Federal employees and IRS

"Don’t expect to get any customer service from the IRS. Only two of the 76 local IRS offices picked up their phones to answer questions, according to a July 2024 report." This is from Daily Signal report on at home workers for the federal government.  https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/05/joni-ernst-report-highlights-federal-employee-outrages/?

That caught my eye because we've just received a letter from the IRS saying we had a refund for our 2021 taxes (I think it was due to their error) and needed to fill out a form immediately and return it in order to claim it because we hadn't responded. There was no previous notice. Someone probably had her coffee cup or romance novel sitting on it. Or maybe she was at the beach and just didn't meet her quota.

What's wrong with Democrats who support Harris?

I heard at the "All In" Podcast (193) that the media have given Harris 84% positive coverage and Trump 89% negative coverage. No bias there. What a disservice to Democrats! That means media want Democrats to vote for higher taxes, for losing all private health insurance, for taxing unrealized capital gains, for being priced out of home ownership, for price controls, for more inflation, for candidates Harris/Walz both of whom have had zip/nada/zilch employment in the private sector when technically we are a free market, capitalist economy, and a candidate, Kamala Harris, raised in Berkeley and Montreal with parents who were Communists swamped in the lies of socialism from conception to the last one in the room when Biden made his awful decisions.

 
And don't kid yourself that Harris/Walz are just going after envy vote--want to only tax the rich. It always falls to the Middle class. The poor don't pay taxes, they receive subsidies. The rich have so many tax lawyers they probably won't even notice, especially when they move their assets out of the country. Lots of countries are looking for their money--our government tries to drive them out! It will all fall to the middle class to keep the tax hungry Harris away from the door.

Does anyone with a brain work in the legacy media?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSpGiFqL8_E I think this is episode 193. Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg cover all things economic, tech, political, social & poker.

The White House plan for inflation, health and energy

“My plan is to lower everyday costs for hardworking families and lower the deficit by asking large corporations and the wealthiest Americans to not engage in price gouging and to pay their fair share in taxes.” — President Biden (White House web site)

The Harris Biden plan to reduce government induced inflation is to blame business. They flooded the nation with money long after the Covid crisis receded (in part created by their lockdown and masking policies) with too much money chasing too few goods. Many businesses just closed and some owners who fought back went to jail (especially in Minnesota under Walz who even had a tip line so neighbors could snitch on neighbors). Are they at fault for the policies that ruined them? The "wealthiest Americans" many of whom are backing Harris, can't bail them out with higher taxes. They just move their assets off shore. There's not enough money in their investments, which we need to grow, to reverse the bad monetary policy of the Harris Biden years.

The same WH message says they will take on Big Pharma, the same folks who prevented us from getting treatment for Covid because they could make greater profits with "preventive" measures that didn't work and actually wounded many Americans. Some Americans are still being terrorized by tax supported messages of fear and have submitted to 6 or 7 boosters while still wearing masks in their cars.

The same WH message says Democrats will lower our utility bills, but how will they do that when they intend to destroy fossil fuels in the pie in the sky plan to stop climate change, something that has been going on since the beginning of the record? What do you think is powering those electric vehicles? Coal!

Harris owns this. As vice president she casts the tie breaking vote in the Senate. She voted for those additional IRS agents to stop cheating on tips. Now she's running for cover by laughing and copying Trump's proposal to end taxes on tips.

 
We need a moderate Republican like Donald Trump in the White House to stop the radical leftist Democrat administration from destroying our economy and our Bill of Rights.

Chicago Tribune calls out the city's latest leftist Mayor

Opinion by Aaron Kliegman (Fox News)

Chicago's most prominent newspaper called out the Windy City's newly sworn-in left-wing mayor for doing the bidding of unions and signing "radical" executive orders just hours into the job, calling one in particular a "disaster" for the fiscal stability of Chicago.

"As Mayor Brandon Johnson was celebrating 'the soul of Chicago' in his inaugural speech, his office was churning out a batch of deeply radical executive orders that signal trouble ahead for anyone worried about tax increases or concerned with the fiscal stability of America's third largest city," the Chicago Tribune's editorial board wrote Wednesday, two days after Johnson was inaugurated. "The one that most immediately caught our attention was Johnson's executive order creating a new deputy mayor for labor relations."

The Tribune outlined what "any reasonable adult, be they Democrat or Republican," would expect a deputy mayor for labor relations to do in a big city: balance the demands and expectations of a unionized workforce with the "need to hold the line on costs."

In the public sector, however, there's less incentive to hold the line on costs because spending money to gain popularity is more of an appeal than within private companies.

“In the case of the city's new mayor, this danger is compounded because everyone knows that Johnson was hand-picked by the Chicago Teachers Union, with the help of other public sector unions, and their superb ground game got out the Johnson vote and put their man in City Hall," according to the Tribune. "Even Johnson's most fervent supporters should hope that the new mayor will make some effort to stress his independence from his union paymasters … His first responsibility is to Chicagoans who are trusting him to be a steward of the hard-earned money they pay in taxes and deliver them functional services."

Johnson, a longtime union organizer and activist, was supported by a progressive coalition, including the Chicago Teachers Union. During his campaign, he acknowledged that his ambitious proposals for investments in Chicago's social programs would require tax increases. Among Johnson's most controversial tax proposals is head tax on large companies of $1 to $4 per employee and a jet fuel tax.
As part of his agenda, Johnson, a Democrat, seems to be adopting a clear pro-labor position through some of the new positions he's creating.

The job description for the deputy mayor for labor relations, as released Monday, is being "responsible for working with all city agencies and departments to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of Chicago; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights, including working with relevant authorities to help enforce workers' statutory rights."

According to the Tribune, such a job is a "gift-wrapped present" for the Chicago Teachers Union, "which probably had a big hand in its composition." The editorial board added that the executive order says nothing about an obligation to protect taxpayers, homeowners or businesses.

"It basically says: Do what unionized workers want, find more ways to give them more of what they want, and your annual review will be just dandy," the Tribune argued. "In fact, if you take that job description at face value, any deputy mayor pushing back on any union demand whatsoever would, in fact, be contravening what their boss says is the requirement of the job."

In other words, the city's biggest paper wrote, Johnson's job description for his new deputy is a "disaster and it needs to be immediately rewritten so as to reflect the dual responsibilities of the job, which is to navigate and mediate between legitimate union demands and the ability of the city to meet them without casting citizens from their homes or sending off Chicago businesses to Florida."

The Tribune then called on Johnson to recognize that unions can ask for "unreasonable things" of their employers and be willing to respond, "No, Chicago cannot afford that much."

Johnson has said as mayor he will fund more social workers instead of police officers, let illegal immigrants vote in school board elections, make Chicago a sanctuary for transgender people and ensure women can have easy access to abortions in the city.

On his first day of office, beyond the new deputy mayor for labor relations, Johnson also created new deputy mayor positions for community safety and for immigrant, migrant and refugee rights. During his inaugural address, Johnson said Chicago has "enough room" for migrants who are surging across the country's southern border "whether you are seeking asylum or you are looking for a fully funded neighborhood."

Trick or treat

 

Do as I say, not as I do--how progressive are Democrats

https://youtu.be/hNDgcjVGHIw

When Democrats have the power, just how progressive are they?

Start with housing.  The vote down low income housing--but they say they want it.

Then tax codes.  The wealthiest pay the lowest tax rate--but they are Democrats.  Texas is more liberal than Washington state on taxes.

What about education?  World class in every zip code? 140 districts in one county--Cook in Illinois. So there is great inequity in funding schools.  Same in wealthy Connecticut.  Liberals don't want to share. Than blame Republicans for the crises in blue states.

This video had about 6 million view when I watched it.

Biden's Build Back Broke Bill

Here's what's in the bill. Rep. Jim Banks (R-SC), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), detailed many of the most radical aspects of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. 

1. Perpetuates labor shortage: Continues welfare benefits without work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents at a time where there are 10.1 million job openings—more openings than there are people looking for work.
2. Commissions a climate police: Democrats stuffed $8 billion into the bill to commission a cabal of federally funded climate police called the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) who will conduct progressive activism on taxpayers’ dime (pages 8, 21, and 926).
3. Pushes Green New Deal in our public schools: Requires funding for school construction be used largely on enrollment diversity and Green New Deal agenda items (page 55).
4. Pushes Green New Deal in our universities: Democrats include a $10 billion “environmental justice” higher education slush fund to indoctrinate college students and advance Green New Deal policies (page 1,935).
5. Forces faith-based child care providers out: The bill blocks the ability of many faith-based providers from participating in the childcare system and will lead to many of their closures (page 280).
6. Hurts small and in-home daycares: Requires pre-K staff to have a college degree. (page 303)
7. Includes new incentives for illegal immigration: Illegal immigrants will be eligible to take advantage of Democrats’ new ‘free’ college entitlement (page 92) as well be eligible for additional student aid (page 147) and the enhanced child tax credit (page 1,946).
8. Includes legislative hull for Biden’s vaccine mandate: Increases OSHA penalties on businesses that fail to implement the mandate up to $700,000 per violation and includes $2.6 billion in funding for the Department of Labor to increase enforcement of these penalties (page 168).
9. Gives unions near-total control: The bill includes insane prohibitions that would bind employers’ hands in union disputes and dangerously tilt the balance of power, subjecting employers to penalties that exempt union bosses and officials… among other things this bill would prevent employers from permanently replacing striking workers (page 175). It coerces businesses to meet union boss demands by increasing Fair Labor Standards Act penalties by an astronomical 900% (page 168).
10. Makes unions bigger and more powerful: The bill would subsidize union dues that would only serve to strengthen the influence of union bosses and not American workers (page 2323).
11. Pushes Democrats’ wasteful and confusing school lunch agenda: $643 million for, among other things, “procuring…culturally appropriate foods” (page 333).
12. Furthers radical abortion agenda: Does not include the Hyde amendment and would mandate taxpayers pay for abortions (page 198) & (page 336).
13. Drives up costs on Americans’ utility bills: Issues a punitive methane tax (page 367) and includes a tax on natural gas up to $1,500 per ton that could cost the American economy up to $9.1 billion and cost 90,000 Americans their jobs (page 368).
14. Includes dangerous & deadly green energy mandate: Effectively forces Americans to get 40% of their energy from wind, solar and other unreliable forms of energy within 8 years (page 392). Reliance on these energy sources has proven deadly.
15. Includes kickbacks for the Left’s green energy special interest network: $5 billion for “environmental and climate justice block grants” (page 377) and another $100 billion in green energy special interest subsidies, loans and other carve outs.
16. Gives wealthy Americans tax credits: $222 billion in “green energy” tax credits will be given to those who can afford expensive electric vehicles and other “green” innovative products (page 1832).
17. Furthers Democrats’ social justice agenda: Includes “equity” initiatives throughout the bill and, in one instance, Democrats inserted “equity” language into a title which should have been focusing on the maintenance of the United States’ cyber security efforts (page 897).
18. Grants amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants: House Democrats have included in their reconciliation bill a plan to grant amnesty to around 8 million illegal immigrants at a cost of around $100 billion over ten years that would largely be spent on welfare and other entitlements (page 901). Trillions more would be spent long term on their Social Security and Medicare.
19. Opens border even wider: The bill would waive many grounds for immigration inadmissibility, including infection or lack of vaccination status during a Pandemic, failure to attend removal proceedings in previous immigration cases, and the previous renouncement of American citizenship. DHS may also waive previous convictions for human trafficking, narcotics violations, and illegal voting (page 903).
20. Increases visa limit: At least 226,000 family-preference visas would be administered each year (page 905).
21. Grants fast-tracked green cards for those seeking middle-class careers in America: Language included in the bill exempts certain aliens from the annual green card statutory limits and has been described as a “hidden pipeline for U.S. employers to flood more cheap foreign graduates into millions of middle-class careers needed by American graduates” (page 910).
22. Includes pork for Nancy Pelosi: $200 million is earmarked for the Presidio Trust in Speaker Pelosi’s congressional district (page 933).
23. Increases energy dependence on OPEC, Russia and China: The bill prohibits several mineral and energy withdrawals (page 979). It overturns provisions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that authorized energy production in the Arctic that will result in 130,000 Americans losing their jobs and $440 billion in lost federal revenue (page 983) and the mineral withdrawals it prohibits would, ironically, include minerals necessary for renewable energy sources (pages 934, 940, 943).
24. Exacerbates the chip shortage: The bill would mandate the conversion of the entire federal vehicle fleet from internal combustion engines to electric engines at a time when there is a global microchip shortage and crippled supply chains (page 1,043).
25. Democrats’ feckless China bill is included: Concepts from the insanely weak Endless Frontier Act included, including $11 billion in research funding that will likely result in American intellectual property going to China (page 1079 – 1081).
26. Chases green energy pipe dreams: $264 million to the EPA to conduct research with left-wing environmental justice groups on how to transition away from fossil fuels (page 1063).
27. Fixes “racist” roads and bridges: Adds a nearly $4 billion slush fund that would help left-wing grassroots organizations that, among other things, want to tear down and rebuild or otherwise alter infrastructure deemed “racist” (page 1183).
28. Punishes red states for failing to adopt Green New Deal provisions: Mandates “consequences” for conservative states that don’t meet the radical Left’s “green” climate standards while at the same time adding nearly $4 billion for “Community Climate Incentive Grants” for cooperating states (page 1179).
29. Includes new massive, bankrupting entitlement: The new paid leave entitlement would mandate workers get 12 weeks of paid leave and would cost $500 billion over ten years according to the CBO (page 1245). It would apply to those making up to half a million dollars a year (page 1254).
30. Advances a totalitarian and paternalistic view of the federal government: Includes grants for organizations to treat individuals suffering from “loneliness” and “social isolation.”
31. Further detaches individuals from employment and more reliant on government handouts: The bill spends $835 billion on welfare through manipulating the tax code [not including the expansions of Obamacare subsidies] (page 1943).
32. Tax benefits for the top 1%: The bill will possibly lift the SALT deduction cap meaning many of the top 1% wealthiest Americans would pay less in taxes.
33. Tax credit for wealthy donors who give to woke universities: The bill creates a new tax credit program that gives tax credits worth 40% of cash contribution that are made to university research programs (page 2094).
34. Expands worst parts of Obamacare: Obamacare’s job-killing employer mandate will become more severe by adjusting the definition of “affordable coverage” to mean coverage that costs no more than 8.5 percent of income rather than current law’s 9.5 percent of income (page 2041).
35. Increases taxes on Americans at every income level: $2 trillion in tax hikes will fall on those making under $400,000 per year, contrary to what the White House says. Individuals at all income levels will be affected (Ways and Means GOP).
36. Lowers wages for working families: The corporate tax rate will increase by 5.5%, meaning American companies will face one of the highest tax burdens in the world. According to analysis, two-thirds of this tax hike will fall on lower- and middle-income taxpayers (page 2110).
37. Penalizes marriage: The bill would permanently double the EITC’s marriage penalty on childless worker benefits (page 2036).
38. Imposes crushing taxes on small business: Guts the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act small business deductions that reduced pass-through entity taxes to keep them comparable to taxes imposed on corporations (page 2235) as well as hammer small businesses that file as individual tax earners with the 39.6% rate (page 2221) and Obamacare’s 3.8% tax on net investment income.
39. Crushes family businesses and farms: The bill would impose a 25% capital gains rate (page 2226) and makes alterations to the Death Tax including cutting the Death Tax exemption in half (page 2240).
40. Violates Americans’ financial privacy: $80 billion slush fund to hire an 87,000-IRS-agent army to carry out the Biden administration’s plan to review every account above a $600 balance or with more than $600 of transactions in a year. (page 2283).
41. Increases out of pocket costs for those who rely on prescription drugs: The bill repeals the Trump-era Rebate Rule which passes through rebates directly to consumers at the point of sale (page 2465).
42. Imports policies from countries with socialized medicine: The bill includes healthcare policies imported from systems in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom—all countries that have government-run healthcare systems (page 2349).

From Breitbart article, Oct. 13, 2021

Bad news for conservative states--they are being invaded

 Red States Grow as Blue States Shrink: Census | Newsmax.com

Many people are leaving the high tax, high crime blue states and moving to the red states, particularly Texas and Florida.  Unfortunately, they bring their politics with them, and although they vote for Democrats they don't want to have to pay the bills.

A family member of ours did that in 2018.  Sold their million + home in California and had a new one built in Arizona, much nicer, newer, 3 car garage, patio with all the perks, with all the upgrades for about $600,000. They enjoy it very much, yet are close enough they can drive back to California occasionally to see the grandchildren.

Income inequality—shrinking

As government transfer payments to low-income households exploded in the last 50 years, their labor-force participation collapsed and the percentage of income in the bottom quintile coming from government payments rose above 90%.   WSJ Incredible Shrinking Income Inequality – WSJ

"Nobody making under 400,000 bucks would have their taxes raised. Period. Bingo." – Joe Biden, May 22, 2020

Of course, that doesn't tell the whole story. An increase in the federal corporate tax rate to 28 percent as proposed would raise the U.S. federal-state combined tax rate to 32.34 percent, highest in the OECD and among Group of Seven (G7) countries, harming U.S. economic competitiveness and increasing the cost of investment in America. When businesses are taxed more they either move to another country or raise our prices. So who is Biden kidding?

Few people could get elected promising to raise your taxes, but Biden isn't few people. He's just Barack Obama 2.0.

Government transfers provide 90% of income for bottom percentile

This should give you pause.

"As government transfer payments to low-income households exploded, their labor-force participation collapsed and the percentage of income in the bottom quintile coming from government payments rose above 90%."

People experiencing income in the bottom fifth of the US population get 90% of their income from the government. Think about that. And while you're complaining about greedy rich people, remember who supplies the transfers.

"Americans pay $4.4 trillion a year in federal, state and local taxes. Households in the top two earned-income quintiles pay 82% of the tax bill."

But enough is never enough.

The Grumpy Economist: Defining inequality so it can't be fixed (johnhcochrane.blogspot.com) 

 Incredible Shrinking Income Inequality - WSJ

Reasons for the latest hate crime fake memes

There are at least 8 reasons I can come up with causing the media and the Biden Administration to be focusing on "hate crimes against Asians" this past week. It even got Biden out of the house for a trip. Take your pick. All are true--the links aren't hard to find. You can add your on opinion. Let's see if they can squeeze as much angst and money out of this as they did the garage pull rope.

1. The media and co-conspirators in academe need to continue the white supremacy/white racism charges to demean all whites, even though in rate and number, most "hate crimes" against Asian Americans the aggressors are black.

2. President Trump called the SARS Cov 2 virus by the country, China and city of origin Wuhan. Although the media did also last Spring, it has become verboten now. The National media and Big Tech have to continue hateful attacks against him to please their base and earn back the money they lost when he left office. They truly need to call him xenophobic and racist, although the variants of Covid19 are being called the UK variant, the Brazilian variant, the Australian variant, and the media aren't calling themselves xenophobic. In fact, if you look up UK Variant, CNN is really whipping that fear pony.

3. Women from S.E. Asia are victims of human trafficking and frequently work in massage parlors and hair and manicure establishments. The media are not focusing on THAT real hate crime. They'll need to do more investigation or be called soft on slavery. Someone in government would appreciate less attention on illegal prostitution and trafficking. Much of it comes in through the porous border. An investigation could get a reporter in big trouble. The world wide slave trade is bigger than the 18th century trans-Atlantic slave trade. The source is still Africa, and to a lesser degree Asia. If Leftists were to concentrate on that tragedy, how would they have enough time to reinvent microaggressions in the U.S. by whites?

4. Lumped together in the artificial category of the U.S. census, Asian Americans are the most successful, most educated, and wealthiest demographic. They really reflect American values of family, education and hard work. Asian Americans (40 different ethnicities) do better than any other group, all the way from Indians ($101,591) to Chinese ($69,586) to Pakistani ($62,848) to Bangladeshi ($44,512). (Nielsen report on Asian Americans, 2017)

5. Asian Americans vote heavily Democrat, support liberal causes, but are small in number and generally not activists. Separated out, there are many new arrivals, particularly from southeast Asia who do not come close to the top earners--Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Filipino. So this group is ripe for pickin' by the Democrats. How better to achieve this than making them victims?

6. Indian-Americans and Chinese-Americans are increasingly being discriminated against by major, elite (Democrat run) universities. One of the top high schools in Fairfax, VA has a 73% enrollment by Asians (particularly Chinese-Americans). This is causing unhappiness, and law suits. So it's time for the Democrats to use yet another crisis and misfortune to shore up their soft side.

7. Until very recently, the U.S. Census considered people of South Asia and the Middle East--Indians, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Egyptians, Persians, etc.--white. With the waving of the Civil Rights flag and the government money by becoming a pan-Asia group they are now POC, People of Color. They became a "socially disadvantaged minority group," eligible for all sorts of government goodies, despite the facts and data like marriage rates, college enrollment, longevity, achievement in business, health statistics made that a lie.

8. Because Asian Americans are the wealthiest group, they pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than whites, blacks, and Hispanics, and thus are more disadvantaged by our wealth transfer system. Asian Americans are more likely to be paying for non-tax payers to receive money from the government. Maybe the Democrats need to take the focus off their tax increases by creating a crisis?

News of the incoming rulers

AOC has called for the "liberation" of the southern states. They aren't red states, she says, they are oppressed. And that's not a call for violence? That's worse than anything President Trump has ever said.

Get ready to open your wallets for the new regime. "On Thursday night President-elect Joe Biden will describe some of his plans for multitrillion-dollar spending increases. Before long he’ll also tell us about his tax increases. And they aren’t going to be small. A new report from the Tax Foundation says the Biden plan would impose the industrialized world’s highest income tax rate on business. Research from around the world says that wouldn’t be kind to workers, either." (WSJ Best of the Web, Jan. 14, 2021)
This should drive businesses to other countries, stifle growth, and puff up the salaries of government bureaucrats.

Google has bought Fitbit. . . and all our data. The funniest sentence in their announcement is: "we will maintain strong data privacy and security protections, giving you control of your data and staying transparent about what we collect and why. "

Sooooo. . . . I think we understand CONTROL. We have none.

Kristen Clarke, Biden's choice for Civil Rights, thinks blacks are superior in every way to whites and Asians. And it's not just culture, they are born superior. That should work well with our Civil Rights laws.

Joe Biden has selected 14 executives from Big Tech, the crowd that doesn't believe in the basic American values of free speech. Even a month ago he'd already added to his team Zaid Zaid, a former special assistant to the president and associate White House counsel under the Obama Administration and current team member at FACEBOOK'S public policy, Strategic Response, who will serve on the review teams for the Department of State and International Development, FACEBOOK'S manager of governance & strategic initiatives Christopher Upperman, who will serve on the Small Business Administration and FACEBOOK'S director & associate general counsel of strategic response Rachel Lieber, who will serve on the review team for the Intelligence Community.

So just to review, he's packing Department of State, SBA and government intelligence with FACEBOOK loyalists. What could possibly go wrong? FB already has data on millions and millions of Americans and foreigners.

President Trump vs. his enemies

Mostly I ignore ad hominem attacks on me and other conservatives. They are intended to deflect the really destructive forces the Democrats have put in play as they prepare for their own downfall from the extreme leftists in their party. But I do have some questions for them.

1) When has President Trump ever led an enthusiastic crowd of Republicans at a rally or convention in a chant to boo God? Why is "Build that wall," or "lock her up," so much more offensive to you Democrats than rejecting and insulting your own Creator?

When has President Trump ever led a blood thirsty segment of his party in an effort to dismember thousands of late term unborn babies, the smallest and weakest among us, all for a peculiar lie that this empowers women?

When has President Trump ever presided over the destruction of a personal product like health insurance to replace it by one designed by bureaucrats and academics?

When has he mandated a fine or prison for not buying a government created product that benefits hand picked companies with millions of new customers?

When has he asked the American people to pay higher taxes for politicians and bureaucrats to reward their favorite donors and supporters in the arts, education, corporations, and the abortion industry?

When has this president told minorities that because of past wrongs they are victims and need to be dependent on the government as payback for sins of the past?

When has he told certain diverse and inclusive groups they can't accomplish anything without his help or without state and federal aid .

When has he insulted half of all Americans with name calling like racist, homophobe, terrorist or deplorable?

When has the President asked that you trust him for FORTY YEARS with the power to influence and control your lives through taxes, wars, red tape and regulations, international agreements and secret negotiations with foreign powers like China?

When has he pretended he could control the climate if you just gave him enough power and money?

When has President Trump given foreign workers priority and safety net benefits and free education over American workers?

When has the President ever told you America was never great, and it's such a racist, uncultured disaster that you should never teach its authentic history in school and instead need to submit to reeducation camps and classes in your universities and places of employment?

When has President Trump encouraged destroying works of art and monuments like ISIS did in Iraq beginning with obscure local soldiers, and moving on to missionaries in California and the nation's founders in DC?

You may recall other major differences between President Trump and his opponents, including some RINOs in Congress, and spoilers in the misnamed Lincoln Project who believe they know better than the 70 million people who elected him. But instead of name calling, let's look at the facts. https://lincolnproject.us/team/ Of course, Lincoln probably would have had them imprisoned, but it's a different kind of war today to destroy and tear apart the nation.

About those tax increases you’ve been promised

Biden says he won't be raising taxes if you earn under $400,000. He's counting on your poor public schooling, hoping you won't understand that by rescinding the Trump tax cuts, you and everyone has an automatic tax increase. He also hopes you believe corporations and businesses won't raise the prices on goods and services when the government raises taxes on their profits. Each widget and wire in the product and manufacture will go up with his tax increase that is passed along to you. If you didn't learn it in school, you should have learned in the University of Hard Knocks

https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/president_bidens_economic_agenda_hassett.pdf

Comrade Bernie is 50 years behind

“Europeans, then, having learned that socialism does not work, are trying to narrow our gap with the United States with various reforms—just as Bernie Sanders, 50 years too late, seeks to emulate Europe. Doesn’t Sanders know that his program has been applied in Europe, and failed? He must: and this would mean that his true ambition is not free health care or free college, but a deeper transformation of the United States. Perhaps he hates the free-market society and wants to replace it with a socialist, egalitarian one, overseen by the “tyranny of the benevolent,” which Tocqueville warned against.

Why would so many American voters find Sanders’s socialism attractive? For the same reasons that socialism was once popular in Europe: the love for equality over individual freedom; the illusion of a safe life, guaranteed by a benevolent state; the allure of transferring personal responsibility to a public nurse. Then as now, these offers exert a strong psychological appeal; the answer to them is reality. Socialism does not work—but perhaps one needs to live through it to be convinced.”

https://www.city-journal.org/bernie-sanders-socialist-vision

Enjoying the Uline Catalog

Found a tidbit in the back of the Uline catalog (uline.com) comparing Texas and California--Uline has branches in both. So Liz Uihlein does a little comparison:

"Californians pay the highest income tax in the country, 13.3%; Texas does not have state income tax.

In California homeownership is at the lowest level since the 1940s.

California public schools system ranks 36th out of 51, Texas ranks 41st. Both states need to do better. [ I'm so old I remember when the California school system was the envy of the nation in the 1960s, although it was in decline, then came Proposition 13.]

Texas is the best state in which to do business and California has some of the most burdensome occupational licensing requirements in America [in case you didn't know this, that really hurts small business, particularly minorities, the backbone of the economy].

California's cost of living is 40% higher than the national average, whereas Texas is 9% lower.

California has the highest gas prices in the country and electricity rates are 50-75% higher than the national average. "

In Norma’s opinion: People are moving out of California, and many flee to Texas, Nevada and Arizona, but they are dragging with them their liberal values and voting which is what destroyed their lives in California! A California academic called rural people stupid, yet California produces 13 percent of the total cash agricultural receipts for the U.S., it is the sole producer of many crops. We could do with fewer elitist academics and more figs and olives.

California is controlled by leftists/Democrats/ socialists/progressives, or whatever you want to call them--if you've got money they want it. Young people and homeless people love it there. Unfortunately, this tsunami of bad decisions is coming our way.

Lori—from Obama to Trump

She had never paid much attention to politics, but did vote for Obama his first term.  From the WalkAway Facebook page.

“One of the things that appealed to us about Obama was healthcare. We had a child with pre existing conditions and were paying a $600 per month additional premium on him. We wanted Obamacare and not to have to pay that extra premium anymore. Well, what a lie that turned out to be. Not only did the extra premium not go away for our child with a pre existing condition, but we had to pay more every month and it has steadily increased ever since!

We became small business owners during Obama’s first term and this is what really started opening our eyes to Democrats not being good for small business. We were providing jobs but being taxed to death and providing affordable healthcare for our employees is almost impossible. We did not vote for Obama his second term mainly for business and health care reasons, but still did not wise up that the media had a liberal agenda. What woke me up to the lefts true agenda was the Media when Trump announced his candidacy. I could not understand why the media was so hateful towards him. I just couldn’t believe the hate and why wasn’t the media being neutral?! I could not stand to watch the news because if it. I became a supporter of Trump early on because I agreed with everything he was saying.”

Charitable donations by Democrat candidates

Oh yes, the tax returns are coming out.  We have a taxpayers Bill of Rights and #7 says you can’t be forced to share your information. But they are running for 2020 White House.  Bernie is a millionaire and Beto gives a few dollars for charity—probably donated his old cowboy boots or a truck to Volunteers of America and took a donation.

This has been known for years--not about Sanders specifically, but Democrats, liberals, progressives, etc. are not generous with their own money, but love to give away and transfer your wealth. Usually when they throw their hat into the ring, they up the donations (Obama’s donations soared in 2007). About 60% of the federal budget goes for safety net programs, and there are about 123 wealth transfer programs, then there are the local and state taxes. So I can see Dems say "I gave at tax time," but instead they'd rather complain that Republicans are stingy and don't care about the poor. The top 20% of earners pay 84% of the taxes, but that doesn't keep the Democrats from demanding socialism for the middle class.

Nothing helps a poor man like a job, and President Trump has certainly helped the poor.  And I’m on a pension (which doesn’t go up or down) but my own investments made more the first quarter than I ever did while working.  We shouldn’t become complacent, however.  Recessions go around about every decade.  There have been 2 since I retired in 2000.  So don’t stop being charitable just because of changes in tax laws.  That’s not why we do it.

Democrats are just being honest about who they are

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has pushed Democrats out of the closet--they are finally honest about who they are. Elizabeth Warren wants to tax wealth instead of income, Kamala Harris wants to raise taxes and make all medical care free for the asking, getting rid of health insurance, and Julian Castro thinks a 70% tax rate (AOC's suggestion) is too low--he's going for 90%. Meanwhile, Venezuela is in chaos--people are starving while the rulers stash away money for what they know is coming, Cuba looks like a 1950s used car lot, North Koreans don't have food or electricity, and 100 million East Europeans, Russians and Chinese are dead. All is forgotten by gen-x and millennial snowflakes due to erosion of the education system that began before their parents were born. It's been 30 years since Americans naively believed when that wall came down between the Germanys, Communism had failed. We have several generations who are reanimating the Socialist Zombies of history.

And what countries had the most liberal abortion laws in history, and are now suffering for it? USSR and China. Democrats are pushing that too.

Play by the rules and get punished

When you receive your paycheck and look at the withholding for federal, state and sometimes city taxes, along with Social Security and Medicare, you probably don't think you're underpaying governments and want them to take more. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio believes that if you have played by what used to be called "the rules" and are making a decent living, taking care of yourself and your family and not relying on government, your taxes should be increased.

https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/01/15/cal-thomas-column-cough-up-america/2573991002/