Free

Many years ago there was a wise king who gathered his scholars together and told them to write down everything they had learned so he could pass it on to future generations. After sometime they reported back with 12 large volumes and he said no, this is too cumbersome and sent them out to summarize. Once again they returned with one large volume and once again he sent them away. Finally after years of work they came to him with a piece of paper and it had one sentence on it and he was satisfied. It said, "there ain't no free lunch".

Medicare for all

Medicare for all can take one of two positions. First is government heath care for all citizens and no other option. Second it does not mean the total elimination of private insurance but it would be marginalized and left mostly for wealthy people who want to avoid wait times and select their own hospitals and doctors. Other countries with government healthcare offer similar options. Option one would mean that all private insurance companies would no longer exist and the two million people who work in that area would have to find new jobs. It would mean that medical professionals like doctors and nurses would become government employees. All private companies would be relieved of the responsibility and cost of providing health insurance for their employees and that currently includes 155 million people. The VA system in the United States is the closest thing we have like Medicare for all. The VA doctors work for the government and the government pays for services although there may be a co-pay.

Pledge

Santa Barbara Community College decided to stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance because according to them it represented white nationalism. This would be the next logical step after refusing to stand for the pledge which has occurred at schools across the country. A former teacher challenged that by showing up at the board meeting and reciting the pledge. The surprising thing was that she was booed and called a racist by those in attendance. The board later changed their mind and reinstated the pledge.

Kamala Harris

The veil is lifting on the 2020 election and the new favorite of the national press is Kamala Harris. She is intelligent, attractive and most important likable. She is the new Obama. Like Obama she is a two year senator with little national exposure. She is multiracial having a Black father and an Asian mother which means she will be referred to as Black. She is expected to not only gather the Black vote but to bring out the Black voters like Obama did. She will get the young vote by offering tuition free college and in some cases student loan debt forgiveness. She will get the Obamacare votes by offering medicare for all. She will get the Hispanic vote by reorganizing the Border Patrol and ICE. If she is elected the democrats will probably pick up two seats in the senate and then using the nuclear option get rid of the filibuster thus opening the door for new social programs to aid the lower income groups. These will be paid for by reducing defense spending and raising income taxes on the rich and may even include a wealth tax. Within weeks after the election Justice Ginsberg will retire and within a year Justice Breyer will retire and both will be replaced with younger liberals. As the Chinese see her rise in popularity they will postpone any real changes in the trade imbalance and hope that Trump is defeated. If she becomes president things will revert back to the way they were under Obama and the establishment will have regained their lost power. The only fly in the ointment is the rise in socialism which may upset independent voters otherwise we will be singing the FDR refrain of happy days are here again

ESL

It is almost unanimous that the road to economic freedom is best achieved with education. This is professed by many groups on a regular basis. The Internet is overflowing with quotes from people of all stripes praising the value of education but this week Tom Brokaw was roundly criticized for saying that immigrant should learn English. It is very difficult to get a good formal education in this country if you cannot speak, read and write English. Schools spend lots of time and money providing courses for English second language students.

Wall/fencing

The Border Fence Act passed in 2006 set aside $1.4 billion but estimated the 25 year cost would be $50 billion. In addition to fencing the act also authorized the use of more vehicle barriers, checkpoints and lighting to curb illegal immigration, and the use of advanced technology such as satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles. Trumps proposal includes all of the above plus money for 2,700 new border guards, money for drug detection, money for humanitarian assistance, money for court and judges to help with the backlog of 800,000 cases. These are all the things that both parties want except for the wall/fencing.

Refugee convention

The rule that states that when a refugee sets foot in the United States they have certain rights was part of the United Nations refugee convention of 1951. Here are the rights as outlined in the convention rules. Other rights contained in the 1951 Refugee Convention include: • The right not to be expelled, except under certain, strictly defined conditions (Article 32); • The right not to be punished for illegal entry into the territory of a contracting State (Article31); • The right to work (Articles 17 to 19); • The right to housing (Article 21); • The right to education (Article 22); • The right to public relief and assistance (Article 23); • The right to freedom of religion (Article 4); • The right to access the courts (Article 16); • The right to freedom of movement within the territory (Article 26); and • The right to be issued identity and travel documents (Articles 27 and 28 R

Give a little

One way to make a start to bring the country together is to understand that what ever side you are on you don't have to be 100% on that side. You can be a conservative and be for universal background check for gun permits. You can be a liberal and oppose late term abortions. You can be a conservative and raise taxes on the rich. You can be a liberal be for drug testing people on public assistance. You can be a conservative and offer a path to citizenship for dreamers. You can be a liberal and be for a border wall. You can be willing to compromise on 20% of your platform to break the gridlock. Most people understand that in life you don't get everything you want. Married couples learn this lesson early on.

Full term abortions

Sometimes parents opt for an abortion because the child has a serious birth defect like Trisomy 18. This chromosomal abnormality, which causes heart, kidney and severe mental disabilities, is usually fatal. About one in 6,000 babies have this problem. Most people can sympathize with the parents. The question arises, what happens if a similar problem is only detected after the baby is born. Is the country now ready for infanticide?

Tax money for the poor

As the various democratic candidates for president announce, they bring with them tax and spend plans and most involve taxing the rich and some will send money directly to the people which is better than having the government keep it and then decide who gets what. Since it would take republican votes to pass any tax plan most of this talk is for the primary election. Once a candidate is chosen then all of this will either go away or be toned down. The press knows this but it creates great news stories so they hype it up. Most of these plans do not include any additional taxes on those proposing the plan. Two candidates have come out with a plan to send $500 per month to certain low income people. Most of these people are already dependent on government and this will increase their dependency. When people realize they can get money for their votes they will tend to go in that direction which is what most people already do. That is why we have lobbyist for most groups but not for the poor. These people running for office see themselves as lobbyist for the poor which adds a little altruism to their candidacy. They feel it is honorable to take from the haves and give to the have nots.

Free stuff

Why does socialism have such strong appeal. Because socialism offers people what appears to be immediate gratification--the promise of free this or free that, or of security from some perceived risk or harm or deprivation. It also represents fairness in the minds of many. While most oppose it as an economic theory there is a point where the gap between those at the very top and the rest becomes unacceptable. The benefits that the super rich bring to society are overlooked just because they are too too rich. For example 25 years ago Jeff Bezos was just like any other American and he started Amazon and now he is worth $140 billion dollars but is money is mostly in stock. The rich either invest the money, spend the money or save the money all three of which helps the economy grow. His investing has brought a great service to all Americans not to mention the 660,000 jobs created. Walmart was created by a small businessman and today his family is worth $90 billion but once again that is invested in stock and helps to provide jobs for over 2 million people in the United States. The number of jobs created by Bill Gates is hard to determine but it is in the millions. Some economist say that the harm brought to the rich by taxation is not as great as the harm brought to those who receive something for nothing. This is too subjective to quantify but it represents one view.

Tax on wealth

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has proposed a "wealth tax" on some of the richest Americans. I have been waiting for this for sometime. It will start with the 160,000 people who have assets of over $50 million with the average being $72 million. It will start at 2.5% of their net worth and bring in about $275 billion per year. That could give every taxpayer $1,800. However it will not work that way. The money will go to the government and then distributed based on how they (the government) determines the need.

Citizenship

The pending case before the Supreme Court regarding the question of citizenship on the 2020 census can be resolved regardless of how the court rules. If you are a non-citizen and the census taker asks you the question just say yes. It is similar to the way people got around paying the penalty for not having health insurance. They just answered the question on their tax return saying they had health insurance when in fact they did not.

Late term abortions

New York changed their abortion law amid some misunderstanding. Some news outlets reported that abortions are now legal if the health of the mother is in jeopardy which is true but needs further context. Prior to this the law was that the abortion was legal only if the life of the mother was in danger. The question of whether the mother's life should take precedent over the child has long been contentious especially if the mother has other children. In the past women who wanted a late term abortion went doctor shopping just like people who want prescriptions filled. The doctor would say the mothers life was in danger and now they will say the mothers health is in danger. Of course anytime a woman gives birth there is a certain danger to her health and life. Doctor shopping happens on a regular basis just as judge shopping does.

Vaccines

The Governor of Washington declared a measles emergency calling it“extreme public-health risk that may quickly spread to other counties". With all of the turmoil going on in Central America it is reasonable to assume that some of the children in the caravans may not have received their vaccinations. If this is the case they should be vaccinated as soon as they arrive.

Norway

The push for socialism is on the rise in the USA. Often times it is referred to as democratic socialism such as they have in Europe and more specifically Scandinavian Countries of which Norway is a typical example. In Norway 83% of the people are Norwegians going back many generations meaning the they have a common culture, language and religion with 80% being Lutheran. The government owns 68% of the oil that was discovered in the North Sea. Norway’s giant government savings fund said it hit a new milestone on Tuesday: It had amassed $1 trillion, or roughly $188,000 for each of the 5.32 million Norwegians. Money from this fund is used to provide public aid. The per-capita gdp in Norway is $66,000 vs $59,000 in the USA but the cost of living is 45% higher in Norway, for example a haircut cost $50. About 30% of the average workers paycheck goes to taxes whereas it is about 12% in the USA. 30% of those employed work for the government as opposed to 15% in the USA. College tuition if free and healthcare is almost free at about $250 per year. In summery, “In Norway, many of the things you need are cheap and many things you want are expensive. In the US, it's the reverse.

70% tax rate

A newly elected congresswomen suggests that the top tax rate for those earning more than $10 million dollars per year be raised to 70%. There are 2,000 taxpayers in that group and they currently pay $90 billion in taxes. If the rate is raised they would pay an additional $80 billion assuming they did not find any loop holes, a dubious assumption. If that $80 billion is given to the government and the government is allowed to determine how it is spent they could come up with some great programs. We could give each family on food stamps $2,000. We could give each person on social security $1,300 or the fairest is to share it with the other taxpayers and they would each receive $500. I'm for option two.

Buying votes

While it is illegal to buy votes it is acceptable to institute programs that curry votes. For the very low income offer free childcare for preschoolers, Medicaid and food stamps. Next up the economic ladder offer child tax credit and earned income credit. Moving up offer tax deductible mortgage interest and property tax. Up again offer deferred compensation and stock options and finally for the top capital gains tax instead of income tax. Our government runs on offering benefits for votes. We have now reached the point where half of the people pay no income tax so they are encouraged to vote for more benefits. In 1951 a guy named Peterson said the government can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. Some say we are approaching that point.

If this is true

The new standard for journalism is based on the phrase, "if this is true". No matter what is said, no matter how harmful it might be it is OK if it is prefaced with those words. Once it is said and out there on the Internet then all of the retractions or apologies will not matter. If someone wants to ruin your life all they have to do is put it out on the net and then others will follow up by saying, if this is true then you are a child molester. Within hours this will be retweeted around the world and you are duck soup. The Internet has become the accuser, the judge and the jury.

MLK

On this MLK day I am reminded of another great Black America Frederick Douglass. He befriended Abraham Lincoln and said in so many words that the black man left to his own would accomplish his dreams. He does not need help from the white man but only give us the right to vote and we can take care of ourselves. In answering the question as to what should be done to the freed slaves he responded: Our answer is, do nothing with them; mind your business, and let them mind theirs. Your doing with them is their greatest misfortune. They have been undone by your doings, and all they now ask, and really have need of at your hands, is just to let them alone. They suffer by every interference, and succeed best by being let alone

Candidates

An early look at the democratic candidates for president reveals many different personalities with much the same agenda. First and foremost they want to increase taxes on the rich and increase government programs. Elected officials who want to increase taxes rarely want to increase their taxes. Some of the more popular are free college tuition, solar and wind, job guarantees with livable wage, health care reform and paid child care. The overall theme for everyone will be to bring the country together. Since the differences will not be great the voters will fall back on the old reliable "likeability". One of the qualities needed is administrative experience either in government balancing a budget or in business meeting a payroll. This eliminates the 10 candidates who are senators, the six who are representative but opens the door for the 6 who are governors and the four are mayors. There are also former government employees who ran departments like Kerry and Clinton at State and Castro at HUD and don't forget Biden. Also CEO's like Schultz, Rubin and Styer and of course the very popular Ophra.

Help the poor

As an aid to those who want the government to do more to help the poor, I have come up with a new source of income. There are many retired couples who have more disposable income now than at any time during their lives. If both were career types they have $40,000 in social security plus another $40,000 in pension plus savings at a time when they no longer contribute to retirement savings, the house is paid for and the kids are through college. It would be a minor sacrifice for them to send off an extra ten grand a year to help the needy. As an added incentive, I remind you that whatever you do for the least of my brethren you do for me and I do mean me.

Vaping

As if high school administrators don't have enough to worry about the added burden of vaping is now a big concern. While vaping has fewer chemicals than tobacco there are students who otherwise would not have started smoking who are taking up vaping. One of the problems is the misconception that since it is less harmful than cigarettes then it is OK. The same misconception occurs with pot smoking. As states consider placing restrictions on vaping they are easing restrictions on pot.

Child tax credit

A significant tax break for low to middle income people is the child tax credit. This is a $2,000 credit for each dependent under age 17. You can qualify for this benefit even if you don't owe any tax. Many people who are here illegally file taxes to get refunds using an ITIN which is a substitute for a social security number. It is used only to file taxes. To claim the child tax credit the dependent must have a social security number. Many children qualify as dependents including nephews and nieces. It is somewhat common for people to list dependents using fake social security numbers. As a taxpayer using an ITIN to file I can include,for example, ten dependents and qualify for a $20,000 refund. It is estimated that 2 million dependents are used this way for total funds of $4 billion dollars in refunds.

Impeach

When the republican house impeached President Clinton they had little to no chance that the senate might convict because they had 55 republican senators and they needed 67 votes so 12 democratic senators would have to vote to impeach a democratic president. If the house would vote to impeach Trump the democrats would need 18 republicans to convict assuming the two independents voted to impeach. In both cases the impeachment is just political maneuvering, a waste of time just trying to make the president look bad.

Ageism

These days family and good health are the most important things in my life but I am also excited about Youtube and sub-teaching. Music is soul food and I can hear songs both current and from years ago and I spend many enjoyable hours listening. Teaching is great because I can choose the days I work and the schools I go to. I choose high school and science, math and social studies. If my wife isn't feeling well I can stay home. One day a ninth grader said, you sure know a lot of stuff and I answered yes and when you're 81 you will know lots of stuff. I am qualified by education and experience for many different jobs but when I interview, people get very nervous. They need not worry because I am not a litigious person and their excuse that I am over qualified will suffice but ageism is rampant in today's would.

DACA

On a number of occasions President Obama said he did not have the right to defer deportation on dreamers but then he did it in something called DACA. He called it “a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people.” Many people believe he did the right thing but in the wrong way. It should have been done by congress but they would not act so he took matters into his own hands and issued and executive order. When Trump was elected he rescinded that order and demanded that congress to their job. Trump has now proposed a compromise to congress to make DACA legal and he will sign it into law. Most feel that the Hispanic community will be for this.

Census and electoral count

There is a controversial question regarding the upcoming 2020 census and asks if the person is a citizen. The constitution requires a census every ten years but does not specify what questions should be asked. If there is not a distinction between citizens and non-citizens then all are counted. This means that non-citizens will indirectly vote in the presidential elections because of the electoral college. Votes in the electoral college are determined based on population. In additions many government benefits are based on total population and this affords states with large numbers of illegal aliens/undocumented immigrants additional government funds. Mandatory federal funds to states is about $500 billion per year or about $1,500 per person. A state like California with an estimated 3 million illegals gets $4.5 billion for these people.

Student loans

I graduated high school in 1955 and like my friends before me, I intended to go into the Air Force and then go to college on the GI Bill. Unfortunately they stopped the GI Bill that year and so I just went to work full time and school part time. Nine years later I graduated from Miami University of Ohio. I had a good job, nine years work experience and money in the bank. Today students can graduate in four or five years with no job, no work experience and $40,000 in debt because of student loans. Student loan debt currently stands at $1.5 trillion and growing rapidly. The average interest rate on these government loans is 5.8% when CD's are paying half that. The unintended consequence of student loans is that colleges raised tuition as these loans became available although many feel this should have been anticipated.

Crisis

Since the last major overhaul of the U.S. immigration system in 1986, the federal government has spent an estimated $263 billion on immigration enforcement. What has this spending bought? The United States currently has over 650 miles of fencing along the Southern border, record levels of staff for ICE and CBP, as well as a fleet of drones, among other resources. In a nationally televised address from the White House in 2016 President Obama warned about an "actual humanitarian crisis on the border" prompted by a surge of migrants from Central America, and urged Congress to take action on his immigration agenda. Instead of using all resources to solve this problem the discussion centers around the wall. The wall was first said to be too expensive and ineffective and now it is immoral. Now they argue over the word crisis. Does anyone have an answer to this problem?

Lies

Hypocrisy is a word that is popular in the news today and people often use euphemism to justify their positions on issues. Phrases like moral equivalence, selective memory and situational ethics are cover ups for justifying contradictory beliefs. To say you are going to do something and then not do it is bad but it is much worse if you say you didn't do something you have already done. If the something is minor (white lie) and hasn't caused significant harm then it can be overlooked but if has negatively impacted peoples lives then it must be investigated. When Trump exaggerates the crowd size or says people were on the roof tops cheering on 9/11 or millions were involved in voter fraud or all of his statements about the greatest everything he does are white lies. While these things may not directly affect the lives of most people they do question his credibility on more important issues. His more important contradictions are being investigated daily by congress and the Russia connection and we shall see if anything develops. When Obama said 36 times you can keep your doctor, this had an adverse effect on the lives of millions of Americans. When Hillary Clinton said she never sent classified information on her private email the FBI pointed out that she did, this warranted further investigation and maybe it will happen. The above two paragraphs illustrate the most common way of justifying lies and that is to point out that both sides do it. The truth is that some lies are more serious than others but all lies cause doubts in what else is said.

China and WTO

America is not only the land of opportunity for those who live here but also for those around the world. The innovation that comes from US companies is shared by all. These companies spend part of their profits on research and development and this leads to new products and new ideas which provide the many benefits we take for granted. When companies desire to expand into China they are required to give over the fruits of their R & D and thus lose the competitive advantage they gained from their investments. When China was allowed to join the WTO is was with the assumption that they would be more open to free trade but that did not happen. This has been a good thing for US multinationals but it has hurt the working people as they watched their jobs go overseas.

Teachers rights

Yesterday at my class in high school the students worked on paper that was to be turned in at the end of the period. Experience has taught me that some students will not do the work and not turn in the paper and later tell the teacher that they didn't know they were supposed to turn it in. Thus I stand by the door reminding everyone to turn in their papers. While I was saying lets see your papers, lets see your papers I was reminded of those old WW 2 movies where the Gestapo is always asking for papers so I said, I sound like the border patrol. Within minutes the assistant principal was at my door saying he got a complaint that I was talking politics. Someone apparently thought I was referring to the US-Mexico border. The First Amendment right of teachers is in jeopardy.

California teachers

This situation with California teachers is similar to other states in some ways but vastly different in other ways. First off they do not contribute to social security so they receive no ss benefits. They do contribute 9.7% of their salary to the pension but since they don't contribute 7.65% to ss they have less cost than most states. They are similar in that they must put too much money into the pension to keep it properly funded. The average salary for a California teacher is $68,000 and the average retirement is $48,000. To give an example of the problems they face look at home ownership. The medium home value in California is $548,000. If you could afford to pay the minimum down of 3.5% for a FHA loan you would have to come up with $19,180. Then you would be faced with a $2,500 monthly principal and interest payment. In addition the property tax in California is 1% of the value of the property or $5,480 on average. On an annual basis that is $35,480 or 52% of your gross income of $68,000. Most mortgage companies will not offer a loan on that basis so the average teacher cannot afford a house. In the past three years the schools have used one-third of their money for pension contributions and in next three years it will be more than half. No matter how burdensome the larger and larger pension payments may be, actuaries say they’re necessary to protect teachers’ hard-earned retirement and prevent the system from running out of money.

News cheerleaders

The towns people complained about the safety of a certain street corner and nothing was done. One day a serious accident happened and someone died. Shortly afterwards a stop light was installed. If we have a bomb go off at an airport because the TSA people are staying home then the wall will be gone and the government will reopen. If a terrorist comes across the southern border and blows up a mall then the wall will be built. Governments tend to be reactive and not proactive. In either case congress would hold meetings to determine whom to blame and rest assured it would not be them. People that used to be for the wall are against it and some who were against the wall are now for it. One party says the other party could have fixed the problem when they were in charge but both neglect to mention that neither party had 60 votes in the senate. Some news stations emphasize the problems of the government employees who are not getting paid and other stations emphasize the problems with the caravans and borders. When the supposedly neutral news people have taken sides we have replaced the protection of the free press with cheerleaders.

Income redistribution

There are a number of ways that the government redistributes income and the one most talked about is income tax because it is progressive, that is, as you earn more you move into a higher bracket. There are other ways where the system is regressive. Low income people are hurt most by these ways which include gas tax, sales tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax, soft drink tax and many hidden taxes the most prominent of which is excise tax. Federal excise tax revenues—collected mostly from sales of motor fuel, airline tickets, tobacco, alcohol, and health-related goods and services—totaled $83.8 billion in 2017, or 2.5 percent of federal tax receipts. Some of the more recent taxes are pot tax and in California a proposal to tax drinking water. All of these taxes contribute to the growing disparities in income. The 5th edition of ITEP’s Who Pays finds that middle- and low-income people in all 50 states pay substantially more of their income in state and local taxes than wealthy individuals and families. The government takes money from these people and gives it back in the form of benefits which curries favor and hopefully leads to votes. This process has been spiraling up over the past 50 years and will probably continue. The question is would these people be better off if there were no tax and no public assistance and they got to determine how to spend their income. The government officials feel that these people would spend their money irresponsibly and still need help.

MS 13

The phrase Trump derangement syndrome is hard to define but one example stands out. When Trump said MS 13 members were animals Nancy Pelosi felt she had to defend them by saying aren't we all God's children. Hitler was one of God's children but it would be unusual for a politician to refer to him in that manner. The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS13, is perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere.

Tax credits

Prior to 1975 if a person receiving welfare went to work they would lose part or all of their benefits depending on how much they earned. This discouraged work and so the law was adjusted to minimize the effect of work. So the government instead of just removing this impediment decided to introduce something called the earned income credit (EIC). If you worked you would still lose your welfare but you would be compensated by the EIC. Your benefits increase if you have one, two or three children. This year the maximum benefit is $6,300 if you have three children and earn less than $54,000. The benefit decreases as your income rises above a certain level. For example this family earning $25,000 would get a $6,000 benefit but the same family earning $35,000 would get $4,000. In 1987 the law changed and each child was required to have a valid social security number and at that time 7 million children who had been receiving benefits disappeared. There was obviously a lot of fraud going on. The EIC is a refundable tax credit meaning you can claim it even if you owe no taxes. If you have three children and earn $35,000 you will pay no federal or state income tax and you will receive $4,000 in EIC plus another $6,000 in child tax credits. In addition there are other public assistance benefits that you may qualify for.

Share the wealth

The dictionary says that socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Marx said "from each according to his means to each according to his needs". Three cheers for Bill de Blasio , Mayor of New York who said yesterday that there is plenty of money in the city to take care of everyone. Mr. Mayor was not talking about just raising taxes, not just about income but wealth. Now were looking at a significant increase in money for most Americans. The total wealth (assets minus liabilities) of the United States is about $100 trillion dollars. If you divide that by 330 million Americans each person gets $300,000. Now were cookin! John and Mary and their two kids get $1.2 million which is 20 years of salary up front. I say what are we waiting for? At age 81, I figure I got 19 years left and that gives me about 15 grand a year for fun money plus another 15 grand for my wife. I can see those white sandy beaches now.

Some liberal thinking people are suggesting that the constitution be changed in regards to the number of senators assigned to each state. According to existing law each state gets two senators. Since the country is now divided between red states and blue states the red states have an advantage since 30 of the fifty are red. This means that the senate will tend to remain in control of conservatives. In the last election red states had a population of 180 million and blue states at 140 million. The trend is that on average people are leaving blue states and moving to red states. This has less to do with politics and more to do with weather, economic activity and taxes. On average blue states have higher state income tax rates and they are continuing to move in that direction and meanwhile many red states are lowering their state income tax rates. Two years ago Minnesota raised their taxes and this year Iowa is lowering their taxes. One of the main reasons for these differences is that blue states tend to have better welfare benefits and of course this cost more and thus higher taxes.

Fed regs

Over the years congress has conceded power to the Executive branch and this trend will continue if Trump uses military funds to build the wall. Recall that the founders were afraid of the power of the king and wanted to limit the power of the president. Originally the federal government could raise armies, make treaties, coin money and regulate trade with foreign countries. All other powers to be given to the states. Not satisfied with that the founders then added the Bill of Rights to further protect the people from the federal government. These included freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, of assembly, of illegal searches and the right to a jury trial. They topped it off with the right to own property and vote. Today things are turned up side down with bureaucrats controlling the lives of people. During the Obama years alone 20,642 new regs were added costing $22 billion per year. These are all enforced by non elected federal employees. Remember when people were upset in 1973 when the government put in the 55 mph speed limit. How times have changed.

Court rules

According to a recent Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration audit, the labor market includes a shocking 1.4 million employed illegal aliens who in 2015 used falsified or stolen Social Security numbers to get hired. Not only have the illegal immigrants committed a crime by unlawfully entering the United States, but identity theft through fraudulent Social Security number misuse is a felony. Recent court cases state that it is not identity theft if you use a false social security number but use your own name.

Raising taxes

Raising the tax rate on wealthy people will not bring in as much tax income as expected. CEO Jim earns $20 million and a new law says that all earned income about $10 million will be taxed at 90% including federal and state. This means Jim only gets one million from the last ten million he earned. He decides to forgo the ten million leaving it in the company for future investments and payments to stock holders. The company then gives Jim $10 million in stock options to be used after he retires. He will then pay capital gains tax when he sells the stock at retirement and that is currently at 20%. He does forgo the use of the money immediately but he can live comfortably on his base salary of $10 million.

Latino agents

40% of ICE agents and 50% of border guards are Latino. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) likened immigration enforcement agency ICE to the Ku Klux Klan  In today's world of social media comments are made for effect and politicians across the board are taking advantage of this fact. Once something is out there it is almost impossible to erase it. It is like a false allegation that tarnishes a person reputation. Done is done.

NYC

When Medicare started in 1965 the cost for individuals was $3 per month so no one objected. The estimated 30 years cost was $9 billion but the actual cost in inflation adjusted dollars was $90 billion or ten times as much. The first ten year cost of Obamacare came in at three times the estimate. Obamacare was announced saying it would insure 30 million people at no additional cost. Now the Mayor of New York City says he will insure 600,000 in the city for a cost of $100 million dollars or $167 per year per person.

What about ism

In the past I have pointed out how politicians get off the hook by using what I called the teenage defense, that is, Mom everyone is doing. It seems that no matter how badly a politician behaves as long as they can point out that someone in the other party did the same thing then it is OK. It is not necessarily OK but it dies as a news story when it can be shown that both sides do it. I see now that they have a new phrase that describes this behavior, "what about ism". Mine is better.

Gerrymandering

Part of HR 1 the first bill of the new congress has to do with drawing the boundaries for elections. There is need for improvement as boundaries are now determined by state legislators and they are corrupted by a process called gerrymandering. Lines are drawn to give preferential treatment to one political party. The new law proposes to take the responsibility for drawing the lines away from the state legislators and giving it to a select committee. Since republicans control 66 of the 99 districts this is viewed as a way to move the power away from republicans. No explanation is given for how the select committee will be formed but it is assumed it will be federally controlled. One way to get rid of gerrymandering and do so in an apolitical way is to make use of technology. A computer program can select boundaries based solely on population without regard to political parties. This will not pass since each party wants to control the boundaries to their advantage. We will get computer drawn boundaries when we get term limits. To ask the congress to vote for something that will limit their power is asking too much.

Back to work

Last month 400,000 people came back into the work force. Where did they come from? There are currently 7 million able bodied men between the ages of 25 and 54 who are not working. These are mostly men who have limited formal education who have found a way to live without working. This can mean many things. Help from relatives and friends along with government benefits or perhaps working for cash. This group of men has been increasing gradually over the past 30 years and results from many low paying jobs being shipped out of the country. These men are part of a larger group of people who are promised every four years by the latest presidential candidate that things will get better if you elect me. These people represent a large portion of Trump voters who finally got fed up with all the false promises. They are the hillbillies and rubes that many call the low information voters and yesterday some columnist referred to as the ten teeth people. If these new workers earn $20,000 per year that will add $8 billion dollars to the GDP plus it will give these workers the dignity they deserve.

Income inequality

With talk of socialism in the air some defenders say what they really want is democratic socialism like they have in Europe. Time to compare notes. The United States has a GDP of $21 trillion and it spends 21% on federal, state, and local government. There are 325 million people so the GDP per person is $64,000. The European Union has a GDP of $18.8 trillion and it spends 45% on federal, state and local government. There are 512 million people so the GDP per person is $37,000. The US spends $700 billion on defense and the European Union spends $230 billion as they depend on the US to protect them. Income inequality is less so in the Union. In the Union the top 10% take 12% of the income where as in the US the top 10% takes 20%. In the Union the bottom 50% have 22% of the income and in the US the bottom 50% get 10%.

Amnesty

Since 1986 there have been 7 amnesties passed by congress. https://www.numbersusa.com/content/learn/illegal-immigration/seven-amnesties-passed-congress.html Each time those opposing amnesty were told that the border would be closed to illegals and each time it did not happen. In 2006 congress authorized 700 miles of border fence and Pelosi and Schumer along with 27 democratic senators voter for the fence. Pelosi is now saying that the fence doesn't work and in fact it is immoral. This is re mindful of remarks by recently deceased columnist Charles Krauthhammer who penned that liberals think conservatives are evil.

Mandate

The individual mandate in Obamacare means that people who choose not to have health insurance will pay an extra charge when they file their income taxes. This was included to encourage people to sign up for Obamacare. This was introduced as a penalty for not having insurance but the Supreme Court said it would only be legal if it were a tax and not a penalty. A top surrogate for President Obama insisted Friday that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act was not a tax — despite the fact that the Supreme Cour tnarrowly preserved the law on those grounds. Part of last years new tax law included the repeal of the individual mandate and a judge in Texas ruled that the rest of Obamacare is invalid. This could not have been repealed if it were a penalty.

Recessions

It is said that if a lie is told often enough it becomes the truth. Over the past ten years the recession of 2008 was presented as the worse recession since the great depression but that may not be the case. When compared to the recession of 1982 it doesn't look quite so bad. Early in Reagan's first term the country went into a tail spin. Unemployment soared to 10.5% and the housing sales and prices collapsed. Inflation rose to 13% while interest rates hit 21%. No one could afford to borrow money so business suffered and retail sales fell. The recession that hit early in Obama's first term did have 10.5% unemployment but interest rates were kept below one percent as was inflation. In both cases the GDP went into negative territory but in the Reagan recession the GDP recovered in two years and averaged 5% for Reagan's second term. In the Obama recession the GDP averaged only 2% during his second term and thus was a very slow recovery. The spending programs put in place to hold interest rates down caused economic turmoil for which we are still paying the price. In the 80's Reagan cut the top tax rate from 70% to 28% and spurred a recovery that lasted for 20 years but government spending in the Obama years may have saved the country from going deeper into recession but the price was a repayment program which will be with us for years.

Fake news

Here is an example of misleading news. According to reports, Cuomo (D) issued pardons to 22 immigrants who, because mainly of drug-related convictions, could have been deported or blocked from citizenship. He also commuted the sentences of seven other individuals, including four for murder and three for armed robbery. Here is a report from a conservative site. Cuomo pardoned 22 illegal aliens who could have been deported for their crimes.  Note the word illegal.

Reform immigration

What do Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have in common. They have all been in office through the entire terms of the George Bush and Barak Obama administrations. During these years they have repeatedly stated that they want to reform our immigration policy as was the case of those in charge going back to the Clinton years. They are now saying this again and the question is does anyone believe them. They say they will use high tech cameras and drones, plans they call strong and smart border security, the same ideas that have been presented for 40 years. In spite of it all the arrest of illegals crossing the border have exceeded 50,000 per month in recent months.

Stocks and the money supply

The assets on the Federal Reserve balance sheet increased from one trillion in 2008 up to 5 trillion by 2015. This put lots of money into circulation and kept interest rates low. In November of last year they started to correct this situation at the rate of $50 billion dollars per month and since that time the Dow Stock average has dropped from $26,000 to $22,000. As the money supply decreases interest rates will rise and the economy will slow. This so called winding down will continue for years unless the fed deems the disruption to the market is too severe. It is time to pay the piper for the price of overcoming the financial crisis of 2008.

Cars today

When I started driving in 1953 the price of gas was 20 cents per gallon. I you increase that by the inflation rate gas today would be $2.04 per gallon which is just about where it is today but with one important difference. My car in the 50's got 15 mpg but my car today gets 30 mpg. My car in the 50's would be kaput at 100,000 miles and my car today has 260,000 miles on it. My car in the 50's had to replace things like batteries, mufflers, shocks and brakes two or three times as often as my car today. Air pollution by cars has been reduced by 98%. By replacing gasoline with natural gas a further 30% reduction can be achieved. The way an assembly line product like a car lasts today is a credit to new manufacturing methods and a great benefit to consumers.

Happy New Year

As we start the new year here are few facts that show that things are getting better and many feel that one of the main reasons is free market capitalism. The percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty has plummeted since 1950. The percentage of the world’s population who can read has skyrocketed in that same period Life expectancy has been rising More and more countries are adopting democratic forms of government. HAPPY NEW YEAR!