Feb 24

45 percent of U.S. households pay no income tax

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One of the biggest lies of government-trusting socialists like Bernie Sanders is that “the rich” are in control of American politics because of the Citizens United decision, “unlimited” rights of spending on campaign ads, etc.

In fact, the overall share of the federal tax burden paid by the richest 10 percent has been steadily increasing for years. The burden paid by “the poor” has gotten smaller and smaller.

The poor are kept down by a brutal combination of licensing requirements, overregulation of businesses in which poor people might otherwise thrive (hairdressing, trucking, transportation, guiding and commercial fishing are examples), and the rapid expansion of criminal penalties for daily conduct and behavior.

New data show that fully 45 percent of U.S. households do not owe or pay any federal income tax at all. See here.

Feb 24

Bejing now houses more billionaires than does New York City

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For much of two centuries, the United States was the global flagship of capitalism and free enterprise.

New York City, with its New York Stock Exchange, and its large investment banks, was the world capitol of commerce. The buildings on the Manhattan skyline–the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building (built mostly by the investors of General Motors)–exemplified America’s dynamic business climate.

But high taxes and overregulation have taken their toll on the Big Apple. Millionaires and billionaires have fled New York for freer shores.

Now Bejing, China has overtaken New York as the world’s billionaire capitol. See here.

Feb 24

Government launches major campaign to promote its surveillance agenda; accuses Apple of using the issue as a marketing strategy

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The Justice Department has embarked on a national advertising campaign to drum up public support for forcing the makers of the iPhone to unlock the device used by alleged San Bernardino killers.

It seems that FBI agents themselves are to blame for the locked-up iPhone. They bunglingly reset the password while trying to hack into the device.

Apple executives have said they cannot give the government a “back door” to the device without compromising the privacy of all their consumers.

The USA Today compared the controversy to a political campaign: “Feds, Apple want your vote in iPhone dispute: Battle over privacy takes on tone of political campaign.”

Feb 21

Top-Spending Republican Candidate Flops at Polls

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The SuperPAC supporting Jeb Bush for the Republican presidential nomination blew through $116 million and came up empty. See here.

Bush’s collapse proves yet again that “unlimited” money to spend on campaign ads does not “buy” elections.

The frontrunner, Donald Trump, has barely spent ten percent of this massive sum.

Feb 21

Lawyers imbed drastic new criminal penalties into “Trans-Pacific Partnership”–after it was supposedly finalized!

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The TPP (“Trans-Pacific Partnership”) was enacted as a trade treaty by political insiders, despite being imposed by vast democratic majorities within the countries that supposedly agreed to it.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation recently discovered that after the TPP was supposedly finalized (and after the original text was released in November 2015) the original text was “legally scrubbed.”

The legal scrubbing process, which was ongoing from November until the re-release of the text last month, was meant to be a process in which lawyers, trade ministry staff, and translators, go over the deal word-by-word, to ensure that it is legally consistent and free of unintended errors or loopholes.

The “legal scrubbing” resulted in new criminal penalties being added, for such things as copyright infringements. See here.

Feb 20

US military “fights climate change” by moving to “renewable” fuels, costing taxpayers tens of billions!

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The US military is the most expensive on earth. Its skirmishes in Afghanistan cost taxpayers approximately 2 MILLION DOLLARS PER SOLDIER PER YEAR.

Now the U.S. president has issued an executive order mandating that the Air Force must spend $59 a gallon for “renewable” jet fuel and $67 per gallon for camelina-based F-22 Raptor fuel.

The Navy must spend $27 per gallon for biofuels from algae, waste grease and animal fat, and $424 a gallon for 20,000 gallons of “sustainable” diesel fuel.

All that when conventional gasoline, diesel and jet fuel (thanks to fracking) sell for $2.00-$3.50 per gallon!

See here.

Feb 20

Gas in Venezuela Rises to 15 Cents a Gallon

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Socialist Venezuela has the cheapest gasoline on earth. See here.

But the socialist government has controlled and manipulated prices so extensively that the “real” price of gasoline is unknowable, and may be almost nothing.

The hilarious LA Times article describes how the socialist, mob-ruled country is plummeting in economic health due to the government’s central planning. The public rioted so severely during past government-imposed price increases that the Venezuelan government has kept gasoline at the same price since 1994! Now the government has finally decided to raise the price of gasoline from less than a penny a gallon to 15 cents.

Meanwhile, inflation is estimated to be 190 percent per year.

The Venezuelan economy actually shrank 5.7 percent per year.

Feb 20

U.S. Postal Service Lost Money Every Year Since 2007

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Brian McNicoll, a columnist who follows the economic plight of the U.S. Postal Service, says the Service has lost money every year since 2007.

The U.S.P.S. has lost more than $51 billion since the [2008] downturn began.

The Service has not made a payment since 2011, and is more than $50 billion in arrears now.

McNicoll added that the U.S.P.S. does not expect to make its $5.8 billion payment for 2016 either. See here.

Feb 19

Government University Students Traumatized by Speaker who Criticized Government Ideology

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Rutgers University recently allowed a speaker on campus who disagreed with a handful of the big-government principles trumpeted by America’s government colleges.

Immediately, afterward, students were so traumatized that they openly cried and attended a group therapy session. Students described “feeling scared, hurt, and discriminated against.”

One student reported that he felt “scared to walk around campus the next day.”

See here.

Feb 14

Dodd-Frank Act has led to fewer banks offering free checking

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Gail Marksjarvis of the Chicago Tribune reports that only 46 percent of banks are still offering free checking accounts to customers.

“That’s a major change from 2009, when more than 78 percent of banks offered the freebie.”

The reason: banks are facing higher costs due to the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2009. (Ironically, the Act was passed with the intention of “protecting consumers.”)

Before [Dodd-Frank], a $1 billion institution might have had one person working half-time to make sure government regulations were obeyed; now it’s four to five people.