Tag: Government Programs

Closing Thought–19Mar21

How many times have you heard what a draw those Blue States on the government…..all those programs that are draining the treasury with their liberal BS?  How many times?

The problem with that accusation is that it is pure bullsh*t…a “big lie”…..

States run by Republicans are far more dependent upon the help of the federal government than their Democratic-run counterparts, based on the latest annual study from Wallethub.com.

In ranking the 50 states, the financial website listed 11 red states among the 12 most dependent upon Washington D.C. No fewer than 19 of the 25 of the most-dependent states were Republican dominated. Conversely, 12 of the 14 states least dependent on the federal government were run by Democrats.

“Blue states are less dependent on federal government than red states,” the site observed, noting that in its 50-state ranking, red states ranked 20.68 in dependency to Washington DC, versus a much lower average ranking of 30.32 for blue states.

https://www.rawstory.com/federal-mooching/

I live in deep red Mississippi and the residents for the most part hate government programs that gives free money to those that they feel do not deserve it.

And yet Mississippi is in the top ten states that depend on government funds to continue their existence.

In 2020 Mississippi was number 4….in 2021 we are still the fourth highest recipient of federal funds….

The U.S. is a federal republic, meaning that power is held by both the central federal government, located in Washington, D.C., and by the governments of every state and territory that make up the union. But the “division of powers” isn’t as simple as it seems — and neither is the division of finances, since states rely on the federal government for money and various programs to help them operate. With all this in mind, SmartAsset crunched the numbers to see which states are the most dependent on the federal government.

To do this, we considered data on all 50 states across the following metrics: the federal share of state government revenue, the ratio of federal funding to income taxes paid, the percentage of workers employed by the federal government and the ratio of median earnings for federal workers to median earnings for private for-profit workers. For details on our data sources and how we put all the information together to create our final rankings, check out the Data and Methodology section at the end.

This is SmartAsset’s 2021 study on states most dependent on the federal government. Check out the 2020 version here.

https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/the-10-states-most-dependent-on-the-federal-government/

It always amazes me just how damn ignorant people can be……even when federal handouts benefit them and they still hate those that receive them…..

The voter in Mississippi has always voted against their best interests….just how stupid can they be.

Is your state cited?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Blame Privatization

It is absolutely NO mistake about it…I think the idea of privatization is and was a colossus brain fart.

In case anyone doubts my words of condemnation of the idea of privatization…..

https://lobotero.com/2016/06/22/the-history-of-privatization/

https://lobotero.com/2019/06/17/privatization-sucks/

Now that I have filled in a few blanks…..a little personal history…..

in 2005 after Katrina I fell off a ladder a broke my right leg in 4 places—two surgeries and 13 screws and I had my leg back….not mas good as it was but I could walk with a limp…..I was prescribed 2 opioids to help with the pain…morphine and oxycodone…..so I have an interest in the whole opioid abuse thingy that the president and the country is so involved in these days.

Let me say here….Blame Privatization!

The opioid abuse epidemic is one of the worst public-health crises in American history. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1999 and 2017, almost 400,000 people died in the U.S. from an overdose of either prescription or illicit opioids. In 2017 alone, opioids, more than one-third involving prescriptions, killed more than 47,000 individuals. And today, on average 130 people die each day from opioid overdoses.

The root cause of most cases of opioid addiction, particularly prescription-initiated addiction, is pain, a devastating but sometimes overlooked symptom. As a recent American Industrial Hygiene Association paper argues, “the opioid crisis should be seen primarily as a pain crisis, much of which is related to work.” Addressing that crisis precipitated another: treatment regimes that relied heavily on opioids. Today there’s little awareness that almost two decades ago, conservative members of Congress, in a burst of anti-regulatory zeal, championed the fight to eliminate the very ergonomics standard that was designed to reduce the high incidence of a number of common workplace injuries.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/01/how-deregulation-led-opioid-epidemic

Let us be honest!

Privatization and deregulation has caused more problems than it has cured…….and yet the GOP and some Dems keep pushing the for more of both

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Social Security 2100

As an old fart I am always watching to see what measures are proposed then taken by this government that would effect us elderly people.

Social Security has been a battlefield for generations…..the big lie that seems to surface with every election is that SS is going bankrupt…..

Arguably the biggest Social Security lie is the idea that the program will soon be bankrupt and not able to provide a benefit to future retirees. This lie is perpetuated by the latest annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees, which calls for a major shift come 2022. In four years, the program will begin paying out more in benefits than it’s generating in income for the first time in 40 years. This shift is a result of a growing number of baby boomers entering retirement and thus lowering the worker-to-beneficiary ratio, an increase in longevity over many decades, and growing income inequality that has allowed the rich to live substantially longer (and collect a bigger Social Security check) than lower-income folks.

By 2034, a dozen years later, Social Security’s approximately $3 trillion in asset reserves is expected to be completely exhausted. It’s this excess cash depletion that has 51% of Americans, according to a 2015 Gallup survey, confident that they won’t receive a dime from the program by the time they retire. Thankfully, more than half of all Americans are wrong. 

Social Security has three funding mechanisms, and one of those funding sources ensures that the program is incapable of going bankrupt. Social Security’s lesser funding sources are the interest earned on its asset reserves ($88.4 billion in 2016) and the taxation of Social Security benefits ($32.8 billion in 2016).

(The Motley Fool)

Rep. John Larson has put forth a plan to strengthen Social Security…..it is called Social Security 2100 Act…..
Bill Text  | Full Press Release | Fact Sheet

For millions of workers, Social Security is all they have to keep them from destitution in old age. Even with Social Security’s guaranteed benefits, they struggle to make ends meet. Fortunately, Congress can easily strengthen retirement security by expanding Social Security. Congressman John Larson (D-CT) has a bill to do just that: The Social Security 2100 Act, which is supported by 90 percent of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Nearly four in five Americans live paycheck to paycheck. In 2018, the Federal Reserve Board found that four in ten Americans could not afford $400 for an emergency expense. Low wages combined with the high cost of health care, housing and education prevent people from putting aside funds for retirement. The Government Accountability Office reported earlier this year that almost half of households headed by Americans aged 55 and older have no retirement savings.

Equally concerning, most companies no longer offer pensions to their workers—a guaranteed monthly income. Instead, if they are lucky, workers get small financial contributions toward their retirement that do not amount to a whole lot. 401k plans and other so-called “defined contribution” plans do little good if workers are forced to spend their income on basic needs and have no money to save.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/13/social-security-2100-path-protecting-americas-elderly-communities

A good plan but as long as Moscow Mitch has a strangle hold on the Senate this will probably go no where.

Read the act over and if you like what you see then let your representative and senators know…..

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Defense Or War?

Let’s look at the Department of Defense……until 1949 was called the “War Department”…..

On this day in 1789, 07August, the War Department became an institution…

On this date, President George Washington signed into law a bill that established the U.S. War Department. The measure had moved through the First Federal Congress (1789–1791) with relatively little controversy. With Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., of Connecticut presiding over the Committee of the Whole, the House debated the authorization bill in late June 1789. Pro-Administration Representative Egbert Benson of New York introduced an amendment to include a phrase to the effect that the War Department Secretary would be “removable by the President,” echoing language that had been included in a much more rancorous debate a few days earlier about the duties and powers of the proposed Secretary of Foreign Affairs (later the Secretary of State). Roger Sherman of Connecticut and John Page of Virginia opposed Benson’s amendment, but it carried narrowly, 24 to 22. The entire bill passed the House easily on June 27, with little debate in an unrecorded vote. Soon thereafter, the Senate passed the bill. In choosing the department’s first secretary, President Washington preferred continuity. He nominated Henry Knox—a key aide during the American Revolution and, since 1785, the secretary of war under the Articles of Confederation.

In 1789 Congress created the War Department to administer the field army commanded by the president and secretary of war. After the War of 1812, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun reorganized the department and introduced a system of bureau chiefs with a commanding general in the field. The bureau chiefs advised the secretary of war and commanded their own troops and field installations. The secretary typically supported the bureaus in disputes with the commanding general. Congress regulated the bureaus in minute detail, and their bureau chiefs often relied on federal lawmakers for support. The Spanish-American War demonstrated a need for more effective control over the department and its bureaus, and the debate over how to do so reshaped the War Department during the twentieth century. In 1903 Secretary Elihu Root asserted department control by appointing a chief of staff and a general staff for planning. Yet, his successor, William Howard Taft, reversed this position, subordinated the chief of staff to the adjutant general, and reinvigorated the traditional secretary–bureau chief alliance.  Under the National Security Act of 1947, as amended in 1949, the War Department became the Department of the Army within the Department of Defense, and the secretary of the army became an operating manager for the new secretary of defense.

All this history is just the intro into something that I completely agree with…..the DoD is no longer about defense but rather WAR….so why not return to the days of yore and rename the institution to reflect its true nature……War Department or the Department of War.

As a nation, we have failed to heed President Eisenhower’s prescient 1961 warning to “guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” Our failure to heed that warning—conversely the immense growth of the military-industrial complex—can, to a significant degree, be attributed to a simple change in nomenclature that was nothing short of Orwellian.

In 1949, the U.S. “War Department,” which had been established in 1789 and operated as such until 1947, was renamed the “Department of Defense”. The Secretary of War became the Secretary of Defense. As a result, no matter how offensive the nature our policies, objectives, military presence or weaponry, every dollar spent and every life lost in combat have been classified as necessary to the “defense” of this nation.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/20/why-we-must-restore-title-war-department

These conflicts are more about aggression than defense….so rename it the WAR Department.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Trump’s Government Overhaul

Does anyone besides me remember the promise by Donald Trump that if he was elected that he would overhaul the government….drain the swamp I believe was the term he used.  And the peasants cheered and danced.

Personally I did not bite on the loaded hook that he dangled……

The president has the right idea. But he forgot to include the people that can make it happen.

The executive order issued by President Donald Trump yesterday has a goal nearly every citizen and legislator would cheer: to “improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the executive branch.”

What’s not to like? The executive branch is an organizational basket case, and it sorely needs a re-think. For 238 years, citizen legislators and presidents have come to town with dreams of fixing public problems, hatching new agencies and programs to do it, many of which live long beyond the problem they were intended to solve. The slow aggregation of government initiatives has produced a $3.8 trillion per year government with at least 180 agencies. With each passing year, the government becomes more complex and incoherent — “kludgeocracy”, as political scientist Steven Teles termed it.

Source: Why Trump’s government overhaul won’t work

And then there is the budget……Trump being a Repub he will no doubt be in the mood for a skinny budget…..a budget that does wonders for the rich and screws the poor unmercifully….

So will Trump’s budget…..

The skinny budget should show how President Trump proposes to allocate these massive cuts. These details will help answer the following five questions about the Trump agenda in order to determine whether President Trump is trying to help ordinary Americans or using government to advance the narrow interests of powerful elites:

  • Does the budget protect basic living standards for American families?
  • Does the budget create good jobs?
  • Does the budget ensure a level playing field?
  • Does the budget launch partisan attacks on American democracy?
  • Does the budget make Americans safer?

Source: 5 Things to Watch in President Trump’s Skinny Budget – Center for American Progress

The answers my friend are blowing in the wind……

The War On Drugs–The Farce

I have been ranting about the massive wastes of taxpayer cash like the War on Drugs…….all those billions spent and nothing positive has happened to curb the flow of illegal drugs into the country.  If anything a case could be made that this program did more harm than good.

Prohibition comes to mind as an example of the ineffectiveness of a program……War on Drugs was the same results only 50 years later…..some things are NEVER learned.

But if you were to know what the program was really all about then you would be outraged….

Pres. Nixon was determined to have a war to destabilize the growing movements in the US….and thus the laughable program, the War on Drugs, was born……

At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away. “You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

I must have looked shocked. Ehrlichman just shrugged. Then he looked at his watch, handed me a signed copy of his steamy spy novel, The Company, and led me to the door.

Source: Jezebel

Read more on this absolutely laughable program dreamed up in the mind of an idiot……(scratch idiot insert CROOK)…….

Source: Former Nixon Aid Reveals Why The ‘War On Drugs’ Was Created — The Reason Will Make You Sick | The Fifth Column

The War on Drugs has done more damage than good….another fine plan by government.

Just another fine example of how a GOPer will dream up crap and then blame the failure on the poor and minorities.

I know let’s hire another one and see what waste of money he can come up with this time.  I will bet it will be a hum-dinger!

Is It Growing Or Dying?

For many years we hear, reading and see all kinds of reports on the government….some say it is growing exponentially and others write that it is slowly withering away to a mere shell of its former self…..reports have been done for both sides of the argument….white papers are flying off the presses….and news anchors (depending on the ideology of the media) is trumpeting both sides of this issue….here is something to consider…..the government is indeed growing but , believe it or not, dying…all this at the same time….

As the American people age, a pernicious paradox has taken hold of the federal budget: “We are slowly dismantling the federal government, even as its spending is growing larger,” observes Robert Samuelson at the Washington Post. With every budget, lawmakers are slashing into discretionary spending, but with Social Security and various health entitlement costs rising, government spending is growing anyway. The result: “Governmental competence is being systematically degraded. … We are spending more and getting less.” By 2024, current projections show that all spending on non-entitlements will be just 7.4% of GDP—the lowest share since 1940. Cuts are hitting everything from the military (sort of) to medical research to the federal courts. Yet political debates never focus on this dynamic, in part because polls show the public isn’t concerned. “Both liberals and conservatives are complicit in this charade,” but ironically it’s liberals who most refuse to discuss entitlements. Hence another paradox: “The pro-government party in rhetoric has become an anti-government party in practice.” Click for Samuelson’s full column.

I recognize that I will change NO one’s mind or thinking on this matter……just wanted to throw this out there for a little debate……

Your turn……..

They Get An “A” For Austerity

Daily Agitator

Austerity?  Now there is a word that is making the rounds on the tube…..not only in the US but the entire world…at least the part that is coping with an economic slowdown…….austerity?  Good word….but what does it mean?

Austerity:

1. The quality of being austere.  2. Severe and rigid economy: wartime austerity.  3. An austere habit or practice.

Austere?  Oh crap now we gotta explain this!

1. stern or severe in attitude or manner
2. grave, sober, or serious
3. self-disciplined, abstemious, or ascetic
4. severely simple or plain
Now that it is explained….we shall continue……
Right now there seems to be two approaches to austerity…..

The Republicans propose a further trillion-dollar tax cut for the financial criminals, while imposing $6 trillion in budget cuts on the American people. They represent the most rapacious and aggressive section of corporate America.

The Democrats propose to leave the financial criminals in possession of their ill-gotten gains, while demanding “only” $4 trillion in cuts. They are in alliance with the trade union executives, who agree that the working class must pay for the crisis caused by the corporate elite.

But what will the American be forced to do in these austerity plans?  Yes, I said forced!  Will the Repubs win this battle and we Americans are forced to give up our retirement safety net?  I know it will not be me, for I am an old fart but it could effect my granddaughter….what will she have to look forward to in her declining years?

Or will the Dems win the contest and the wealthy will be paying a bit more in income taxes?  But the Dems are also calling for reforms to the entitlement programs….what will my granddaughter’s declining years look like then?

Austerity!  A lovely word…a bit overused these days….but a lovely word nonetheless.  Will it be a shared austerity?  Or will it fall on the backs of the middle class to be austere, while the top 1% live high on the hog?……..what will austerity look like?

There Needs To Be More Icelands!

When I was in the military I was fortunate enough to visit Iceland…..never saw so many REAL blondes and redheads in my life…….gorgeous scenery (wink)…..great people and a crime rate so low it would scare most Americans….I liked Iceland…but until recently I never realized how much I liked it…..

FOR THE second time in two years, the people of Iceland have voted in a referendum against the repayment of Icelandic banks’ supposed debt to Britain and the Netherlands.

In an article written by Jason Netek:

In response, the British and Dutch governments are preparing to sue the Republic of Iceland for the sum of 4 billion euros in an effort to win back money lost by their own citizens in failed Icelandic banks during the financial crash of 2008. But having failed in the court of public opinion, Britain and the Netherlands now intend to move into a regular courtroom, where judgments and the will of the people share a less cozy relationship.

It makes perfect sense that a population which overthrew a government for its relationship with the banksters would continually reject any plan to force them to assume the role of a mass insurance agency for private banks. Such important matters as global finance are never intentionally left to the democratic process for the same reason a burglar does not first seek the consent of a homeowner before breaking a window and making off with the silver. And the legal action against Iceland by Britain and the Netherlands is like lawsuit filed by a burglar who cut himself on the glass during a break-in.So after standing up to their own domestic ruling class hell bent on living large at their expense, the majority of Icelanders may soon find themselves in an even more complex struggle, squaring off against two foreign governments struggling to force their own populations to pay for their own bankers’ misdeeds.

The American people need to take a page from the Icelandic playbook…..we need to tell the banksters that we are sick of paying their dues and they buying our government……maybe my friend and reader in the UK, Quin of Quintessential Havoc (my blogroll will get you to his interesting site…visit often….) can give me some insight on the UK’s point of view on this situation…..there may be more to this story than I have seen….

It Is Only A Draft!

First of all–calm down!  It is NOT official…not yet……

By now most Americans have heard all the hullabaloo (the debate not the dance party) over the draft proposals coming out of the Deficit Reduction Commission….right?  The Progressives are up in arms over the proposals for Social Security and Medicare…..the conservs are pretty quiet right now…other than saying the report is a pretty good one when it comes to entitlements…..Reuters seems to have the best analysis of this report…..(since not too many readers actually click onto the links…I have put the meat of the report here for everyone to look at and decide)…….most media outlets are emphasizing that points that they have a problem with……none seem to want the whole draft proposal to be viewed……. so I thought I would try to crap on their parade……

SPENDING CUTS

– Would reduce discretionary spending (programs like defense and law enforcement that are set by Congress each year) in fiscal 2012 to 2010 levels; impose 1 percent cuts in each of the next three fiscal years

– In 2015, defense spending would be $100 billion lower and nondefense spending also $100 billion lower than envisioned in the White House’s current budget scenario

– Eventually bring government spending down to 21 percent of gross domestic product, from its current level of 24 percent of the economy

– Automatic cuts would take effect at the end of each year if Congress exceeds spending caps

– Set up bipartisan committee to eliminate outdated and inefficient programs

– Stretch out budget cycle over two years

– Sample cuts include: freeze pay for federal workers; reduce overseas military bases by one-third; cut federal workforce by 10 percent; slow growth of foreign aid

OVERHAUL TAX CODE

– Would eliminate all of the $1.1 trillion exemptions currently in the tax code, such as the mortgage-interest deduction and the earned-income tax credit

– Lower and simplify individual income-tax rates: 8 percent for those with annual incomes below $70,000; 14 percent for those with incomes up to $210,000; and 23 percent for incomes above that level

– Lower corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 26 percent

– Treat dividends and capital gains as ordinary income

– Set aside $80 billion for deficit reduction

– Gradually raise gas tax by 15 cents starting in 2013 to pay for transportation spending

– Abolish the alternative minimum tax

REDUCE HEALTH CARE COSTS

– Would pay doctors and other providers less for seeing patients under government programs like Medicare and Medicaid

– Cap damages in malpractice suits

– Require Medicare participants to pay more costs themselves

– Require lower costs for brand-name drugs covered by government programs

– Expand successful cost-containment programs

– Strengthen independent oversight board

– If costs grow more than 1 percent faster than the economy after 2020, require president to propose further cost cuts or a robust public health insurance option

OTHER SAVINGS

– Would reduce farm subsidies by $3 billion per year

– Revamp consumer price index, used to calculate benefit increases, to better reflect actual rate of inflation

– Increase employee contributions to government retirement programs

– Postpone military retirement programs and make them take effect after age 60

SOCIAL SECURITY

– Would revamp the retirement program to ensure its long-term stability, but separately from the deficit reduction effort

– Add minimum benefits for poorest retirees

– Increase benefits for older retirees

– Require more affluent earners to pay more

– Raise the retirement age to 68 in 2050 and 69 in 2075

– Exempt those who work physically demanding jobs; allow them to retire at 62

Thanx to Reuters for this….maybe American media should give it a try…..giving all the facts,  that is……….

Like I said the libs are tearing up the report for the entitlement stuff….but they need to remember that it is a draft and will take 14 or the 18 members to make it official….there will be changes and adjustments…..

To begin with I see where there could be a bit of bi-partisanship in this report….but it will mean give and take and stop all the BS….personally, I do not like the lower corporate tax, but if they are successful at changing ALL the tax code then I will go along with it (for the record, I have been calling for elimination deductions for 20 years and higher wager earners paying more into the SS program)….crappy programs…another good one…..

It is a start….and we need a starting place………if not …we got….NOTHING!