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To Investigate or to Legislate. What Will Congress Do?

Grandma P and I just got home ten days ago from a 60 day cruise that went around the Pacific Rim.  It was a marvelous, bucket-list cruise that included Alaska, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea (North Korea was not conducting excursions that day, or any day!), Viet Nam, the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii.  Whew!  There were to be 22 ports of call, but two were cancelled as we were dodging a typhoon on our way from Alaska to Japan.  There are nothing like 40 foot waves to get your attention on a ship!

Meanwhile, back in the good ole’ US of A, all kinds a ‘goings on’ were occurring.  There were deadly fires taking place in California.  Hurricane Michael, a very late in season hurricane, came ashore just east of Panama City, Florida.  Were we concerned?  Being the eye of that category 5 hurricane came ashore just 59 miles from our house, you could surmise that we were very concerned.  We would have been more concerned if we were not dodging a typhoon at the same time creating the 40′ waves.

The ship did not really have to be concerned about entertaining us for 60 days.  Why?  Because we had the Brett Kavanaugh hearings on three different news channels.  We could watch it on MSNBC, Fox, or the BBC.  As you are aware, the coverage was relentless; almost as relentless as the accusations against Kavanaugh were ridiculous and repulsive.  I am sure that in her mind, Christine Blasey Ford believed something did happen to her.  Without the corroboration of any of her ‘best friends’, the accusations were weak at best.  The whole affair turned beyond ridiculous when the accusation was made that he was the ‘leader of a gang of rapists!’   After 6 FBI background investigations without a blemish?  I don’t think so.   Trust me when I say that I do not enjoy writing about those senatorial proceedings any more than I, and many others, enjoyed watching them.  But the one takeaway from those proceedings that sends a shiver down my spine is the thought that those proceedings, with senators mugging for TV time, with senators posturing to be a presidential nominee, with senators acting as if they are the clowns in a whole new circus firing off ridiculous accusations, that all of this becomes …….the new ‘political reality TV.’  

Oh.  There was one more event that took place during our cruise.  We had the midterm elections.  Was there any drama surrounding that event?  We were not sure who the governor or US senator from Florida would be until almost two weeks after election night.  We got off the ship on November 18, and I believe Ron Desantis and Rick Scott were declared the winners the day before.  (If those damn Russians would quit meddling in our elections, we would have had the results sooner!)  Anyway, after a run-off in Mississippi for senator, and a bucket load of close elections around the country, the end result is that the Republicans picked up two seats in the Senate, and lost about 30 seats in the House of Representatives, giving the Democrats the majority.

So now, dear readers, I have finally gotten to the meat of this blog.  Will our new Congress legislate, or investigate?

I have some suggestions for our Congress if they feel like performing their jobs and decide to  legislate.  Firstly, that caravan of immigrants, that caravan that the media tried to convince us was imaginary, has now appeared at our borders.  Recently, things turned ugly when bottles and rocks were thrown at our border security people.  Not only that, it is confirmed that there are more caravans on the way.  We have all heard different stories as to the composition of these caravans.  The most reliable information for me comes from the Mexican government.  I am skeptical of our media coverage, so the Mexican government has no reason to sugarcoat the caravan composition.  They are reporting that 75% are working age males.  The remaining 25% is divided between women and children.  Less than 5% of these people have a tinge of a case for political asylum.   The Mexican government has offered jobs.  But yet, they decline and keep coming.  The Mexican government has offered ‘political asylum.’  But yet, they decline and keep coming.  The Mexican government in conjunction with our border security people cite that a full 10% of these people have criminal records.  Do you want these people as your neighbors?  If these people are really trying to escape bad countries in the hope of entering our country, why are they carrying the flags of the country they left and not the flag of our country.  To me, this indicates they do not really want to assimilate and contribute to our society as Americans, but abuse our benevolence as immigrants.

So Congress, if you want to listen to the electorate and legislate:  build the wall, establish border security and pass legislation for allowing people to apply for and establish rules for becoming US citizens.  This should apply to new immigrants, and to the ‘dreamers.’

If that sounds like a boring prospect, how about addressing the problem of Russian aggression in the Ukraine and the military build-ups by both Russia and China.  Still boring?  Well, then throw in North Korea and Iran to boot.  That should keep Congress busy for a while.  Our past politicians have failed to address these issues for years and now this has festered into a bigger, global problem.

Here is a thought.  How about establishing voting requirements for elections.  You know.  Simple stuff like being a US citizen to vote in our election.  How about a photo ID to vote?  I know this would inconvenience the average US citizen about 10 minutes to prove they are actually a US citizen, but I believe that the inconvenience is well worth it.  It gores my bull when I think that my vote could be cancelled by someone not remotely eligible to vote in this country.  And with that in mind, Robert Mueller is still, after two years, trying to determine how the Russians influenced the 2016 election.  Let me help you with that Robert.  They didn’t.  After $40 million, you still cannot pinpoint Russian influence on that election.  Yet, I am sure that many non-citizens voted in our election.  The Russians could only dream of affecting our elections as much as states allowing illegals to vote.

Have you heard one item that the Democrats plan for legislation after they control the House of Representatives?  One item?  Anyone?  Naw….me neither.  What I have heard is that they plan to ‘investigate.’  What do they plan to investigate?  Well, they are foaming at the mouth about being able to investigate Donald Trump’s tax returns for the period when his father passed the corporation from himself to Donald.  Considering Fred Trump died in 1999 at the age of 93, and retired from business in the 70’s, that would be one helluva IRS investigation.  How many corporations or individuals keep records for almost 50 years!  But wait!  This investigation would make great ‘political reality TV,’ and maybe, just maybe we could create enough skepticism to get Trump impeached!

Believe it or not, I am OK with the IRS doing an audit on Donald Trump.  Because America is the land of opportunity and fairness, I would want an IRS audit done on each and every member of Congress!  I would want to know how a person gets elected to Congress as a pauper and walks away as a ‘gabillionaire.’  Wouldn’t you want to know?  How is it that Barack Obama is elected POTUS with a net worth less than mine and now has a net worth of $135 million. (Yes. That net worth is more than mine.  But I wrote this blog and what did he do?)  Don’t you want to know?

And, to make this really fair and equitable, as long as the Trump Organization is being audited, I would want the Clinton Foundation audited.  I would want the Uranium One deal investigated.  (I would actually like to see ‘all things Clinton’ investigated!)

I have this nagging feeling that far too many people in this country like and enjoy ‘political realty TV.’  I think that because of some of the candidates that won in the last midterm election.  For example, New York elected a socialist.  Furthermore, a senator from Arizona says it is OK to fight for the enemies of the US such as ISIS.  Are these people really qualified candidates?  Were they the best candidates available?  Or, were they elected to create more dissension and confusion within Congress, thereby creating more opportunities for more ‘political reality TV?’

After watching the Kavanaugh hearings (And the new Murphy Brown show!  But, more on that later.), I hope that ‘political reality TV’ is not the new norm.  If it is, heaven needs to help us through the next two years.

A lesson learned from all of this?  Grandma P and I cannot leave the country for extended periods of time.  It goes to hell in our absence and political programming like Murphy Brown appears on TV, attempting to pass itself off as a comedy.  You failed, and you have been canceled.  Thankfully, good judgement prevailed in that decision.

I am beginning to think that I, too, may be a ‘dreamer.’  I dream that maybe one day, our Congress will legislate, and eventually do what is right for America.  Legislate, not investigate.  GET TO WORK!

Barack Hussein Obama…The Worst President Ever???

I am not a sexist!  My realtor and my investment adviser are both women.  During my stint with cancer, two of my three doctors were women.  One of these women, Dr. White, performed three surgeries on me.  During one of my surgeries, my entire operating staff was women.  I know of many fine female officers and female enlisted people in the military and have had the privilege of serving with them.

I am not a racist.  I get along famously with people of all races that share my values.  During my experiences in the military, I was ‘color blind.’  That is because the military is truly an ‘equal opportunity employer.’  An officer or an enlisted person of color had to reach the same milestones, perform to the same standards and obtain the same educational standards as us ‘white guys.’  Everyone was held to the same standard.  Period.  No one was more or less privileged because of race.

I am not any other ‘phobe’ or ‘ism’ as interpreted in today’s media.  So, now if you have read this far, you are wondering why the wordy introduction.  Well….it’s because I am going to say and write something that very few people have the courage to say or even discuss.  I believe Barack Hussein Obama will go down as the worse POTUS this country has ever had and grossly abused his presidential powers while in office.

TEA PARTY

Prior to the 2010 midterm election, there was a movement afoot that was called the ‘Tea Party.’  The purpose of this organization and its increasingly popular movement was to basically cut taxes and spending within the federal government.  They derived their name from the infamous tea party during the Revolution, in protest of the Brits placing taxes on tea and other British imports.  Many of the chapters of the growing Tea Party movement applied to the IRS for tax exempt/non-profit status.  This was so they could raise funds and purchase advertising to advance their conservative cause.  The result?  Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS refused tax exempt status, and then started promoting IRS investigations and audits into the founders!  Personal vendettas were waged by the IRS!  Do you remember Lois Lerner?  She was the one called before a congressional inquiry and pleaded the fifth amendment when asked questions!  A government official, paid by us tax payers pleaded the fifth.  She immediately resigned her position and began collecting a golden parachute retirement.   Lois Lerner was not smart enough or ‘ballsy’ enough to wage this vendetta on her own.  It had to come down from her boss and from her bosses boss.  That would have been Barack Obama.

URANIUM ONE

While Hillary was Secretary of State, the United States decided to sell a large portion of its uranium reserves to…of all the people in the world…the RUSSIANS!  Oh yeah!  These are the same Russians that are being investigated for tampering in our elections.  But during this marvelous deal, the Russians got the uranium and the Clinton Foundation got a $147 million contribution.  Where did that uranium go?  Who will use it and for what purpose?  Will it be used in weaponry against us or our allies?  So, who is ultimately responsible for this deal?  That would be Barack Obama.  And, dear readers, what will be the consequences if a nuclear explosive device is used and the device reads, “This uranium was graciously provided by the people of the United States.”  (As a speculation, do you think all of the $147 million stayed with the Clinton’s, or could some of it been used to grease the wheels of this transaction in Washington?)

BOWE BERGDAHL and BENGHAZI

Do you remember what the reasoning was for exchanging the AWOL Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban commanders being held in Guantanamo Bay?  Well, according to Carolyn Hayden, spokesperson for the National Security Council, it was for “protecting the lives of Americans abroad and protecting US soldiers.”  (Three of those five Taliban commanders immediately joined the battle against America.  How is that for protecting US soldiers?)   By law, Congress was to be notified 30 days in advance of any releases to be made from Guantanamo Bay.  How long a notice did the White House give Congress?  TWO HOURS!

If the White House was so concerned about American citizens abroad, then we should have sent at least two naval armadas to rescue the US ambassador to Libya and the American protection staff.  But, sadly, we did nothing.  Rumors persisted from the Pentagon and through military channels that a relief flight of planes were dispatched from Italy, but were ordered to return to base.  The rumors also stated that the stand-down order came from the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  But, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon do not take orders from, or answer to the Secretary of State.  They take orders from one person only; the Commander in Chief, Barack Obama.

So let me get this straight.  One AWOL for five experienced terrorists represented good American policy, but rescuing Americans in Libya from terrorists was not.

PAYMENT FOR AMERICAN HOSTAGES and THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR DEAL

I will be the first to say I am confused about the two events mentioned above.  Supposedly, we shipped $400 million to Iran to release Americans held by the Iranians.  Rumor has it that they were not released until a cargo plane loaded with pallets full of $100 bills arrived in Tehran.  The chiropractors in Iran were busy for weeks adjusting the backs of those poor individuals that had to carry all that money.

Then there is the murky Iranian Nuclear agreement.  Supposedly, for a paltry $1.7 billion, the Iranians would discontinue nuclear material production.  Who provided that money?  Did France, Germany or England provide any of that money?  Now, they are criticizing Trump for leaving this deal?  Also, the Iranians are threatening us by stating they are going to step-up production of nuclear material.  Do you believe for one New York minute that they ever stopped?  I surely don’t, and, we gave them enough money to fund terrorism for quite some time.  Look at what they are doing in Syria and what they have continually attempted to do in Iraq.  There weren’t any teeth in that initial Iranian nuclear agreement for non-compliance and now the Iranians are waving the stupidity of that deal in our faces using our money.

ROBERT MUELLER INVESTIGATION

Are you getting tired about this investigation?  I know I am.  But here is the spin coming out of the people trying to hide the real intent of this politically motivated witch hunt.  The US government was concerned about the Russian interference in US elections. So where did they decide to look for glaring examples of this Russian interference?  Well, the best place to look would be in the campaign headquarters of the new Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump.  They must have thought there were Russians under every desk and borscht and cheap vodka running down the hallways.

But wait…what was the basis of looking only at the Trump campaign headquarters, and not the Democratic presidential headquarters?  Well, it was a document put together by a former British, disgraced agent working for a company called Fusion GPS.  The purpose of this company is to dig up smut on political opponents. And the Fusion GPS policy is that if smut cannot be found, then make it up.  This matches most of today’s media coverage.   The FBI, under the watchful eye of its egotistical leader, James Comey, received warrants from the Justice Department allowing wiretaps of Trump staffers.  And now, we have learned lately that the FBI placed a mole within the Trump organization.

This whole affair is politically motivated from top to bottom.  How can I say that with certainty?  If the FBI was indeed looking for only Russian influence in US elections, wouldn’t they inform Trump or someone on his staff about what they were doing and ask their cooperation?  From the reaction by the Trump administration, I am sure no one knew about any FBI informant and wire tapping.   And who was the first national politician to use Fusion GPS?  That would be Barack Obama, as he hired them to find smut about Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential elections.  Who do you think authorized this witch hunt and allowed the placement of a mole in Trump headquarters?  Again, I contend that would be Barack Obama.  This, my fellow Americans, is strictly against the law!

SUMMARY

If, as I suspect, Barack Obama ordered or allowed the placement of an informant in Trump’s campaign headquarters, he broke the law.  He has used the Justice Department as his battering ram because of two weak attorney generals that would acquiesce to any of his wants, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.  This could ultimately make Watergate look like a pizza party in comparison.

Barack Obama bypassed congressional procedure by releasing five dangerous Taliban commanders without proper notification.  This is a dereliction of duty and an over reach of presidential power.

Barack Obama stifled political freedom by utilizing the IRS as a battering ram to squelch the emergence of the Tea Party movement during a mid-term election.    This, my fellow Americans, is against the law.  And with Lois Lerner pleading the fifth amendment to direct congressional inquiry questions, the obvious link between her and Obama was never established.

The Obama administration policy concerning dealing with anything Muslim was very muddied.  We trade five Muslim extremists for one AWOL soldier, pay $400 million for the release of our hostages from Iran, do not attempt a rescue in Benghazi from Muslim extremists, and give $1.7 billion to Iran in the hopes that they will abide by ceasing the production of nuclear materials.  If this were a game, the score would be: Muslim extremists – 4, USA – 0!

But the one act that is the most serious is the Uranium One deal.  That deal should never have happened and it did by bypassing Congress.  If the Russians sold that uranium to North Korea, Iran, or any other country for nefarious purposes, then I would say that Barack Obama has performed a treasonous act.

The one thing that concerns me the most about Barack Obama and his administration?  With very few exceptions, he has been given a pass by the media for all of these events.  Real reporting, real journalism should have uncovered these events and exposed the gross negligence of his administration.  He has been given the presidency and excuses, because of his race.  Did he get a pass because anyone who criticized him would have been branded a ‘racist’ during his politically correct administration?   He should not have had a second term.  In a word, he made the ‘swamp’ deeper and wider.  I am confident history will prove me right.

There you have it and I will no doubt be called a racist for my remarks.  But just like a stalwart statue in the wind, I am not going to waver even though I may have some pigeons crap on me!

Mexifornia! Could We Be So Lucky To See It Happen?

Have you heard about the rumblings coming from the left (West) coast about California seceding from the Union?  Yeah, I have heard those rumblings, too.  So, like a desperate poker player in a high stakes tournament, I am throwing all of my chips into the pot and calling their bluff.  But….before we all get hasty about our opinion on this matter, let’s review the pros and the cons to the State of California and to the United States of America as a result of a California succession.

The advantages for California.

Did you see on the news this morning that the Department of Justice is filing suit against California over the issue of non-cooperation between ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and California law enforcement agencies?  Yup.  Many of the mayors of large cities in California have directed their law enforcement agencies not to cooperate with any federal enforcement agency.  The mayor of Oakland warned illegal immigrants that there was an impending ICE sweep.   So, if California seceded, this would all go away.  Problem solved for the future Mexifornia!  No matter if a person is there illegally, or if they have a criminal record, they would all be welcome with open arms in the new, tolerant country of Mexifornia.

California has 53 Representatives in Congress.  They could disband their state legislature, and these 53 representatives could replace them and save lots of money.  That just leaves two US Senators out in the wind.  That would be Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.  But think of this, maybe Dianne Feinstein could become the president of Mexifornia, as she is the senior senator, and Kamala Harris could become Vice President.  For this to happen, Governor Jerry Brown would have to retire so as to not mess up the pecking order.  But Jerry will be 80 years old next month and should retire.  After all, Governor Jerry is responding to the DOJ lawsuit as a ‘political stunt.’  He goes on to say that ‘political stunts’, (in this case, federal laws!), will not work in California.  Way to go Jerry!  Now if we could only get you to go out the door to retirement so that we can implement our plan to make Dianne Feinstein president of Mexifornia.

Just think of the cabinet that could be selected for Mexifornia.  The Kardashian sisters could be the joint secretaries of state.  After all, what group would know more about international affairs?  If experience is the best teacher, that great liberal political contributor, Harvey Weinstein should be the Human Resources director.  The door would have to be removed from his office for security reasons and his office must be devoid of any sofas or couches.

I would nominate Kathy Griffin for Mexifornia Homeland Security.  Firstly, she scares the hell out of me, so that would make her qualified.  Secondly, wouldn’t you like to see Donald Trump holding her bloody head at a White House press briefing?  Just sayin’.

If California seceded, they could raise the taxes on everything and everybody without recourse.  If a bunch of foreign conservatives (those from the USA!) were visiting Disneyland or taking the Hollywood tour, they could have an additional 100% tariff assessed to their tickets.  Nancy Pelosi would absolutely love the opportunity to assess ridiculous amount of tariffs to visiting conservatives.  After all, she is the person responsible for saying that the $1000 employee bonuses as a result of the Trump tax plan were ‘crumbs.’  With that in mind, the entrance fee to visit Disneyland would be a crumby $1500 per day per person, or, in other words….a crumb and a half per person.  She has also said that the latest federal budget proposal is a lot of ‘dog-do.’  How would Disney like to be paid in that?  Yup.  She qualifies as the new head of the IRS for Mexifornia.

The new country of Mexifornia would not have to be concerned about enforcing voter registration eligibility laws.  Oh wait, that is not an advantage, they don’t enforce these laws now.  California follows the blood pressure theory of voter eligibility….if you have a pulse, you can vote.  But here is an advantage, most of the Mexifornia citizens could vote in two countries, Mexifornia and Mexico.  The next time I visit Mexico, I am going to vote in their election.  Isn’t that what reciprocity is all about?

In all seriousness, I believe that if a vote was to be taken in California on succession, it would be a close election.  With 39 of the 53 US Representatives being liberals, you can see my point.  (20% of the Democratic US Respresetatives in Congress come from California.)

Advantages to the United States with a California Succession

A big advantage for the US of A would be that the Department of Justice would not have to enforce federal jurisdiction over the new country of Mexifornia.  This would save the taxpayers money and the DOJ a whole lot of headaches.  No cost for FBI agents in Mexifornia.  No cost for Border Patrol in Mexifornia.  No ICE agents in Mexifornia.  Isn’t that what California wants?  That would save lots of money for the US.

Here is another advantage for the USA.  The average staff salaries for a US senator is $2.8 million for Democratic senators, and $2.3 million for Republican senators.  But not to be outdone, in 2011 the two California senators were 1 and 2 in having the highest senatorial staff salaries.  Barbara Boxer was at $4.412 million and Dianne Feinstein was at $4.125 million for their respective staff salaries.  Yup.  They won and placed in the senatorial staff salary horse race.  You can imagine that Kamala Harris is not far behind after replacing Boxer.  That would be almost $10 million saved for the USA team.  But wait…..there’s more!  The average staff budgets for a Democratic representative is $1.024 million, while that for a Republican representative is $900 thousand.  That would save about another $53 million.  Throw in travel expenses and miscellaneous expense accounts, it would be a fair estimate that we would save about $100 million in the US budget.  I have no plausible explanation as to why staff salaries are much higher for the Democrats than the Republicans.  I guess the Democrats just want to spend more money.

As I am the blog writer, I am going to exercise my right of literary license and insert an advantage for the succession of California that may only be of benefit to me.  I would do anything not to have to hear Nancy Pelosi on the national news expounding idiotic drivel that she does so well.  I have already referred to the ‘crumbs’ comment and the one about ‘dog-do.’  Yet, there she is, getting way more camera time than one nitwit deserves.  I would do anything not to have to hear Maxine Waters talk about how she is going to get Donald Trump removed from the oval office, even if she has to do it herself physically.   She wants to impeach him.  No respect.  No cooperation.  Just more Californian drivel.  Again, another example of getting excessive media attention.  It seems that the more insane their comments..the more media attention.  (I do not think I am alone in this belief.)  If Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts would move to the succeeding California, my life would be complete!

Then there are the overly verbal, whackadoodles in Hollywood.  These are the elite people who spend way too much time attempting to convince you that they are average Americans, just like you and me.  Then they jump into their chauffeur driven limousines, head to some who-gives-a-crap ceremony, and award themselves more trophies and adoration.  They spew their political opinions as if anyone gives a damn.  News flash!  America is waking up to the fact that most of you don’t have a clue what average America is about, nor do we care about your political rantings.

Here’s an advantage to the US.  Think of how much fun it would be to replace California, so we could be back to an even fifty states.  Think of the possibilities!  Puerto Rico?  Nah.  Guam?  Maybe.  Samoa?  I would vote for the Western, free Samoa rather than American Samoa.  If you have been to them, you would know what I mean.  Cuba?  Only by invasion, but don’t totally eliminate it.  Possibly Ontario?  No.  Trudeau would get upset and ban Canadian hockey teams from playing in America.  Bummer, eh.  I cast my vote that the Virgin Islands replace California as the fiftieth state.  That way, we will not have to replace our flags.  Small population = less representatives.   Problem solved.

With all the bluster that comes out of California, here is one advantage for the US that many people are not aware.  California has 17% of the population in the United States.  California receives 34% of all social/welfare dollars distributed in the United States.  If my math and information is correct, that means that the state of California receives over $250 billion dollars from the federal government every year.  That is not chump change or crumbs or dog-do.  And yet they want to flaunt the fact that they do not want to abide by federal government laws, especially those pertaining to immigration.

Trump has threatened to withhold different federal funds for California non-compliance.  Faster than a firecracker, some Federal judge from the left coast will place an injunction on the withholding of the funds.  California getting money from the federal government is like a vasectomy….they want all the fun without the responsibility.

With all of this in mind, who really needs who?  California, with their already high real estate and income taxes would go bust in a second without federal government support.  If I were from California, I would muzzle my politicians, replace them with intelligent people and tread lightly on the succession question.  Maybe it should be left up to the other 49 states to vote if California should secede.  Wouldn’t that be interesting.

I think my ‘all in’ poker ploy has caused all the bluffers to fold.  Another pot for Grandpa T!

We Defeated the Communists, and Then We Became Them!

My oh my!  Recently, there has been no shortage of world-wide events that have distracted our government from taking care of domestic issues.  There was hurricane Harvey, hurricane Irma, and now, once again tearing through the Caribbean, hurricane Maria.  These were catastrophic to the United States, and they totally destroyed some small Caribbean countries.   Last week, there was a ‘bucket bomb’ that exploded in a London subway.  And, much like an infant with a broken rattle, we can always count on Kim Jong-un to fire another missile anytime he thinks he is not getting enough attention on the world stage.

Because of these major events, not much attention has been given to our domestic problems. Obama Care has not been repealed or replaced.  The tax codes have not been revised.  And, have you recently heard any news referring to the federal budget?  This got me to wondering.  How is the federal government currently spending our money?  It is our money, isn’t it?  More importantly, how has the government spent our money in the past?  So, as a matter of personal interest, I have decided to compare our 2016 federal budget to the 50 year earlier, 1966 federal budget.  This was not an accidental choice, as I graduated from high school as a wet-behind-the-ears, know-it-all eighteen year old in 1966.  And, yes, I can still muster up enough memory to remember the era.  Let me set the stage.

1966

1966 was just over 20 years after the completion of WWII.  There were no shortage of veterans from that war.  They were our parents.  We fought an on-going war in Korea.  Because of what was called the ‘domino theory’ we sent military advisors to a country called South Viet Nam.  Eisenhower began this program, Kennedy expanded it, and Lyndon Johnson turned Saigon into the  twenty-third largest American city.  Little did we know in 1966 that Viet Nam would ultimately cost us over 57,000 American lives.

Our WWII ally, Russia, was now our dreaded enemy.  They became the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), which was comprised of Russia and all the countries it decided to keep in its ‘sphere of influence’ after WWII.  The majority joined unwillingly by the use of Russian military force. We had NATO, and the USSR had the Warsaw Pact.  They built the Berlin wall and shot anyone that tried to cross it.  Winston Churchill dubbed this policy of isolation as the ‘Iron Curtain.’

In 1962, we had a little dust-up in the Caribbean called the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The USSR wanted to install nuclear warheads and missiles in Cuba.  US versus USSR.  Kennedy versus Khruschev. Good versus evil.  Eagle versus the bear.  Democracy versus communism.  According to all historical accounts, it was the closest the world has come to a nuclear holocaust.

In 1963, Kennedy was assassinated.  (I was hoping I would find out who was responsible before I died, but time is running out!)

On the domestic front, the ‘baby boomers’ were entering the workforce.  As a high school graduate, there were three life choices available:  go to college, get a job, or get drafted.  That was pretty much it.  The economy was booming because there was a war to fuel it.  Just about anyone that wanted a job had a job.  As eighteen year olds, we could not wait to move away from home and become independent.  We never moved back home.

With these events as a background, how did our government spend our money?  Our GDP in 1966 was $4.12T.  The total government receipts were $689B.  Our total outlays were $708B.  (Yes!  We dealt in billions and not trillions!)  Our deficit that year was $19.5B.  Ah yes, don’t you long for the good old days now?  42% of all revenues came from individual income taxes.  Payroll taxes accounted for 20% and corporate taxes accounted for 23% of revenues.

On the spending side, 43% of all funds were spent on national defense.  But here is the biggie….medicare and general health spending was only 2% of the budget that year.  Spending on social security, unemployment and labor in 1966 was about 23% of all outlays.

In raw numbers, the Dept. of Defense got $298B, Health and Human Services got $30.1B, Social Security Administration got $109B, Treasury got $61.9B and NASA got $31.2B.  The Treasury received their money largely to pay the interest on our $1.74T national debt.  Of course there are other departments, but these are the largest and pertinent to this blog.

2016

Now we fast forward 50 years to 2016, the last year of the Obama budget.  There were only two budgets put forth by the Obama admistration in his eight years as POTUS.  Harry Reed, the senate majority leader, promised not to bring a budget to the senate floor and the ‘gatekeeper from hell’ kept his word.  In 2016, the government took in $2.99T in tax revenues.  (Yes, we got to the trillions!) 49% of these revenues came from individual income taxes.  Payroll taxes accounted for 33% and corporate taxes accounted for 9% of total revenues.  The national debt now exceeds $16.7T!

The sources of revenue did not change substantially in 50 years.  But how the revenues have been spent have significantly changed.  Remember that the defense department accounted for 43% of the 1966 budget?  Well, even with all the shenanigans going on with terrorism and wars, the 2016 budget only spent 15% on the defense department.  Wow!  Where did that money go?  The 2% of monies spent on medicare and general health spending in 1966 now consumes 28% of the spending.  Spending on social security is now 37% of the budget as compared to 22% in the past.   Entitlement programs now consume 65% of our national budget!

The raw numbers are staggering.  The Dept. of Defense now spends $515B.  The Dept. of Health and Human Services goes from $30.1B to a staggering $995B!  The Dept. of Treasury goes from $61.9B to $484B!  Much of this is to pay the interest on our growing, inflated national debt.  Not to be outdone, the Social Security Administration received a nice bump, going from $109B to $866B!  NASA, on the other hand, had its 1966 budget of $31.2B reduced to $17.2B in 2016.

I need to provide a small history lesson at this point.  Do you know what the original responsibities were of the federal government?  Why the federal government was founded?  It was founded for two reasons; national defense and international trade.  End of list.  It is astounding how the federal government got to its present size.  Back to the blog.

There are some logical explainations for these large differences in these federal budgets.  In 1966, the huge ‘baby boomer’ generation entered the work force.  They worked.  They paid taxes.  They paid into the social security fund.  In 2016, guess what?  The ‘baby boomers’ aged.  They retired and they began collecting the social security in which they paid for after about 50+ working years.

In 1966, there wasn’t any government provided health care program.  We never expected a federal health care program.  But now look at what is happening.  Obamacare happened, and it has pretty much been a mess ever since.  Everyone agrees it needs to change, but we can’t get two people in a room of 100 senators to agree on how it should change.  Personally, I think the federal government should get out of the health care business altogether, but the proverbial cat has been let out of the bag.  Unlike the old days of 1966 where we did not believe in such a thing as a free lunch, we have people perfectly capable of working that expect a free lunch.  In 1966 we were raised under the mantra that, ‘you ate what you killed.’  Now our national conscious is that everyone should eat, even if they haven’t done one thing to feed themselves.

As amazing as it is to see the differences in our budgets after 50 years, it appears this is outdone by our expectations as to what the government owes us in entitlements.  Most of these entitlements did not exist 50 years ago, and yet we survived.  This is borne out by a Health and Human Services budget that is over 30 times larger than in 1966.  (Think ‘welfare’)

During the Cold War, we spent trillions of dollars to defeat those socialistic Communists.  Russia has turned from its socialistic/communistic society.  You remember socialism/communism.  That is the economic and political theory that advocates the means of production, distribution and exchange should be regulated by the community (government) as a whole.  Our electorate has seen fit in the last 50 years to elect officials that institute welfare programs that we can’t afford,  with money we don’t have, for people who should not receive them.   We have given up our independence.  Now, with our dependence on our federal government, we have taken the place of the former USSR.   Have we become the New Socialists/Communists?

It gives a whole new context to the motto, ‘Land of the free……..’

Pole Vaulting Over Mouse Turds!

Donald Trump presidency…….D + 46

There were many times during my military and business careers when some individuals would become bogged down in minutia.  This was not necessarily a bad thing if there were no time constraints and the minutia being provided stayed focused on the end product or mission.  That was usually not the case, however.

Let me use the military as an example.  Whether the planning involved training or war plans, there were always time constraints.  Yet, some staff wienie would always want to use precious time to delve into the most insignificant of details that were only of concern to him, and not to the group or geared to the mission.  The same situations occur during business planning meetings.  It seems you always have one or two individuals that want to demonstrate their intelligence or elevate their importance by monopolizing time that just was not available.  When asked a question, oftentimes these individuals would provide an answer in an overabundance of detail that was just not necessary.  As a shortcut to brevity, I would chide these people with the phrase, “When I ask you what time it is, don’t tell me how to build a clock.”  This phrase would usually get the ‘minutia minded’ back on track.

Most people have heard the phrase, ‘making a mountain out of a mole hill.’  Cute.  I found that the phrase, ‘You are pole vaulting over mouse turds’ was much more effective in keeping a staff in line and focused based on our time constraints and mission.

So, with the ‘pole vaulting over mouse turd’ concept in mind; could it be applied to what is currently happening in Washington, D.C.?  Unfortunately, I believe it fits all too nicely.

Donald Trump has been POTUS for 46 days.  Here are some of the items that the liberal biased media and the Democratic party have brought to the forefront since the Trump inauguration.  One of the initial biggies was that some female members of the Democratic party called for a boycott of the Ivanka Trump clothing line.  You would think with all these ‘women’s marches,’ like the one occurring today as I am writing this, that these women would be ecstatic that a member of the fair sex is successful in business.  Not the case!  So, in defense, Kellyanne Conway mentioned on a Sunday morning news show that people should buy clothing from the Ivanka Trump collection.  The response?  The shouting began!  “Kellyanne Conway needs to be replaced!”  “Kellyanne Conway needs to be severely disciplined.”  “Kellyanne needs to be prosecuted.”  (As an aside, the Ivanka collection is having unprecedented high sales after the Democrat women called for boycott!)

Poor Kellyanne could not catch a break after someone posted a picture of her sitting on her feet on a sofa in the oval office.  Again, the shouting began from the left.  Disrespectful!  (Followed by the three comments in bold in the previous paragraph.)  Apparently, the liberals have forgotten about the picture of Obama with his feet up on the historical Resolute desk in the oval office.  This desk was a gift from Queen Victoria of England.  Or, about Bill Clinton having an intern under the desk.

Combined

Any disrespect there?

Other media consuming biggies is that Donald Trump uses ketchup on his steak.  Earth shattering!  And, recently, Ben Carson referred to slaves as immigrants.  Again, earth shattering.  Would you say the four mentioned situations are all important, or would you classify them as ‘pole vaulting over mouse turds.’  I am a believer that we could use toothpicks to vault over those turds.

Here are some items that I believe the media and our politicians from both parties should be focusing upon.

Earlier this week, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles in the direction of Japan.  We have 50,000 service people stationed in Japan.  Today, the North Koreans have said that they were trying to hit Japan, even though the missiles fell short by 150 miles.  After the firing, we sent additional anti-missile defense weapons to South Korea.  Now the Chinese are claiming we are being aggressive and spoiling for a war.  I would say this is a biggie.  Especially in light of the fact that the Chinese are constructing artificial islands in the South China Sea and fortifying them as naval bases.  And…they are claiming the surrounding oceans as Chinese territorial waters.

China’s banks are financing much of the aggression that is being shown by not only the North Koreans, but by the Iranians.  They are lending money for the purchase of all types of weapons to whoever wants to borrow and purchase, including nations that sponsor terrorism.  Its nice that we continue to purchase Chinese made items so that their banking system can afford to finance the terrorists of the world.

Have you noticed how many times our ships have been buzzed by Iranian patrol boats in the Persian Gulf?  It seems to be happening more and more as the Iranians become more belligerent.  In the very near future, either they will fire on us or we will fire on them.  Then what?

Not to be outdone, those pesky Russians are buzzing our ships with their airplanes.   Much of this is to test the resolve of our new president.  Nothing happened to any of these nations over the last eight years and they are attempting to determine if they can continue their aggression unfettered.  After all, what decisive action did we take against Putin during his invasion of the Ukraine?

On the national front……………….

Have you seen anything of late about the national debt?  Apparently, our politicians and media are not concerned about a $20 trillion debt.  Maybe this debt sounds smaller if it is expressed as 20,000 billion dollars.  The ‘b’ sound is apparently less menacing than the ‘t’ sound.

Did you realize that after 46 days in office, President Trump is still missing four key individuals from his cabinet?  He is missing the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretaries of Labor and Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative.  It appears that with the Liberals fighting every step of the way, it will take longer for him to get his cabinet.  In comparison, Obama had 7 cabinet members confirmed on his inauguration day.  Then there is the Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.  Have you seen this guy’s credentials?  If he and Jesus had a contest to see who would get the least wet while walking across water….I think it would be close to a tie!  His confirmation should be a slam dunk, but will no doubt be contested.

Of course the biggest item in Washington today is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.  The Republican roll out is now available for scrutiny and there is no shortage of scrutiny.  At least it is one-tenth the length of the original act at 200+ pages versus 2,000+ pages.  With that in mind, it will be read before being passed into law.  Also, it is open to correction and amendment.  This was something not available for the original bill when the it was rammed down the throats of the American public.  I want to point out that health care is an entitlement and not a right.  Entitlements can be taken away.  This particular entitlement comes with a very expensive price tag.

So readers, I want you to scrutinize as to what is important and what is political and media grandstanding.  What is important for the country versus what is important to a politician to get reelected.  Those interests are not the same.  Be discriminating about national and world events. What is more important?  The way Kellyanne Conway sits on a couch or the fact that the North Koreans have fired four missiles at Japan?  Don’t fall into the shenanigans of the media and some politicians by ‘pole vaulting over mouse turds.’