available) and two thirds of those deaths were from fentanyl.
But it is not just fentanyl that is flowing over the border because of Biden’s horrific border policies since Mexican law enforcement authorities recently intercepted over 39 tons of cocaine in Baja, Mexico that was obviously headed for our country.
Keep in mind this reality: the 17,400 pounds of fentanyl that has been intercepted at the border, the 39 tons of cocaine that were intercepted in Mexico headed for our country is only what authorities have found. No one knows how many more tons of fentanyl and cocaine made it into the country without being found and is now being ingested by drug addicts across the country, many of which will not survive their addiction thanks to cheap and plentiful illegal drugs resulting from Biden’s failed border policies.
4)Recent polls show how much Americans are not happy with Biden’s performance when it comes to economic policy:
Over one third of those polled, 35%, say they are falling behind financially in Biden’s inflationary economy.
Only 13% say they are “getting ahead.”
Only 29% of those polled say the economy is in “good shape.”
In another poll conducted by IPSOS, 1 in 5 Americans do not believe they will ever be able to retire because they cannot afford to retire.
Fully 1 in 3 of those polled who are over 65 do not believe they will ever be able to retire because of economic conditions.
Amazingly bad economic numbers: high inflation leads to Americans falling behind economically today with many Americans believing that retirement is out of reach for them and they will not be able to retire in their golden years because of today’s economic problems. Not quite the American dream.
The failure of the American political class continues: soaring crime, declining police forces, soaring drug importation, and declining quality of life, the numbers don't lie.
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:
