California dreaming

Why are eggs so expensive in California? Over regulation for animal rights drives out egg farms.

Why are there so many homeless people in California? Over regulation of housing to meet green goals so only the rich live in neighborhoods that meet those requirements.

Why are there so many fires in California? Over regulation of forests to protect the environment. 

Why is gasoline so costly in California? Higher gas taxes to feed a hungry bureaucracy.

California's economy is larger than Germany's. Why are there so many poor people? Democrats.

Catalog browsing--Uline

I just love sitting down with the 800+ page Uline catalog. Oh sure, you can read it on line, but it brings back the memories of the old Sears and Roebuck, or the Montgomery Ward catalogs. Mom would give us the old one for craft and paper doll projects when the new one arrived. (Yes, and in the 40s some still used them for t.p.) The real name of the family is Uihlein, but it's been simplified for customers. Everything from pegboards to zippered partitions, from key holders to trash cans, from stretch wrap to label guns, from respirators to wall clocks. And the packages and tape to ship them. They've got boxes to ship your art, guitar, unicycle, dishes, wardrobe, wine, and drum set.

I've written about this catalog before. Collecting My Thoughts: Enjoying the Uline Catalog

Collecting My Thoughts: Thank you, Uihlein family

Liz, the president, writes interesting tidbits. In 2019 she compared Texas and California where they have companies, and California didn't look too good because of taxes, regulations, cost of living and gas prices. This year it's China, Covid and U.S. policy. She is very pro-American, and admits it's hard to compete with China, although about 20% of their products come from China. She says publicly held companies are too concerned about their stock share price and don't invest enough in new equipment and up date their plants. She liked Trump's support of American companies, and his "America First" philosophy. She wants a clearly defined policy because Democrats are trying to undo the lower taxes, increase in tariffs, Trump's new trade deals, and stopping the endless wars which were bad for security and the economy.

She writes, "America sorely needs a coherent, largely united trade policy. If we don't get this done, this century belongs to the Chinese."

You go girl--you make more sense than most of Congress.

Almost 30 years or more of brainwashing

Larry Burkett wrote a book, "What ever happened to the American dream," Moody Press, 1993. The year Bill Clinton took office. Usually that's a line for the left. Income gap. Dying unions. Shrinking middle class. What happened to the American dream? Burkett writes:

"There is enough material available on the impact of government regulations and their effect on the economy to write an entire book. But, in reality, regulations are just one part of the overall problem. The sad thing is that, with all the misinformation being aimed at the public via our media, America's children are being brainwashed into believing that all those regulations are in their best interests.”

Almost 27 years ago, and Burkett couldn't have imagined what was coming down the pike in the way of regulations. . . especially speech codes, mandatory anti-bias classes for college students, tearing down statues representing our history, use pronouns of choice or lose a job, drag queens for library story hour, hormone blockers for adolescents with consent of parents, doctors and psychologists, 9 month abortions called women's health, 50% of the citizenry bullied as deplorables by a national candidate, environmental disasters in California and skyrocketing homelessness due to disastrous regulations, and the civil war caused by Democrats' failure to accept an election. These weren't laws--they were regulations passed by unelected federal bureaucrats or local boards and committees and increasingly by digital giants infesting our freedoms.

Burkett said that increasing regulations translated to fewer jobs, lower salaries and diminished competition regardless of who was in the White House, but he was definitely on track when he referred to the brainwashing of children. President Trump is trying to bring back America, but because those children of a quarter a century ago have passed on their ignorance and government dependency to their own children, his accomplishments are ignored and his supporters called a cult.

California has the highest poverty rate in the country!

I heard this on the radio today and couldn't believe it, but here it is in the Orange County Register.
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/09/25/california-leads-the-nation-in-poverty/

How can it be that a state which is (I've heard) the 5th largest economy in the world, that has the film and TV industry locked down, that has the tech businesses controlling our lives, that is a lovely tourist attraction both artificial and natural, that has a fabulous climate, gracious purple mountain majesty as well as the amber waves of grain, or at least broccoli and garlic fields, that has all the diversity of race and creed that we are always told is desirable. How? Why?

While the rest of the country is blossoming under President Trump, California is dead last in business expansion. Socialism on the cusp. Environmentalism and climate change hype run amuck. Regulations stifling business out the wazoo. And governor Moonbeam.

Victor Davis Hanson explains how this has happened incrementally.  https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/20/mismanagement-in-california-means-heavy-price-for-/

Why such a slow recovery?

Some liberals/progressives/Democrats say the slow recovery from the recession (theoretically it ended in June 2009 before the ARRA even kicked in) is because Obama was left such a mess by Bush. Recessions, small and large seem to roll around about every 10 years, and the recovery takes longer than the drop. The Great Depression of the 1930s is a good example, or bad, depending on your politics. Many believe Roosevelt extended it by about 5 years through government meddling; others believe he saved the country. But that was then, this is now.

Obama’s policies have created the slow recovery through costly new regulations and a very “efficient“ bureaucracy--which compounds the problem. President Obama’s regulators have completed their 600th major rule. A major rule imposes costs of more than $100 million. Bush also loved regulations, but Obama has exceed him by 20%.  And it isn't over til it's over.

"The Administration has already issued 40 major rules in 2016 and it may have as many as 50 more in the pipeline. In only the past few months the Administration has issued major rules on drones ($2.6 billion); a fiduciary rule for retirement savings ($31.5 billion); and new rules on Arctic drilling ($2.1 billion). Going forward, the Administration plans to finish up greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty trucks ($31 billion), efficiency rules for manufactured housing ($4.1 billion), and more."

He'll push more through as he packs up to leave Washington, and can be confident if Hillary is elected that she will complete his economy killing plans. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-all-time-regulation-record-1470435716

Strangling business with regulations

The major regulations imposed by the Obama administration now cost Americans more than $80 billion a year—twice as much as the rules issued by the Bush administration at the six-year mark, according to a Heritage Foundation report released today.

The report, “Red Tape Rising: Six Years of Escalating Regulation Under Obama,” documents an increase of 27 major rules in 2014, which brings the administration’s total to 184.

http://dailysignal.com/2015/05/12/the-obama-administrations-major-regulations-cost-more-than-80-billion-annually/

The Omnibus Final Rule

It’s just not good to read “conundrum,” “new regulations,” “administrative and technical challenges,” “impede innovation,” and “contentious issue” all in the same article about HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.  Not after the sloppy, struggling, and insecure roll out of Obamacare.  The Omnibus Final Rule.

There are a few hot button words for me in the JAMA September 18, 2013 article, “The HIPAA Conundrum in the Era of Mobile Health and Communications.”

• mandates
• redefined
• expanded
• now considered
• now required
• can be held criminally liable
• pose technical challenges
• estimated cost $114-225 million for start up
• underestimates compliance costs
• may impose unfunded mandates
• may impede innovation
• in theory. . .
• in practice. . .
• actual security will rely on user’s behavior
• important hurdles
• employing consultants has become the norm
• can be costly
• down stream contractors
• poor guidance
• impose
• shift
• refuse
• trapped
• impassable requirements
• penalized
• landscape is rapidly evolving

How a Sustainalist Think Tank rates Obama

Call them leftists, socialists, environmentalists, greengoes or sustainalists, makes no difference. Here's how the World Resources Institute rates Obama in 2011 for Climate Policy.

1. Congress Didn’t Act (makes little difference--Obama has said he will veto anything that is anti-regulatory or good for business).
2. National Vehicle Rules Established (EPA and DOT busy nailing down the coffin lid for Michigan).
3. California Moves Ahead (going international for its regulations to further create a budget crisis).
4. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Economic benefits (a greenhouse gas cap–and-trade program for the electricity sector in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S.)
5. EPA Makes Slow Progress on GHG Rules (moving forward with more regulations, just not as fast as WRI would want). The EPA is a regulatory train wreck.
6. Emissions Continue to Climb (hard to imagine since taking clunkers off the road so low income people can't afford a car to drive should have fixed that).

This isn't being done or not done by legislation--our elected representatives who are supposed to be our voice in Washington. It's all regulatory. We the people have no say in any of this. Only lobbyists, unions, and politicians.

The federal government is the biggest user and abuser of fossil fuels.