January, 2022, Part 1, Political Class Insanity: People Flee Liberal Blue States To Find Freedom Elsewhere

 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) We have always asserted that a very, very basic desire of humanity is to be free: free from government overreach, free from excessive government taxation, free from government oppression, etc. And in order to keep as much of their freedom as possible, people, families, and businesses will take whatever action they need to be free.

 

One of the most oppressive states in the country is California. Their dictatorial politicians have caused the residents of California to be among the highest taxed entities in the country, have subjected residents and businesses to rampaging crime sprees, and have caused the cost of living, be it gas, utility bills, food, etc. to be among the highest in the country. As a result, the freedom thesis has taken affect big time in the state:

 

• The number of residents leaving the state are 12% higher than at the end of March, 2020.

• At the same time, the number of people moving into the state is 38% lower than at the start of the pandemic.

• Thus, the negative gap between people leaving the state vs. those moving in has continued to get wider and wider.

• The worsening gap is most prevalent in the San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.

• The San Francisco and LA areas both lost population in the same year for the first time ever, that is how bad the out migration has become.

 

People want to be free, free from high taxes, free from crime, from high cost of living, and free from the political class that continues to suppress freedom in everyone’s life. California is now a perfect example of that thesis.

 

2) At one time, the FBI was viewed as the paragon of integrity, professionalism, and honesty. However, over the years that reputation has taken some serious hits. Spying on Americans without warrants, lying to courts to frame Trump in the fake Russian collusion lie, etc. have caused Americans to view the FBI far less favorably than historically.

 

And that reputation is about to take another hit:

• The Justice Department recently released information regarding an FBI investigation that was carried out.

• The investigation found that four FBI officials had engaged in commercial sex with prostitutes while overseas.

• A fifth FBI employee had attempted to do the same thing but I guess was not competent enough to even pick up a hooker.

• Their behavior is in direct violation of Justice Department and FBI policies.

• They also got cited for not reporting the behaviors of their fellow FBI employees as required by policy.

• One of the FBI officials were also caught lying to the Office of The Inspector General by denying he had engaged in dealing with a prostitute.

• The Inspector General investigation found that: "The OIG investigation further found that five officials failed to report contact or relationships with foreign nationals, including foreign nationals from whom they procured commercial sex, in violation of FBI policies." 

• A sixth FBI official committed misconduct by "failing to report suspected violations" through appropriate channels.

• Two of the caught officials retired, two resigned, and one was removed from his job as the investigation is still ongoing.

So much for a good use of our tax dollars, providing the opportunity for FBI officials to engage in sex with prostitutes. Of course, such behavior could have led, and may have led, to compromising those officials and subjecting them to blackmail. Your government at work. So sad that one of the few government entities that was possibly once efficient and effective has fallen so far.

 

3) But it's not just residents who are fed up with the mismanagement of the state by the California political class:

 

• Over a relatively recent period of time, Toyota, Charles Schwab, Tesla, the Daily Wire, and many other California businesses have moved major parts of their businesses out of state.

• Rich Californians including Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and Ben Shapiro have moved out of state in search of lower tax rates and more freedom.

• Tesla decided NOT to put its electric truck factory in California, deciding instead to move this major effort to low tax, high freedom Texas.

Over regulations, out of control, control freak politicians, and high taxes have made it more and more difficult to do business in the state, so much so that companies, large and small are actively moving out of the state to more favorable business climates in other states. And the exodus continues:

• Famous celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has decided to move his restaurant headquarters out of California and relocate to Dallas, Texas.

• He plans to soon open up to 18 restaurants in cities across the country so the state of California is losing another vibrant, growing business.

• Dozens of other restaurant openings are planned over the next five years.

Thus, not only does the California political class and government lose more and more corporate/business taxes, it also loses the income, sales, and gas taxes that the current and potential future employees of these now former California workers will not be paying. Thus, California continues to be a leading candidate in our competition to see what state goes bankrupt first, with California, Illinois and New York still the leading candidate to go broke first.

4) Looks like this post is turning into the freedom exodus post as we see families and businesses, fed up with high government regulations, high taxes, high costs of living, etc. move somewhere else where they can live a better life while spending less money doing so. And while we have focused on California, New York is also doing a pretty good job in driving tax paying residents and businesses out of the state because of the same reasons people are leaving California:

• According to the U.S Census Bureau, New York state lost more residents than any other state from 2020 to 2021.

• The Bureau estimates that 319,020 residents left the state, a whopping 1.6% in just one year left the state for better living opportunities.

• This continues a multi year trend where New York state fails to keep up with other states from a population perspective.

• This population loss trend has resulted in the state actually losing a seat in the House of Representatives.

People want to be free and that includes not being taxed to death and being hassled to death by too many laws, regulations, and government bureaucrats. And they will take whatever actions necessary to get as much freedom as possible, including uprooting their families and businesses for the chance of living a freer, more vibrant life. The numbers do not 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:

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

 

 

California - The First State To Go Bankrupt? Has Its Financial Death Spiral Begun? Part 2

We have often spoken about how California politicians have destroyed what was once the most desirable state to live in. As a result of their incompetence, the state is now plagued with high taxes, high crime rates, high utility costs, high crime rates, high homeless rates, low performing public schools, continual forest fires, high unfunded financial liabilities, etc. As a result, for the first time ever, residents and businesses are leaving the state for better quality of life and economic freedom.

The latest discussion on the failure of California politicians can be found at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2020/12/california-first-state-to-go-bankrupt.html

That post got a lot of interest so let’s continue that discussion today and dive deeper into what is going on in the state because of a failed political class:

1) An article on the US First Reporting website reported that the large out migration of residents could actually reduce the number of state representatives in the House of Representatives by one seat, an unprecedented occurrence for a state that has always been in a growth mode:

• Hans Johnson is a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California: “This is a real sea change in California, which used to be this state of pretty robust population growth. It hasn’t been for some time now. But it’s now gotten to the point where the state is essentially not growing population-wise at all.”
• The state has lost population three years in a row which has never happened before.
• Last year it had its third highest loss of residents ever.
• Consider the opinion of San Francisco real estate broker Scott Fuller: “I never wanted to leave California. It’s the most beautiful state with the best climate. I think the tipping point was continued tax increases and even more proposed tax increases. … I have absolutely no regrets.”
• Besides the ongoing issues listed above, e.g. high taxes, high crime, etc., the overlay of the pandemic and the state’s political class, e.g. Gavin Newsom, imposing draconian lockdown measures and penalties have also driven residents and companies out of the state.
• Frustration has gotten so bad about the pandemic restrictions that those residents staying behind have mounted a recall petition drive for the governor.

Thus, as the quality of life suffers, residents leave and take with them their jobs, their tax revenue and apparently maybe a seat in Congress.

2) Consider some observations from the Three Percent Nation website:

• The homeless problem has gotten so bad in California that phone apps now exist that show where the homeless folks in California are publicly going to the bathroom in order to help app users to stay away from those areas.
• We have previously shown how this aspect of the horrible California homeless problem has caused both environmental damage and has led to the revival of ancient diseases, e.g. typhus.
• Public defecation and urination has resulted in toxic runoffs into streams and the Pacific Ocean leading to water and fecal pollution.
• The EPA sent the California governor a letter alleging that “the state’s lack of urgency on homelessness threatens public health by polluting nearby water with untreated human waste. It then issued a notice to San Francisco accusing it of violating the federal Clean Water Act.”
• Some waterways have shown e coli contamination which can cause disease in humans.

So, in addition to high taxes, high crime, high homlessness, etc. we can now add water pollution and health crises to the problems that California politicians have caused.

3) Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame has not only moved his residence from California to Texas but also decided not to manufacture his electric trucks in California but in Texas. He laid out his reasons for moving in a recent interview:

• “We are a bit worried about not being able to resume production in the Bay Area, and that should be identified as a serious risk,” said Musk. “The expansion of shelter-in-place, or as we call it, forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights, is, in my opinion, breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong, and not why people came to America and built this country. What the f***!”
• “If somebody wants to stay in the house that’s great. They should be allowed to stay in the house and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do… this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their godd*mn freedom … Everything people have worked for all their lives is being destroyed in real time. I think the people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry.”

I am sure he is not alone when it comes to Californians leaving the state to find more freedom after what California politicians have done to their freedom, politically, personally and economically.

4) While California politicians have failed the state residents on broad major issues and topics, taxes, education, housing, etc., they have also failed on smaller, project-oriented efforts. Nowhere is that more obvious than with the their failed bullet train plans that was supposed to make traveling from northern California to southern California fast, efficient, and environmentally friendly:

• The bullet rain concept never really got off the ground and is now really a dead issue/project.
• Minimal infrastructure for the train was built and just the consulting fees alone far exceeded the budget for those fees, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in the process.
• The waste, and possible corruption, is so bad that employees of a consulting firm who worked on the project have been told to shut up or risk losing their jobs.
• This gag order has raised suspicions that the state government politicians and bureaucrats created a project that was over budget and had safety hazards built into the design.
• One of the employees is Mark Styles: “I was told to shut up and not say anything. I was told that I didn’t understand the political arena the project was in. I told them I am not going to shut up. This is my job.”
• Another former employee, Todd Bilstein, stated that he was told to not provide bad news: “If I was to give a talk at a construction conference, I would say they were not following generally accepted project management principles.
• President Trump summed up the failure in a tweet: “California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half-billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a ‘green’ disaster!” They have wasted taxpayer money. In essence, they owe the taxpayer billions of dollars.”
• The project started 10 years ago and was supposed to be finished and operational by 2022, which is not going to happen.

Usually, when government goes after whistleblowers there is some kind of nefarious and/or criminal behaviors under the surface that insiders do not want to see come to the surface. But just another failure of state politicians, who can screw up on a grand scale or a much smaller scale.

5) The following video clip is interesting in that it lays out the reality that for decades, the state of California has been run by and influenced by four powerful families: The Gettys, The Newsoms, The Pelosis, and the Browns. These families have members that have been California mayors, governors, and members of Congress. 

Given such an incestuous and long term set of relationships, relationships that have been very profitable for all parties involved, it should not be a big surprise that the state is in such bad condition. Eventually, power becomes absolute power and that corrupts absolutely and self enrichment becomes more important rather than the quality of life of the voters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC-T9wH_Uqw

6) As we just asserted, long time political power often results in financial gain for those in power. Consider the case of a member of one of the four families mentioned above, California governor Gavin Newsom, as reported by the Daily Wire website:

• According to a San Francisco television station, several companies, partially owned by California governor, Gavin Newsom, in total received almost three millions in COVID stimulus relief from the Federal Government.
• Keep in mind that Newsom and his family tree are rich beyond just about every American’s imagination.
• KGO News, “discovered discrepancies” that “appear to raise questions” about how much relief went to businesses under the umbrella of the PlumpJack Group, a hospitality management company founded by Newsom in 1992. Its properties include wineries, bars, restaurants, and a boutique hotel.”
• While Newsom placed his financial interests in a blind trust when he became governor, his sister is still the president of the company.
• One of the companies got $1 million in taxpayer money under the covid stimulus program under an arrangement to save jobs which simple math would show that the number of employees involved divided into the $1 million would come out to $160,000 per employee, far more than any of them were earning pre-covid.
• This was far more (7X) than the average company in California received for the same number of employees.
• Keep in mind that Nancy Pelosi was instrumental in writing that covid stimulus package and that she is Gavin Newsom’s aunt.

The rich get richer and the really small American businesses that really needed the money got shut out.

That will do it for today, more insanity from the most insane state: Out migration continues to happen, the “four families” that rule California (sounds like a Mafia movie idea), the California rich get richer, the failed high speed train boondoggle failure and a possible coverup of the failure, homelessness causes serious pollution in the state, and Elon Musk checks in on why he left the state.

While we think that California is a prime state to attain the title, “First American State To Go Bankrupt,” in the next few posts we will cover other states that may beat California to the steps of bankruptcy court.

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/s?k=loce+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&ref=nb_sb_noss

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

July, 2015, Part 2, By The Numbers: Subsidizing Billionaires, Alzheimer's Crushing Weight, and More

On a semi-regular basis we revisit the theme "by the numbers" just to check in on the state of the country and political class using actual realities and their underlying numbers, not the spin or lies from our politicians. You see, politicians usually have nothing to gain by looking at reality and the numbers since they are more than likely to have screwed up reality and our lives in the first place.

That is why they would rather lie and deceive than tell the truth. But that approach can be destroyed by looking at the hard numbers behind the mess they have created. I once worked for a boss whose favorite saying was: "There is nothing more devastating to an opinion than the right number.” And that is what we try to do with this theme, devastate politicians’ opinions by looking at the right numbers.

So let’s take a look at the numbers that have recently cropped up and again prove that the political class in America continues to be one of the worst set of people to ever hold office, given the state of the country, the many ways they screw up our wealth and government functions, and their inability or non-desire to step up and tell the truth.

1) Yesterday we discussed the reality that even though Obama and his supporters would like us to think that the economy is doing well, we showed with a series of real numbers how that is not the case. With first quarter GDP shrinking, 45 million Americans still needing food assistance every month, low or no wage growth, etc., the economic numbers and reality show a very weak, under performing economy.

And new numbers from the University of Michigan's famous index of consumer sentiment adds to that proof of a low performing economy. During the month of July the index value dropped from 96.1 in June to 93.3 in July. Experts had predicted that the index would be basically unchanged in July, surprising them also. The Greek financial crisis and the economic slide in China were most often cited by survey respondents as the reason for their growing pessimism. 

Just another nail in the theory that we have always subscribed to: Washington politicians have no idea how to manage a growing and vibrant economy.

2) We have often decried the reality that Washington politicians are very good at handing out taxpayer wealth to companies and individuals who do not deserve such wealth. Those individuals and companies should be using their own wealth or their stockholders' wealth to fiannce their operations and take the financial risk associated with their operations. 

Which makes the following story from the June 12, 2015 issue of The Week magazine, based on an article from the LA Times, most appropriate. Billionaire Elon Musk has three companies that he has put together: Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX. 

Together, the American taxpayer, courtesy of the Washington political class, has funded and underwrote those operations to the tune of $4.9 billion via grants, tax breaks, and environmental credits. Additionally, SpaceX has received $5.5 billion in government contracts from NASA and the Air Force. 

The obvious question is if these are such good ideas and Musk is so rich, why isn't he funding these operations out of his own checkbook and the checkbooks of his backers, why are the American taxpayers funding these business risks for him? Government and politicians should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in a free market, that is the job of the market and those that compete in that market. 

Those billions of dollars benefited virtually no one who helped fund them, the American taxpayer, and benefited only the insiders and favored few who were involved with those businesses.

3) Frequent readers of this blog know that we have shown dozens and dozens of time how Obama Care is the worst piece of legislation ever passed. It tries, and fails, to solve a public health issue with a lame, unwieldy and expensive insurance solution. Past proof of our assertion on this legislation can be viewed by entering the phrase, "unfolding disaster that is Obama Care" in the search box above.

More proof that Obama Care totally missed the mark was presented in an article on Alzheimer's disease in the May 29, 2015 issue of The Week magazine. The numbers from that article are truly frightening:

• 5.3 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease.
• Those 5.3 million sufferers consumer almost 18 billion hours a year in unpaid care from friends and family.
• However, with 76 million Baby Boomers entering their golden years, that affliction number is likely to go as high as 13.8 million in the coming decades.
• Treatment costs for those almost 14 million Alzheimer's patients could get as high as $1.1 TRILLION annually and consume over 30% of Medicare's annual budget.
• Such a wave of will swamp nursing homes and the country's ability to pay for and care for the millions more of Alzheimer's patients in the coming years.

While this trend has been gong forward in unabated, the Obama administration has been worried about how much a Bronze Plan in the Obama Care legislation would cost. In reality, the numbers do not lie since a Bronze Plan cost, and Obama Care in general, will be overwhelmed by the Alzheimer's numbers and become meaningless unless the challenge of Alzheimer's and other aging diseases is resolved.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has not addressed or set out a strategy for resolving this issue, costing the country five years in finding a remedy for the disease and the crushing financial numbers it will cause.

4) Let's get back to the economy for our final set of numbers. An article in the July 17, 2015 issue of The Week magazine reported on how Microsoft was laying off almost 8,000 workers which works out to about 6% of the entire workforce.  The company is also taking a $7.6 billion write down as a result of its acquisition of Nokia's smartphone business. Not a good economic indicator omen when a bell weather company like Microsoft is taking such dramatic actions.

So, today the numbers showed that Americans are having less and less confidence in the economy, the political class continues its crony capitalism ways related today to subsidizing billionaire Elon Musk, Alzheimer's disease makes Obama Care even more irrelevant in the long term, and Microsoft is feeling the pains of a weak economy. The numbers do not lie even if politicians do.

More numbers tomorrow and they are likley NOT to be good numbers since they involve the Amerian political class.

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.comIt 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:http://www.reason.com/http://www.cato.org/http://www.robertringer.com/

http://realpolichick.blogspot.com

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

February, 2013 Political Class Insanity, Part 2 - A Mayor Gets Indicted, Nazi Thinking In New Hampshire, A Crooked Judge In MIchigan, Alternative Energy Cronyism and More

Yesterday, we started our review of the latest monthly insanity from the American political class. We reviewed an opulent Federal bathroom for one government executive that cost taxpayers over $200,000, we reviewed how the Obama administration is likely the worst Presidential administration when it comes to meeting its legally mandated budget deadlines, how Congress keeps spending money even when a government entity (the Defense Department) actually says it does not need any more money, and more.

But as has been the case for the past six months or so, we could not confine the insanity to one post. More insanity prevails today:

1) Although the lawsuit has just been filed and no verdicts or trials have occurred, it would not be a surprise if this was a legitimate lawsuit with a good chance of succeeding, based on the crony politics we have discussed many times before relative to alternative energy and vehicle programs.

The details below come from a Bloomberg article from earlier in January, 2013:

• XP Vehicles and Limnia recently filed complaints against the U.S. and the Energy Department in Federal courts in Washington, contending that the Obama administration’s Energy Department took care of political friends of the administration when it came to handing out taxpayer money and loans for alternative energy projects.
• Specifically, they are seeking damages for alleged abuses of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program.
• The two companies are seeking $450 million in damages, specifically: “Defendants used the ATVM loan program as nothing more than a veil to steer hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to government cronies.”
• XP Vehicles, said it wanted a $40 million loan in 2009 to mass produce an SUV-style electronic vehicle with doors and other parts made from foam.
• XP Vehicles was led to understand that review of its application would take “a matter of weeks.” but XPV claims if found out that two of its competitors, Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, were getting special assistance from Energy Department staff with their loan application process.
• At that time, a member of Tesla’s board of director was Steven Westly, a campaign contribution bundler for Obama.
• The complaint also claims Fisker’s investors included Obama donors.
• Tesla got their taxpayer backed loan of $465 million loan in June 2009 with an interest rate of only 1.6%, according to the complaint.
• Fisker received their taxpayer backed $528.7 million loan but in May 2011 the Energy Department blocked Fisker from receiving the rest of the loan when the company didn’t meet its developmental milestones.
• The Energy Department did not comment specifically on these lawsuits, per their policy, but did state that all protocols and guidelines for being fair were followed in all cases.

Again, only accusations, nothing proven one way or the other. But it would not surprise me if this was the actual biased process used. It would be consistent with how the Washington political class functions, political friends and cronies taken care of first, taxpayer money and wealth wasted in the process

2) If there was a tyranny of the month award, I am pretty sure this New Hampshire state legislator would be in the running.

New Hampshire State Representative Democrat Cynthia Chase encouraged her fellow legislators to use their elected positions to make New Hampshire less welcoming to any conservative or libertarian planning on moving to her state, including those already there.

A potential reason for her paranoia is a project underway in New Hampshire. The project’s aim is to encourage that Americans of conservative tenets to move to New Hampshire, run for office, and work to drive the state toward libertarianism and conservatism. It is called the "Free State Project" and supporters are called "Free Staters." These Free Staters want to make the state motto, “Live Free or Die,” a reality. Seems reasonable, given the motto has been around for hundreds of years.

Writing a web post for a blog on December 21 post, Ms. Chase wrote that, "Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. In the opinion of this Democrat, Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal.

In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right. What we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave. One way is to pass measures that will restrict the 'freedoms' that they think they will find here. Another is to shine the bright light of publicity on who they are and why they are coming."

It is tough to imagine an elected American official wanting to restrict freedom of only those that disagree with her political positions or who wants to pass punitive measures, again for just a subset of citizens, that would make their life more miserable. Unbelievable.

The Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law and by government policies and officials. This fundamental principle is obviously lost on this politician.

I do not like to throw around comparisons to Nazi Germany, it is an insult that is rarely accurate and is often used more as a hate barb than an accurate description of the situation. However, if I change the words “Free Staters” above to “Jewish Citizens” and leave everything else the same, I think you will see how closely Ms. Chase’s words would line up with the Nazi manifesto in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Discrimination against only certain citizens and laws to make their lives miserable and “shine the light of publicity on who they are.” Think back to your history class and remember how Jewish citizens were forced to wear yellow Star Of David signs on themselves when out in public and you will better see my point. Again, unbelievable that our political dialog has come to using the power of the government to force others of a different political position to change their lives.

3) A January 18, 2013 Associated Press reviewed how that more than ten years ago, Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans on a promise to end corruption in a city infested by decades of it. On January 18, 2013 Nagin was indicted on charges he accepted bribe money, payoffs and other payments while the relatively poor city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The Federal investigation alleges that city contractors paid Nagin more than $200,000 in bribes and subsidized his trips to Hawaii, Jamaica and other places. In return, they were awarded Nagin’s help securing millions of contract dollars in work for the city.

The charges against Nagin are a result of a municipal corruption investigation that has already garnered guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen and a prison sentence for a former city vendor. Imagine, an American politician using his office for personal enrichment and greed. Who would have thought? This is especially distressing, given how difficult the recovery has been from Katrina and the personal, emotional, and financial suffering that came with it.

4) The Salt Lake Tribune had a very interesting article on January 11, 2013. Before reviewing it, be clear that the following information is just an accusation at this point in time but the FBI and Federal Trade Commission are deeply involved in the investigation of everything going on around the accusations of illegally buying political influence.

Specifically, accusations of political kickbacks related to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are just that, unproven accusations. But the following highlights from the article are certainly interesting and could result in a Nagin-like situation for state and Federal politicians:

• A Utah businessman, Jeremy Johnson, claims that recently elected Utah Attorney General John Swallow helped arrange a deal in 2010 in which Johnson thought he was to pay Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid $600,000 to make a Federal investigation into Johnson’s company go away.
• Johnson said Swallow at first wanted $2 million to enlist Reid’s help but when he claimed did not have that kind of money they eventually agreed on $300,000 upfront and $300,000 later, according to Johnson‘s version of events.
• But when the Federal government still filed a lawsuit against the company for shady marketing tactics, a lawsuit Johnson thought he had paid to go away, he demanded Swallow return some of the $250,000 initial bribe payment.
• When he did not get the bribe money back, just days before the Nov. 6 election, Johnson engaged in a frantic effort to get Swallow to drop out of the race, saying information of the arrangement with Reid would come out and force the Swallow’s resignation from office if he became attorney general.
• According to the article, Federal agents, including the FBI, have been interviewing Johnson and others related to the situation.
• However, as proof of the scheme, Johnson has produced emails and other documents indicating that Swallow intended to put Johnson in touch with another businessman, Richard Rawle, who allegedly had connections in with Reid in Reid’s home state of Nevada, according to Johnson
• In a subsequent article, Reid's office denied any involvement in the alleged bribery scheme: "Senator Reid has no knowledge or involvement regarding Mr. Johnson’s case," his spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman, said in a statement. "These unsubstantiated allegations implying Senator Reid’s involvement are nothing more than innuendo and simply not true."

Whatever the case and whatever the Federal investigators come up with, there are some smoking guns, and smoking emails, that indicate that government favors are for sale, either at the state level, the Federal level, or just as a fraud cover to get money with no bribery involved. But that should not surprise any of us, most of us know that politicians’ priorities start and end with their career and personal financial enrichment.

The original article with the extensive details of bribery and secret meetings can be found at:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home3/55598812-200/johnson-swallow-rawle-attorney.html.csp

6) But it is not just political figures in elected office that are out only for their personal enrichment. Consider a short story that appeared in the January 20, 2013 issue of the Tampa Bay Times. Apparently, Federal authorities have filed a felony fraud charge against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway in a case involving the sale of an upscale Detroit area home in a short sale arrangement.

The charge contends that Ms. Hathaway hid the ownership of a Florida property in order to get a short sale approved on her Detroit area home. The fraud allowed her and her husband to illegally get out from under a $600,000 debt. The article states a plea deal on the crime has already been reached and she will shortly no longer be a state Supreme Court Justice.

7) Our final political class insanity today comes from France, where it appears that politicians the world over are the same when it comes to their own financial enrichment and greed. According to a January 10, 2013 Associated Press article, the French bureaucrat leading the fight against France’s tax and fiscal fraud problem is now one of those being investigated for such fraud.

French Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac has spent months seeking out and prosecuting corporate multinational tax dodgers, citizens who live abroad to avoid taxes and those within France who stash money in overseas accounts. Now, he is the target in just the sort of investigation he thought would help turn France's finances around, as prosecutors investigate an online journal's allegations that he transferred money from a Swiss account into one in Singapore, avoiding taxes in the process.

He has, of course, denied the allegations from the online news source, Mediapart, and as of now, these are not proven facts, just allegations. More to come but again, who would be surprised if a politician acted holier than thou in public while secretly arranging for his financial gain behind the scenes, in France, in the U.S., or anywhere where government is run by a political class?

That should do it for today, one last dose of political class insanity tomorrow to wrap up this month’s insults to our intelligence and pocketbooks.

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:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Two More Failing Taxpayer Aided Alternative Energy Companies Bound To The Forefront

Just when you think that the financial carnage is done relative to the Obama administration's disastrous waste of taxpayer wealth on failed alternative energy companies, two more fiascoes pop up. We have extensively covered these other failures in previous posts, most recently:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/obama-energy-disasters-still-abound.html

which used Abound Solar as the lead story on that post. That write-up also included a list of what companies had failed up to that date in time.

But according to a recent Heritage Foundation report, two more taxpayer funded/aided companies are now also facing difficult markets and financial times:

• A pair of foreign-owned solar companies, both of whom received a combined $84 million in Energy Department tax credits, have announced they will lay off U.S. employees.
• Why foreign owned companies were granted U.S. taxpayer money is a question and scandal for another day’s discussion.
• Both companies got their funding under the Energy Department’s Advanced Energy Manufacturing (48C) Tax Credit, a credit which is worth up to 30% of the cost of manufacturing qualifying green energy projects.
• Solar World received an $82 million credit and SunTech received a $2.1 million credit.
• Solar World announced a 47% revenue decline in the third quarter and will potentially execute 37 layoffs at its Oregon plant.
• SunTech said it will likely layoff 50 employees at its Arizona production facilities.

The ironic thing about both companies is that Solar World claimed it had to lay off its employees because the Chinese government is subsidizing the sale of cheap solar panels in the U.S., which the U.S. International Trade Commission is fighting by imposing a 35.95% tariff on each imported Chinese solar panel. Meanwhile, SunTech is claiming it is laying off people because of the 35.95% tariff that is being imposed by the Commission.

Thus, the Federal government’s priorities are so screwed up that is funding two U.S. companies that have diametrically opposed business models relative to Chinese subsidies and U.S. tariffs, one gets hurt and the other gets helped depending on what the Federal government does.

More wasted taxpayer dollars for little benefit in return, in this case fewer jobs despite millions of dollars in aid. But this should not surprise anyone, given that the Federal government has thrown billions of dollars away on alternative energy companies that are either bankrupt and out of business, going bankrupt and will soon be out of business, have laid off a significant number of workers, and businesses that still exist but have failed miserably to attain their business and financial goals (the company names with an asterisk next to them indicate they have filed for or have completed bankruptcy proceedings):

1. Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
2. SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
3. Solyndra ($535 million)*
4. Beacon Power ($43 million)*
5. Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
6. SunPower ($1.2 billion)
7. First Solar ($1.46 billion)
8. Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
9. EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
10. Amonix ($5.9 million)
11. Fisker Automotive ($529 million)
12. Abound Solar ($400 million)*
13. A123 Systems ($279 million)*
14. Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*
15. Johnson Controls ($299 million)
16. Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
17. ECOtality ($126.2 million)
18. Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
19. Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
20. Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
21. Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
22. Range Fuels ($80 million)*
23. Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
24. Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
25. Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
26. GreenVolts ($500,000)
27. Vestas ($50 million)
28. LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
29. Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
30. Navistar ($39 million)
31. Satcon ($3 million)*
32. Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*
33. Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)

I have never found a list of an Obama-backed alternative energy companies that have been successful. If that list exists, I would be more than happy to publish it.

Billions of dollars down the drain with no discernible taxpayer benefit in return. As we have discussed many times in this blog, the only Americans who made out on these deals are the many Obama administration political cronies who bankrolled many of these companies to begin with and received taxpayer money from this administration and political class in exchange for political financial support. Disgracefully wasteful spending.

As a side note, these billions do no include the additional wasted billions given to other alternative transportation companies and options such as Tesla Motors and the Chevy Volt, both of which either make cars that an average American taxpayer will never be able to afford or who make cars that have proven mostly uncompetitive in the marketplace.

But it gets worse. Not only do we have SunTech and Solar World laying off employees despite burning through government and taxpayer funds, not only to we have these 33 listed companies above providing no benefit back to taxpayers, we also have found out from the Washington Guardian,

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/stimulating-investigation

that there almost 2,000 investigations underway into fraud and criminal activity relative to the huge and fruitless economic stimulus program that was passed in 2009.

These nearly 2,000 investigations and the resultant 600 arrests include many Department of Energy programs that are related to the stimulus funds that were apportioned out to many of the above listed, failed companies. Thus, not only were these bad companies given taxpayer money for no benefit, that money may have also been taken under criminal circumstances.

The Federal government 1) does very, very few things well and 2) it does not employ trained venture capitalists. Both of these facts should have prevented the Federal government bureaucracy from handing out taxpayer money to almost three dozen failed companies, it does not know how to it well. If any of these listed companies had valid market and business plans, trained bankers and venture capitalists would have been more than happy to fund their business endeavors. The Federal government never should have been involved.

An old rule business goes something like the following: If a new product or service fills a market need (right price, right features, right style, right sales channels, etc.), no government support is needed. If a new product or service does not fit a market need, no amount of government support and financing will make it successful.

At least 33 companies had alternative energy products and services that did not fill a current market need. But the Federal government went and funded them anyway, much to the expense and chagrin of the American taxpayer. The only question left is if 33 is the end of the waste or there is more to come. Given that a week ago I had never heard of Solar World and SunTech, I doubt we have heard the end of the “Abounding” number alternative energy failures from the Obama administration.

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:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

More Obama Solar Failures and Some Simple Solar Math

Yesterday, we reviewed some of the mega disasters that Obama’s crony capitalism has dumped on the American taxpayer when it comes to alternative energy and alternative vehicle companies. Most, if not all, of his financed alternative energy “bets” have either gone bankrupt, are going bankrupt, or in a stall mode. None of them have produced anything of any promise, all at a cost of billions and billions of dollars.

While Solyndra was the poster child for this wasting of taxpayer wealth, yesterday we focused on the latest two disasters, Abound Solar and Compact Power. Abound Solar filed for bankruptcy after it was found out that its solar panels underperformed in the real world vs. what Abound promised and had the annoying little habit of catching on fire due to a design flaw, causing what ever structure it was attached to also catch on fire.

The worst part is that the company knew about the design flaw before it applied for and was granted a loan guarantee by the Obama administration, indicating that either the company, the Energy Department or both are culpable for wasting $70 million taxpayer dollars.

Compact Power doubled down on the waste, losing about $150 million of taxpayer wealth. Compact was supposed to be turning out thousands and thousands of car batteries for electric cars by now. Unfortunately, after receiving their $150 million gift from the American taxpayer, the company’s factory has turned out exactly no batteries. And for the foreseeable future, it will not be producing any batteries for a myriad of reasons. However, the $150 million is unlikely to ever be repaid.

Today, we will review some more Obama administration failed alternative energy escapades, as if there are any other kind besides "failed." In the process, we will have some fun with some whimsical yet simple math calculations to show how much better our billions of dollars could have been spent using existing technology that would have reduced energy consumption and our carbon footprint, not wasted billions of dollars for nothing in return.

The latest example of such mutual funding of each other is the company Congentrix. Congentrix is an energy producer which received $90 million from the American taxpayer via the Energy Department. It turns out that Congentrix just happens to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the mega bank, Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs makes tens of billions of dollars of profits every year; if Congentrix was such a great idea it should have funded it itself. The fact that Goldman Sachs and its top managers have been heavy contributors to Obama’s election campaigns should come as no surprise.

Another potential solar company failure, NRG, was documented in an article from the November, 2012 issue of Reason magazine, written by Veronique de Rugy and titled, “The Constancy Of Crony Capitalism.” If NRG goes bankrupt like most other Obama administration efforts, it will not be because it did not have enough upfront government money. Ms. De Rugy cites a New York Times investigative report as her source:

• Before getting to the NRG situation, the article reviews the billions of dollars already spent and wasted.
• The Energy Department has already handed out $16 billion of taxpayer wealth to 26 companies, many of which have already failed like Solyndra.
• NRG received a Federal loan guarantee of $1.2 billion to build a “solar ranch” in California.
• The interest rate is 50% lower than what the company could have gotten if they had to get the $1.2 billion on their own. Thus, not only has the American taxpayer guaranteeing the loan, they are allowing NRG to pay back the loan, if ever, at an unrealistically low interest rate.
• That low rate will save the company about $205 million over the life of the loan which inversely costs the American taxpayer an additional $205 in finance costs.
• But it gets better since this is the most recent loan guarantee. The company had previously received Federal loan guarantees totally $2.6 billion.
• The article reminds readers that when the Feds back a project such as NRG, it makes the effort more attractive to private investors, further reducing NRG’s financing costs and making it more financially competitive vs. its competitors. Thus, this government meddling unfairly distorts the marketplace and its competitors' relative positions.
• But it gets even better. NRG has already received more than three dozen money grants form the 2009 economic stimulus program that wasted over $800 billion of taxpayer wealth. Note that these were outright grants, not loans or loan guarantees, they get to keep the money without any conditions.
• Still more, according to the article. The company will receive a cash payment worth over $400 million from the Federal government if and when the solar ranch is up and working.
• But all of this money is not just from Federal taxpayers. NRG does not have to pay property taxes on the land in California where the solar ranch will be located, saving the company about $14 million a year.
• And finally, California state tax law offers depreciation tax breaks for renewable energy efforts, breaks that reduce the company’s state income tax levels by $110 million.

Unbelievable, taxpayer money at the Federal and state level getting thrown around for a project that does not yet exist, may never exist, and may never live up to its expectations and promises. If it has the same track record as other Obama alternative energy projects, we can probably kiss that $1.2 billion good bye.

But that article goes on to review another solar energy disaster, First Solar:

• First Solar received a $646 million loan in 2011 through its partner, Exelon, and than got another Federal loan guarantee of $547.7 million to subsidize the sale of its solar panels to commercial solar farms.
• Recently the Washington examiner reported that another Federal government program, the Ex-Im Bank (Export-Import Bank), gave a Canadian company, St. Clair Solar, $192.9 million in a loan to purchase solar energy from solar facilities.
• Not only is giving a Canadian company $192.9 million loan a disgrace relative to American taxpayers, but it just so happens that St.Clair Solar is a wholly owned subsidiary of…. First Solar.
• Thus, the Federal government is funding a solar energy generator company to sell solar generated energy to a Canadian company which is a solar energy user but which also received a Federal government loan which is really the same company that is selling the solar energy.
• In essence, the American taxpayer is funding a company to sell its product, solar energy, to itself. Only the political class could come up with such an inane process and waste.

Oh, we are on a roll. But let’s leave the other solar energy scandals for tomorrow. Let’s do some simple math. The article reports that the Obama administration has already wasted $16 billion on alternative energy companies that have produced no societal benefit in return. If we add in the additional $1 billion or so that the administration has thrown at alternative vehicle companies, Telsa and Fisker, companies that may eventually produce electric cars that the vast majority of Americans will never be able to afford, we end up with a total waste of $17 billion.

Using an experiment that was conducted by the PBS television show Nova, related to making an American home energy independent using solar energy, we have previously shown that it would cost a homeowner about $50,000 to make his or her home solar energy proficient. This experiment used existing solar technology so it does not require a hope and a prayer that shaky companies like Solyndra and the others might eventually, down the road, deliver cost efficient power.

Simple math. If the $17 billion had been used to put solar panels on American homes, the Federal government would have already had 340,000 homes energy independent, powered totally by solar energy. This would have been 340,000 more homes that are likely to get solar independence via the Obama administration’s efforts. This would have made almost 20% of Arizona’s detached single family homes energy independent. Certainly a better record than what the Energy Department has.

Some more math. Let’s get a little more conservative and not make the entire home energy independent. Rather than extensive solar panels, let’s just try to make some American homes' hot water needs more energy independent. According to a Consumer Reports investigation several years ago, they estimated that home hot water heaters use up about 30% of a home’s energy needs.

What if we eliminated this use of energy by replacing traditional home hot water heaters with tankless water heaters. These heaters flash heat water on demand, eliminating the need to use a steady load of energy to keep a large tank of water at a high constant temperature. The Consumer Reports investigation found that the typical installation of such an energy saving device would cost about $1,200 on average.

Thus, if we if we do some simple tankless water heater math we find that we could retrofit over 14 million American homes with these heaters. These heaters, according to Consumer Reports, reduce a home’s energy needs by 22%. Thus, this approach shows that if we had redirected Obama’s solar energy and auto giveaways into this already proven technology, 14 million homes would have reduced their energy consumption by almost 7% (22% efficient reduction times 30% of a home’s energy needs).

340,000 homes via solar retrofits or 14 million homes via tankless water heaters, so much better options than giving political cronies and political fund raisers free taxpayer money for shaky alternative energy projects. It is that simple. Unfortunately, it is too complex for the political class and this administration to understand.

Tomorrow we will review more solar energy busts that the Obama administration has failed to do it due diligence on, a failure that continues to cost American taxpayers millions of dollars.

We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of our times.

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 freedomfor both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment