Law

By almost every metric, a broad consensus among policymakers, researchers, and public opinion is that the "war on drugs" has been a failure in achieving its stated goals. The campaign, launched by President Richard Nixon in 1971, has not curbed drug use or ended the drug trade, but has had devastating social and economic consequences. There has been no measurable impact on supply and demand and America has spent over $1 trillion fighting this war and after 50 years drug use remains a problem. The roots of the problem began of all places in schools. When the schools tried to expel disruptive students, they were disproportionately minorities so they stopped. The same thing happened with suspensions. Next it moved to law enforcement. Stop and frisk was an effective way of getting illegal guns off the street but once again it involved too many minorities. For the same reasons, cash bail was eliminated as was incarcerating repeat criminals. The latest initiative is not releasing migrant criminals to federal authorities. Instead, they are comingled with other migrates impeding the feds from arresting them. It is the same strategy used by Hamas when they intersperse fighters with civilians. With the new approach drugs crossing the southern border have been curtailed and boats carrying drugs are being attacked. The next move will be for the drug dealers to kidnap children and put them on the drug boats so they can declare that the US is killing children. This hesitancy has happened in Minneapolis when Somali immigrants were exposed to theft of Covid money and were not prosecuted for fear of being seen as racist. Some people are concerned that minority groups are receiving special treatment under the law.

Lower prices

There are ways to lower the price of certain products but not to lower overall prices. Increase production of oil, natural gas and coal to lower energy cost Lower interest rates to make home loans more affordable Make auto loan interest tax deductible Reduce regulations on home and business construction Reduce supply chain cost by reshoring jobs Demand that Big Pharma offer drug prices to Americans like prices to other countries These are areas where both parties can agree. Then there are many ways of using government money to help people pay their bills. During Covid Biden $2 trillion in checks were sent to people. Some suggest a similar plan to help people pay for the higher cost of things like food and insurance.

Raise taxes

The current tax law renewed under Trump’s big bill means that a family of four can have $80,000 of income and pay zero income tax. This represents 53% of families. Couples with incomes of $750,000 up will pay the highest marginal tax rate of 37%. This does not include state income tax. This represents 1.4 million families. Raising taxes on the rich means these families. This group currently pays 40% of all income taxes which totaled one trillion dollars in 2025. If the top rate is raised to 50% this will bring in another $250 billion. Another way to raise revenue is to eliminate the capital gains tax and that would bring in $360 billion. This is money that goes mainly to wealthy people.

AOC

Is AOC the face of the democratic party? Polling data consistently shows she has high approval ratings among Democratic voters. Some polls indicate she is the individual most often named by voters (around 26%) when asked who the face of the party is, outperforming other prominent Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Here are some of her policy positions. The New Green Deal, Medicare for all, free college tuition, stricter gun laws, housing as a human right, defund police, supports cancelling student loan, supports biological men in women’s sports and locker rooms, supports LGBTQ community which includes drag performers in elementary schools, support CRT and keeping information from parents. Her stump speeches along with Bernie Sanders are composed mainly of negative remarks about Trump. He is described as a corrupt authoritarian and a threat to democracy. This is a policy also followed by Mayor Mamdani of NY City. Missing from both is a plan to grow the economy and create good jobs other than using government subsidies in the Green deal to create jobs. The main emphasis is on using tax money to provide benefits to certain groups. The question is, will this approach appeal to moderate democrats. Her one interest about the private sector is to raise corporate taxes.

Uranium

During the cold war the US was producing 50% of the world’s supply of uranium. When the USSR fell in 1990, Russian industries were catabolized and in one deal, Russia agreed to sell the US 500 tons of bomb grade uranium in a deal called Megatons to Megawatts. This was downgraded from 90% to 4% and sold at a huge discount. The US was producing enriched uranium at plants in Portsmouth and Paduca but they were going through the expensive enrichment process required by uranium. In the 90’s these plants were privatized and in 1998 a company called United States Enrichment Company (USEC) was created with an IPO that garnered $1.2 billion. The owners then decided to purchase cheap uranium from Russia and in 2001 Portsmouth was shut down and in 2010 Paduca closed. The $1.2 billion was used for USEC salaries and dividends. This is an example of the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about. Today the US produces only small amounts of uranium and is dependent on imports. As the world-wide demand for uranium increases, with the expected growth of nuclear power, the pressure will build to shift to thorium. Unlike uranium, thorium does not have to go through the very expensive enrichment process and is found all around the world in the waste products of other mining industries.

Bonus money

During the Covid, the government handed out money to the tune of $2 trillion and $190 billion of that went to school districts. The money was supposed to be used for one time cost programs but many districts hired new people and to pay for raises. They were warned not to use funds for ongoing expenses as the funds were only temporary. This combined with decreasing enrollment has caused budget problems for schools. This is not unusual but rather the norm when some groups come into a windfall. Back in 1998 the tobacco settlement awarded money to states to be used for smoking treatment programs but much of it was diverted to general fund obligations. Some of this for ongoing programs and when the money stopped the programs had to be financed from some other source. Once the government sets up a program it is difficult to stop.

Debt by state

One party control in a state creates different outcomes depending on the party. In Illinois the democrats hold every state wide office including governor. In addition, they have a super majority in the senate with 40-19 and a super majority in the house with 78-40 seats. The state is in debt $248 billion with at population of 12 million. Florida is controlled by republicans with a super majority in the house and senate. The state debt is $16 billion with a population of 23 million. Florida ranks 28th in property tax at .79% while Illinois is second at 2.07% The debt per person in Illinois is $20,000 and in Florida it is $700. Most of the Illinois’s debt is owed to pension plans for state employees and state teachers. The democratic party, both on a state level and federal level, promotes government debt financing. Illinois has 500 state employees per 10,000 population and Florida has 400. A similar situation can be seen by comparing Texas with California.