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, there are a lot of suffering Americans in the country today:
At any one time there are anywhere from 500,000 to 600,000 homeless Americans roaming the streets of the country.
In this time of high inflation, there are millions of American families struggling to feed their families.
The death rate from drug addiction is skyrocketing in this country as Biden has opened the southern border and allowed a flood of cheap fentanyl to come into the country.
And yet despite the suffering, and deaths, of millions of Americans, where has Waashington decided to send billions of tax dollars? To Africa to combat climate change:
The Biden administration is sending $8 billion to Africa to encourage those countries to shut down their coal burning plants.
Even if you think that man-made climate change is a real thing, wouldn't it be a kinder, more humane use of $8 billion to shelter, feed, and provide drug addiction treatment for Americans in need today instead of wasting money on a problem that may or may not exist decades in the future?
That $8 billion could provide about 2.7 billion meals to hungry Amerians, or about 4500 meals for the current homeless population in the country, or three meals a day for that population for about four years, certainly a better, more humane, and more immediate benefit than sending $8 billion overseas chasing climate change.
Oh, by the way, that $8 billion pales when you consider that the Biden administration has already sent $68 billion to Ukraine in their battle against the invading Russians. That $68 billion could feed, shelter, and treat a lot of suffering Americans.
2)We have talked about how the inane “defunding the police” effort has resulted in skyrocketing crime and violence in major U.S. cities such as NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and elsewhere. But it is not just big cities where this stupidity has resulted in increased crime:
Burlington is the biggest city in Vermont even though it only has about 44,000 residents, a fraction of the population of other big cities.
Over the past few years, the politicians in the city decided, incorrectly, that defunding their police force was a good idea.
Now, the crime rate in the city is at its highest rate in about 60 years.
And within that escalating crime wave is a rising rate of murders.
The crime statistics include five murders and 18 other non-fatal shootings, which is a lot for a city with only 44,000 residents.
In 2020, the city’s politicians cut the funding for the city’s police force by about 30%, going from 105 police officers to 74.
The funding taken away from law enforcement went into so-called “racial justice” programs.
Obviously, those programs are not working if the crime rate has reached a 60 year high.
But this should not be a surprise since the police force warned that such a drastic cut would result in increased crime but the city politicians did not listen and the residents of the city are paying the price.
We have often pointed out that a basic, fundamental function of any government entity is to protect the lives and property of the citizens it is responsible for. Obviously, the politicians in Burlington are falling down on executing that basic government function.
3)The STOCK Act, passed by Congress a number of years ago was supposed to punish Congressional members and their staff members who indulge in insider trading. Obviously, people in Washington get access to all sorts of secret, undisclosed information that is invaluable from a personal investing perspective.
The STOCK was supposed to stop such insider trading, actions that get ordinary, and famous people like Martha Stewart, thrown in jail. But after the act was passed, with much fanfare, Congress eventually gutted the consequences of such actions. This allowed Washington insiders to commence insider trading activities with very little financial penalty, or jail time, if they got caught. In other words, the upside financial gain by insiders far outweighed the consequences if they got caught.
As an example:
A recent analysis by the Insider news publication found that at least 77 members of Congress failed to report their financial trades and transactions as required by the STOCK Act.
This is about 15% of the sitting members of Congress and does not include those additional members that did not get caught.
Excuses by Washington politicians for not complying with the law would make a fourth grader proud including clerical errors, accounting mistakes, and some even claiming they were not aware of the law.
Obviously, if the IRS was investigating us for insider trading, none of those excuses would keep us out of jail.
These 77 members of Congress could face fines totaling hundreds of dollars while their insider trading may have gotten many times more than this puny fine process.
After ten years, not a single member of Congress has faced any serious ramifications from their obviously illegal stock and insider trading deeds.
One of the very few things that American politicians do well is that old saying: “Do as I say, not as I do.” And that trait has made many, many members of Congress, very, very rich.
That will do it for today: the hypocrisy of Washington insider trading, sending billions of our tax dollars overseas while millions of Americans suffer, and another example why defunding the police was a stupid idea from day one.
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:
