May, 2016, Bonus Post, Political Class Insanity: Obama The War President, Apple Invests in China, and More

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. In fact, last month we set a record, needing ten full posts to cover it all.

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.

This is our 12th post this month on America’s political class insanity. It sets a record for this blog on covering such disgusting behavior from our nation’s politicians. It is a sad commentary on the state of the country and those that are supposed to be leaders. 

I thought we were done with this month's insanity yesterday but as quickly as we review and discuss their insanity and idiocy, more insanity comes raining down on us. Thus, today's insnaity bonus post which is definitely our final look at this month’s insanity:

1) We have often reported on how poorly the Obama Presidency has handled economic strategy and the dismal results it has produced. Tens of millions of Americans needing Federal food assistance every month, millions of people who cannot find a full time job, settling for no job or only a part time job, the labor participation rate at 45 year old lows, etc. And as bad as the total, national results are, segments of the population are seeing far worse results, Minority unemployment and youth unemployment are much higher than the dismal national results we just reviewed.

Thus, one would think and hope that if the Federal government had some job creation money set aside they would use it for these sub-segments of the population, especially kids, to try and help them get at least summer jobs. Well, the good news is that the Feds do have a pot of money for such an effort. The bad news, is the Obama administration has set aside $2 million of it to help refugee kids, 400 hundred of them, get a summer job in Utica, New York under the so-called Summer Opportunity Project. Not American citizens' kids getting job help, not American kids stuck in American ghettos in cities like Chicago and Detroit getting job help. No, refugee kids in a single upstate New York city. 

In addition to getting summer jobs, these refugee kids will also get tutoring in math and English while, again, disadvantaged American citizens' kids will get nothing. Am I the only one who sees the insanity of using taxpayer dollars for programs like this, while ignoring our own kids, or am I a racist?

2) Apple recently announced that it was investing $1 billion in a Chinese car service that will compete directly with Uber in China. I have no problem with this, it is Apple's money, they are certainly free to invest it anywhere where it will maximize shareholder and company value the most. I do lament the fact that they found a better opportunity to invest $1 billion in China vs. the United States though, all because of the very, very high tax rates that the Federal government has in place for businesses.

Wouldn't it have been so much better for Americans if Apple found it easier and cheaper to invest $1 billion in America rather than China? How many jobs could a $1 billion investment create in this country? How much more in tax revenue would the Federal government have received if those jobs, that would be created by the $1 billion invested here, tax revenue that would recur year after year? Instead, Washington continues to not address a broken tax system and insanely high set of tax rates that forces companies to invest billions and billions of dollars in other countries. 

As a result, the Federal government gets no revenue from billions and billions of dollars kept and stranded overseas, American workers lose out on job opportunities that those stranded dollars could afford them, and the Federal government never sees the recurring revenue from jobs created domestically if those stranded dollars were spent here rather than in places like China.

But this $1 billion China investment is really small fish relative to the bigger picture. According to a recent article on the Personal Liberty website, if Apple brought back all of the money it has stranded over sees, it would pay a whopping $50 billion in taxes on it. Instead of cutting Apple a break and getting a smaller piece of this stranded money, but billions and billions of dollars invested in our economy, the political class refuses to reform our tax code and ends up getting $0 from that $50 billion. Imagine the economic boost our economy would get if Apple was allowed to bring tens of billions of dollars back home and invest it here and not get whacked with a $50 billion tax bill?

And Apple is just one of many large companies that could bring back tens or hundreds of billions of dollars back into this country for investment if we had a tax code that incentivized investment and economic growth rather than taxation. Tax code insanity, economic idiocy.

3) Remember how earlier in this month's political class insanity we pointed out that the Washington political class, Congress and Obama were working on legislation that would make the American bison the country's official mammal? At that time we pointed out how petty and stupid their priorities were, worrying about what should be the country's official mammal when tens of millions of Americans were either hungry, homeless, unemployed, under employed, dying from drug addiction or having their kids get under educated from failing schools. 

According to a recent Associated Press report, their priorities are still petty and stupid. The House of Representatives recently spent legislative time to ban the display of Confederate flags on flagpoles at Veterans Administration cemeteries. The legislation would ban descendants, family members, and others seeking to commemorate veterans of the Confederate States of America from flying the Confederate Battle Flag over mass graves, even on days that flag displays are permitted. 

Not surprising, a Congressman from the land of fruits and nuts, California, sponsored the legislation. I am assuming that there are no hungry, homeless, unemployed or drug addicts in his state, otherwise her would not have proposed such useless legislation that will impact virtually no one in the whole country. Insanely bad priorities.

4) Remember back or a year or so ago on how everyone was worried that the so-called PIGS of Europe, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain, were going to go bankrupt because their central government debt burden had gotten so out of control? European politicians were falling all over themselves to try and come up with debt relief and debt solutions before the debt crushed their economies and their nations. 

According to CNBC, Spain has not improved their debt solution much since, as of a week or so ago, the central government of Spain had a national debt burden of $1.23 TRILLION at the end of the first quarter. This enormous debt burden represents 101% of the country's GDP in 2015. In other words, the debt burden is so high that it represents over 100% of all the goods and services produced by every Spanish citizen last year. 

Oh, by the way, the U.S. national debt level is higher than Spain's 101%, putting the U.S. Federal government financials on a par, or worse, than the PIGS of Europe. All thanks to an Obama administration that doubled the debt load in eight short years, incurring more debt than EVERY Presidential administration before him.

5) Although Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, the New York Times recently ran an article proving Obama will go down in history as the only two term President that was actively involved in war and military activities the ENTIRE length of his Presidency. From prematurely withdrawing U.S. troops in Iraq in order to win a second term only to reinsert troops later to a failed military effort in Afghanistan over the past eight years to drone attacks that have killed hundreds of innocent civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan, to an illegal and un-Constitutional entry into the Libyan civil war to the illegal meddling in Syria which led to the the deaths, wounding, and homelessness of millions of Syrians, to putting "boots on the ground" in Syria after saying numerous times he would never to such a thing to bombings in Yemen, he will go down in history as the longest war President ever.

And to this infamous record, we add the latest bit of military forays from a CNN report. CNN reported that Obama has, probably illegally, inserted U.S. Special Forces troops into the country of Libya in an effort to contain the influence of ISIS, the worst terrorist group to ever exist that arose out of the Obama administration's meddling in Syria. The Special Forces are operating out of a base in Misrata, Libya. The Pentagon has acknowledged the new presence of our military presence in that country.

As usual with most of Obama's unilateral actions, Congress and the American people have had no input to his wild and often reckless military misadventures and the strategy behind them. And that assumes there is a military and political strategy to Obama using military forces and might in at least six countries. Our military actions have killed and wounded thousands of civilians, hundreds of our own troops, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, with no measurable or apparent return benefit. That is certainly insanity of the nth degree.

That will do it for this month's record breaking review of political class insanity. Unfortunately, this might be a short term record, given the accelerating rate of political class insanity.

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:

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

May, 2016, Part 11, Political Class Insanity: More Obama Narcissism, More Failures In Syria and Iraq, FBI Playing Big Brother, and More

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. In fact, last month we set a record, needing ten full posts to cover it all.

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.

This is our 11th post this month on America’s political class insanity. It sets a record for this blog on covering such disgusting behavior from our nation’s politicians. It is a sad commentary on the state of the country and those that are supposed to be leaders. Let’s get started with our final look at this month’s insanity:

1) One of our favorite sites for gathering political class insanity is the Against Crony Capitalism website. On April 21, 2016, they discussed a very depressing topic and fact, namely that the United States now ranks 41st in the world when it comes to freedom of the press. Yes, one of the strongest tenets for freedom as enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, freedom of the press, has now sunk so low that 40 other countries represent that freedom better than we do, namely: “Congress shall make no law...freedom of the press.”

Thus, despite Obama promising to operate the most transparent Presidency ever, his spying on journalists, his hacking of their computers, his blocking Freedom Of Information Act requests from the press and others, and his use of executive orders to withhold information has pushed our freedom of press rights down so far that we now trail countries such as Burkina Faso, whatever and wherever that place is.

According to NPR:

• The U.S. is ranked 41 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, which measures the “level of freedom of information in 180 countries.”
• According to the organization, the U.S. moved from 49 in 2015 to 41 this year, though it warned that the “relative improvement by comparison hides overall negative trends.”
• Citing the U.S. government’s “war on whistleblowers who leak information about its surveillance activities, spying and foreign operations, especially those linked to counter-terrorism,” and the country’s lack of a “shield law” that would allow journalists to protect confidential sources, the report takes a decidedly negative view of U.S. press freedom.

So much for that Obama promise. His administration has failed to lift us back to the high ideal of freedom of the press and that improving from a dismal 49th to an almost as dismal 41st “hides overall negative trends.” 

2) So if the Obama administration is viewed as destroying part of the First Amendment as it refers to freedom of the press, it looks like the FBI out in California might be destroying the Fourth Amendment. According to the CBS affiliate in California, the FBI, without warrants, put hidden microphones in public areas and listened in on and recorded conversations that may have gone on in such public areas as bus stops. Let me say it again: without warrants, a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Jeff Harp, a CBS KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there’s microphones that are planted in places that people don’t think about, because that’s the intent!”

Additionally, according to the CBS reporting, agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011. The FBI says they are looking for evidence that real estate investors in some California counties are carrying out fraudulent real estate activities. Again, all of this without warrants.

Not unexpectedly, the lawyer of one of the investors is trying to get the recordings thrown out of any court proceedings on a Fourth Amendment basis: “Speaking in a public place does not mean that the individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy…private communication in a public place qualifies as a protected ‘oral communication’… and therefore may not be intercepted without judicial authorization.”

So we already knew that Obama hates the Second Amendment, Reporters Without Borders showed above he is not fond of the First Amendment and his FBI agents are abusing the Fourth Amendment in California. Insanity.

3) David Rutz, writing for the Washington Free Beacon on May 15t, 2016, reviewed the thoughts and words of former Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, on how he does not feel there is anyone left in the Obama administration that has the guts to question anything the President says. In other words, Obama has surrounded himself with "yes” men that dare not question their boss's thoughts and actions, a very dangerous situation to have when you are President of the United States.

I say dangerous because the Presidency touches and affects so many areas of life regarding just about every human being on the planet, that it is impossible for him or her to have in-depth knowledge of just a fraction of what is going on. That is why we have an executive branch and the President has Cabinet secretaries and staffs to provide him the insights and knowledge that he cannot possibly have. To ignore that input and information that others provide, is not a sign of leadership, it is a sign of ego and narcissism and it usually leads to disaster, kind of like the situation the country finds itself in today.

According to Gates in a recent TV interview: "I’m not sure how many people there are left in the administration at this point who are willing to have direct issues with him like that. I just don’t know.”

Recall that Gates is one of four Defense Secretaries Obama has had, with each lasting less than two years in that position on average. This would be one indication that anyone who disagrees with this President does not have a long term future in this administration. When one leader, whether in government or business, thinks he is the know all and be all of anything that goes on in his organization, that organization will operate sub-optimally since no person is an expert in everything...or even a few things. That is why there are subject matter experts. 

But as we all know, this President is smarter than all of us so how could anything he do possibly end up sub-optimally?

4) Staying with this theme of military and a President that acts on his own limited knowledge and experience, consider the following video clip where Congressman Seth Moulton takes apart the President’s lack of in depth understanding of the military reality Iraq and Syria. And how this President after seven and a half years in office still has no long term strategy for fixing the mess in those two countries. 

Congressman Moulton is a former U.S. Marine veteran who served multiple tours in Iraq. He is the type of person that Obama should be listening carefully to truly understand the reality over there. Instead, as the Congressman points out, this administration and President have no in-depth knowledge or strategy to fix what has been broken on his watch. All this being a symptom that Gates alluded to above, this President is too vain and ego driven to think anyone else is smarter than him.

Oh, by the way, Congressman Moulton is a Democrat in case you were about to start the argument that he was just another petty, anti-Obama Republican politician:

http://conservativevideos.com/obama-has-no-strategy-for-isis-despite-troops-in-combat/

5) One last piece of insanity today and it is a good piece of insanity, a former U.S. Marine really getting into it when addressing a letter to the First Lady and her husband. I will let it speak for itself:

Mrs. Obama

It sickens me that I have to take time to write you this letter. I am a Marine who doesn’t recognize color because every color has lived and died for you. You live in a free country to blame your poor pathetic life on the color of another man’s skin. All colors have given their lives for an educated woman to have the freedom to be so ignorant. I don’t blame black people for the ignorance that comes from your mouth. I love all colors because I love all that God creates. I don’t have to like you to love you and today is no different. I don’t like you or your husband because of your character hidden behind your skin. Isn’t it funny how the truth always reveals itself in time. You and your husband never showed this side of yourselves in 2008 before he was elected.

You both live better than 99% of the people in this world because of this country. You said that you are for the first time proud to be an American. Well, I will tell you that most of us are ashamed of you. You and your husband have become millionaires off the people of this country, but demonstrate very little appreciation for all that we give.White, black, brown or indifferent millions have fought and died for you to have the freedom to say the ignorant things you say. You are educated, but clearly have very little common sense. You blame past generations of Americans for the troubles of a few. Stop blaming white people for your misery and take a look at yourself in the mirror. We are all responsible for our own happiness and misery. The KKK is ignorance wrapped in a sheet while the Black panthers are raised on ignorance and hate.

No different from the cult of Islam thinking their race is better than all other men. God is love and creates every color to include our skin. To truly love God is to love all that He loves. For that I love each of you and pray that we all start taking responsibility for our own damned sins.

Martin Luther King had a dream that we would all live in the promise land. He is not remembered for being black. He is remembered for the love, and character he had within his heart. If you don’t like this country get on that plane and never come back. I will stay here and love all Americans, regardless of skin. I will love the beauty of what God created and stand tall with my American friends. Not because of their color but for the character and love they carry within. This country doesn’t owe you anymore than it owes me. So many have thanked me for my service and I will always be grateful. I pray that one day you and your husband might cause me to be grateful for yours. You will never be remembered as the First Lady of Color but soon forgotten after you leave the White House. You nor your husband shall ever divide us. I wish you no harm, but pray you will get the hell off of this American land…

If you wish to find me I am now a writer for the DC Gazette. Also on Twitter @mshep08_mike …God bless you and Semper Fi

Well said, a good way to end this month’s political class insanity, an honest and true American telling the head of the American political class to shut up and go away, something a lot of us would like to do if the opinion polls can be believed. This former Marine did it for us.

Eleven days of political class insanity, an all time record for this blog. And the sad thing about the record: we will be right back here early next month with more insanity and idiocy from the American 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.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:

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

May, 2016, Part 10, Poltiical Class Insanity: More Syrian Lies, Releasing Known Criminals Into America, Hillary's Bad Priorities and More

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. In fact, last month we set a record, needing ten full posts to cover it all.

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.

It looks like our politicians have been especially insane over the past month or so let’s get started with our another look at this month’s insanity:

1) As we have already pointed out earlier this month, there are about 45 million Americans getting Federal government food assistance every month, almost 6 million Americans are working part time because they cannot find full time work, hundreds of thousands of veterans are likely not getting the medical treatment and attention they were promised, the labor participation rate is at forty year lows, almost 50,000 Americans die every year from drug overdoses because of the current heroin epidemic in the country, our schools are still under educating our kids, and terrorism is growing stronger and wider every day. 

But what does Hillary Clinton think is important as spoken by her in a recent op-ed piece she wrote in the Washington Informer? She is advocating for making Washington D.C. the 51st state. Do we really think that making Washington D.C. the 51st state would make the top fifty most important issues if we asked Americans what their top issues of the day were? Would it make the top hundred? The top thousand? Just another out of touch politician fixing problems that are unimportant, trivial, and what nobody really cares about.

2) As we have pointed out probably hundreds of times in this blog, Obama once boldly promised that he would operate the most transparent Presidential administration EVER. Of course, like most of Obama’s promises, this a was a lie and deception. His administration has spied on reporters, blocked and delayed Freedom of Information Act Requests, used executive orders to block Congressional requests, etc.

According to reporting by the Daily Beast, an employee at the U.S. Central Command within the Defense Department was removed from her job for cursing, yes cursing, after she allegedly spoke up about how the Defense Department and Obama administration were distorting intelligence reports on ISIS. Carolyn Stewart, an Army veteran, was a former subordinate to the highest-ranking civilian at Centcom’s Joint Intelligence office. She worked for Gregory Ryckman, one of the senior intelligence officials who have been accused of covering up an effort to doctor ISIS intelligence reports to offer a more favorable outlook of the campaign against the terror group.

Obviously, the administration and its Defense Department allies wanted Ms. Stewart to go away and cooked up a lame excuse to move her out and into another position because she dared to not go along with the allegedly bogus intelligence reports about ISIS. If she is guilty of using foul language and needed to be reassigned, then why wasn’t Vice President Joe Biden reassigned when an open mike picked up him telling Obama that the passage of Obama Care was “a big f---ing deal?” Why wasn’t he “reassigned” for cursing? Such insane hypocrisy.

3) We could probably devote a number of days reviewing all of the lies that Obama has put forth. One lie that he spewed at least 16 times is that the U.S. would put “no boots on the ground in Syria,” i.e. he was adamant that no U.S. troops would be deployed into the civil war and terrorist haven that is now Syria. We say at least 16 times since the following article actually went back to document 16 times that he explicitly said “no boots on the ground:”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2015/10/30/16-times-obama-said-there-would-no-boots-ground-syria/74869884/

And yet, he recently announced that he would deploy several hundred special operations troops into the quagmire that is Syria despite at least the 16 times he said he would not. How are we not approaching or already inside George Orwell’s “1984” when a leader says he will not do something sixteen times and then does the exact opposite?

This hypothesis gains credibility when you listen to a State Department press person try to explain how saying no boots on the ground is totally consistent with putting hundreds of U.S. troops in the danger zone in Syria. Consider the following exchange at a State Department press conference between Associated Press reporter Matt Lee and State Department spokesperson John Kirby:

Lee: “I’m just curious if this is, like, part of some kind of devious grand strategy to say one thing and then do the complete opposite of it.”

Kirby: “I just — I don’t see it that way. There was never this ‘no boots on the ground.’ I don’t know where this keeps coming from.”

Lee: “For months and months and months, the mantra — from the President and … everyone else in the Administration — has been ‘no boots on the ground,’ and now —”

Kirby: “That is not true.”

Lee: “What?”

Kirby: “It’s just not true, Matt. When we talk about boots on the ground in the context that you have heard people in the administration speak to, we are talking about conventional, large-scale ground troops that are designed to actually engage in, plan, coordinate, integrate, and engage in combat operations on the ground as units. We're not doing that. We've never done that in Iraq or in Syria, and we're not going to do it now."

Definitely 1984 territory where Orwell proclaimed that war is peace, ignorance is strength. In Obama’s world, no boots on the ground means boots on the ground, if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor means you cannot keep your doctor, closing Gitmo means not closing Gitmo. Insanity.

Oh, one last comment on this insanity. Politifact, a supposed unbiased fact checking entity that always gives Democrats, Obama and liberals the benefit of the doubt in their analyses, rated Kirby's statements as false. When Politifact calls an administration official a liar, you can be sure it was a whopper.

4) One of the fundamental functions of government should be to protect the safety, lives, and property of the people they are governing. This is a basic, basic function. But even that simple concept is lost on this President and his administration. 

According to Melanie Hunter, writing for CNS News on April 28, 2016, the Obama administration release 86,288 criminal illegal immigrants between 2013 and 2015. Think about that for a moment: the government knew those 86,288 people were here illegally AND they were criminals and yet, the administration still released them onto the streets of America. This was the Congressional testimony of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Sarah Saldana.

Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the committee looking into the matter was incredulous: “What’s going on at Homeland Security? What’s going on with Immigration [and] Customs Enforcement is one of the most infuriating things I think I’ve seen in this government yet. In a three-year period, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released more than 86,000 criminal aliens into the American public. These are people that were here illegally, got caught committing a crime, were convicted of that crime and instead of deporting them, they were just released back out in the United States of America.” 

The Congressman went on to state that:

• These 86,000 criminal aliens were convicted, not accused, of more than 231,000 crimes. 
• What is even more amazing, 196 of those released were convicted, not accused, convicted, of murder and yet they were still released back into the country. 
• Of the 36,007 who were released in 2013, 5,700 went on to commit additional crimes against Americans.
• The 30,558 criminal illegal immigrant released in 2014 had a combined 79,059 criminal convictions.
• 1,895 of the 30,558 went on to commit an additional crimes against Americans, crimes that included sex offenses, assault, burglary, robbery, driving under the influence.
• The 19,723 criminal illegal immigrants released in 2015 had a total 64,197 convictions, including 934 sex offenses, 804 robberies, 216 kidnappings, and 196 homicide-related convictions. 

Chaffetz continued his rant in front of Saldana: “They were here illegally. They got caught committing a crime. They were convicted of a crime, and instead of following the law and deporting them, you released them back into the public, and they commit more crimes. How do you look those people in the eye?” 

So much for the government protecting its citizens.

More crazy insanity from your American political class: unleashing known violent criminals into American neighborhoods, Orwellian lying about Syria, shutting up whistleblowers, and Hillary’s bad priorities. More insanity 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

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:

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

May, 2016, Part 10, Political Class Insanity: The Political Fiasco That Is Chicago

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. In fact, last month we set a record, needing ten full posts to cover it all.

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.

It looks like our politicians have been especially insane over the past month or so let’s get started, with a focus today on Chicago’s politicians and the fiasco they have created for the good people of the Windy City:

In the Briefing section of the May 13, 2016 issue of The Week magazine, we get an idea of how bad things have gotten in Chicago:

• Chicago has a lower credit rating than any other American city with the exception of Detroit.
• The Chicago unemployment rate at 6.1% is twenty percent higher than the national unemployment rate and dead last among the 51 largest U.S. metro areas.
• The city has a whopping $20 billion in unfunded pension debt liabilities for city employees’ pensions.
• Just this infunded debt load would theoretically cost every resident of Chicago, both kids and adults, about $8,700 each to cover the liability.
• Violent city crime is at its highest rate in decades with over 1,000 people in the city already having been shot this year.
• 141 people were killed in the city in the first quarter of this year vs. 82 in the same period in 2015 despite having the strictest gun control laws in the land.
• Chicago became the murder capital of the country when 470 people were murdered in 2015.
• Chicago lost more jobs between 2000 and 2010 than the largest ten American cities during that period.
• Between 1990 and 2012 white Chicago residents saw their incomes rise 33% on average while black Chicago residents saw their incomes drop 4% on average.
• The black resident poverty rate and unemployment rate are twice those of white residents.
• A recent report found that 47% black men in the city aged between 20 and 24 were out of school and out of work, 15% higher than the national average.
• Chicago is recognized as one of the most corrupt cities in the country.
• Chicago schools are bad from a performance perspective and are likely underfunded for the job they have to do.
• On top of all of this bad news, many in the city believe that it has a violent and out of control police force requiring tighter police oversight.
• This attitude has made the police much more cautious, so much so that in the first quarter of 2016 they have stopped, frisked, or questioned about one eighth the number of people they did in 2015.
• The mayor, Rahm Emanuel, was re-elected with 56% of the vote in the last election while now a majority of city residents think he should resign.
• In addition to these violence and employment woes, the city politicians put in effect at least a dozen new taxes for 2016 including raising the city sales tax rate to an obscene 10.25%, increased property taxes, a new tax on Netflix like services, and many, many more.

You probably could not do a worst job managing a city’s affairs than the job that the Chicago political class has done. High taxes with little to show for it. Lack of quality performance from its schools and police force. Extremely high taxes which is probably contributing to a death spiral of higher tax rates and lower tax collections as the wealthier residents leave the city to avoid the high city tax burden, leaving behind the less wealthy to carry more of a rising tax burden. What a disaster.

It is no secret that the Chicago political class has been a closed and corrupt set of people for decades and decades. And this is what happens when here is corruption in the DNA of a city’s politicians that are protected from term limits. But typical of American politicians, enriching themselves while failing to protect the rights, wealth, freedom and safety of the citizens they represent.

And keep in mind that these problems arose when Obama was heralding what a great job he personally did to revive the economy. Imagine what happens to Chicago when the next recession comes about.

And Chicago is not representative of the country. Forbes recently ran an article about the 15 quickest growing metro areas. These cities are gaining population and growing vibrantly as compared to Chicago. And one thing jumps out when you look at these 15 fast growing metro areas: almost half of them, seven out of fifteen, are located in Texas and Florida, states that have a tax burden that is significantly lower than the tax burden in Chicago. Other growing metro areas are in other states with lower tax burdens. 

Which proves again to not only Chicago politicians but Washington politicians also: higher taxes rarely results in a better quality of life for the citizens that today’s politicians represent. It may result in a better quality of life for politicians but not for ordinary citizens. Chicago proves it: despite higher and higher tax rates and taxes, the quality of life of the city’s people continues to go down, it’s the political class way of life.

More insanity tomorrow on the political class insanity that permeates and infects our lives every day.

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:

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