Current Day Publius

The largest teacher’s union held its convention last week and what came out of it should tell every parent of a K-12 grader to run away from public education. Not only are they espousing a curriculum that undermines our very democracy and turns the clock back on the progress made in racial relations and sexual orientation, they are threatening anyone who would dare to counter their effort. What chutzpah! Union president Weingarten couldn’t have been more strident in her defense of critical race theory, without naming it, or the “right” of teachers to teach what they want to teach. Worse, in a special legal fund they established, they will use dues to sue those who would question them. That would be you parent!

The use of remote teaching opened up the window to the crap that is being spewed in classrooms. Parents were appalled at what teachers were telling their children. Most elucidating was how teachers tried to shut down parents from viewing classroom activities. This has spawned an effort by some parents to call for classroom cameras which of course is being met with threats of lawsuits by the union. (Mind you, most dog day-care facilities have cameras that allow owners unfettered access to see how their dog is being treated.)

Other efforts are proving fruitful in the counter to the Biden backed behemoth public education cabal. More charter schools are being “approved”, as if how your tax dollars are being spent isn’t up to you. Vouchers and other means of parents controlling where their school tax dollars are spent are coming on line. Progress is slow going but picking up pace as more parents are becoming aware of just what is occurring in classrooms. Still, your kid MAY be back in a classroom this fall. That is if the teacher’s union allows there to be in place teaching. You may not have the time or the availability to be able to take advantage of these alternatives.

If you’re concerned that your white first grader is now being told that they are causing harm to every black and (fill in the blank) person simply by having been born white, run. If you think that teaching kindergarteners there are more than just boys and girls when it comes to sexes, run. If you want your children to learn how to read, write and calculate rather than feel ashamed for their country, run, don’t walk away from public education as it is today. It will be more expensive (private school), more difficult to attain, (charter school admittance) or certainly more time consuming (home schooling) but your child, and our future, depends on educating people to know fact from fiction and how to navigate in a world of differences.

Democrats are not content to let the fiscal calamity of our current entitlements undermine our very existence. Rather, having established Social Security, Medicare and a host of welfare programs that only get bigger (even when they were instituted as “temporary”), they have found raising children the next part of life’s work the government is happy to offload of you. I’ll save the arguments for why having the state raise your children is a very bad idea for another time. Instead, let’s just talk about the economic impact of yet another entitlement program. To do so, it’s critical that we look at the history of entitlements here in the US.

Social Security was intended as an insurance program to keep widows from becoming destitute in their final years. From that, we now have an “insurance” program that has no basis in actuarial science, has been expanded to cover those with disabilities and children of deceased workers. Payments are tied to inflation while revenue is not. The result is a program that soon enough, will no longer have sufficient worker/employer contributions to cover current payments. This government run Ponzi scheme will soon require heavy subsidies from general funds to meet its growing obligations.

Medicare started as a health insurance program for those over 65 and Medicaid, similarly for the poor. The idea here was to cover the many Americans who lost their health care coverage after retiring or where they lie on the poverty scale. Of course, they only expanded. It began with adding those with disabilities and those needing dialysis. Then it added home care, hospice coverage for the terminally ill, Medigap (expanded coverages through supplemental insurance), no cap catastrophic illness coverage, government paid premiums for the poor (free coverage), prescription drug coverage, and now an Obamacare subsidy and expanded coverages. The poverty level eligibility for Medicaid is now up to 130% of the poverty level. Medicare/Medicaid now accounts for ~17% of all medical care costs in the US.

There is a myriad of other entitlement programs that together along with SS and Medicare/Aid currently soak up ~18% of the entire federal budget. (http://www.federalsafetynet.com/welfare-budget.html). Big government wonks love this. It gives them more power over our lives and because we become dependent on them, we must keep returning them to power. Adding another massive log on the entitlement fire is just expanding their reach into our lives. Because those instituting these programs will not be accountable when they cause great harm down the road, they ride the “hero” train today. They’ll ride off to enjoy a cushy retirement leaving us with the gargantuan debt and the unenviable task of telling millions now dependent on the largesse, benefits must be cut. Presidents FDR (SS), Truman/Johnson (Medicare/Aid) and Johnson, (War on Poverty/welfare) are all long gone but their legacy of ever-expanding entitlement programs live on. Gone too are the many legislators who piled on by handing out more “candy to the kids”. Where is the hero that stands up and says entitlements are undermining our very country rather that propping it up? Well intentioned actions that are ill fated. The attempt to add more massive entitlements is another affront to our fiscal sensibilities and should be called out for what it is, a naked attempt to enslave we citizens.

How paradoxical is it that we can learn some interesting things about governance from of all places China? For example, China has recently admitted one of its famous state policies, one child, has failed miserably. In order to now swing the pendulum back, they are advocating larger families and instituting policies to promote them. One of them is securing lower costs of raising a child including their education. Sound familiar?

Part of China’s effort is to shepherd people away from seeking places to live where there are good private sector schools. Private sector schools are proliferating and the party is none too happy about it.  How dare these schools satisfy the thirst for knowledge that may or may not be true to the communist manifesto? Thus, the party is instituting draconian requirements on these schools which will ultimately tow the party line or become extinct. Will efforts to shift education here from the stranglehold of the teachers’ unions to private sector schools sustain itself under the onslaught of regulations and restrictions being put on them?

China is soon enough finding that even in a totalitarian state, human nature supersedes indoctrination. The divide in China, absent the effort to homogenize the population, is economic. Millions have migrated to the cities where enormous growth in private wealth has produced a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots. Party apparatchiks have always held the wealth of the country but now it is spreading to the citizens but not nearly enough of them. The clashes between the two groups of citizens will eventually boil as are the divides between the Democrat party defined tribal lines here.

In China of course, force can be used willy-nilly to tamp down any insurrection. It happened in Tiananmen Square and more recently in Hong Kong. This is not lost on our Democrat leaders. Partisan calls for addressing January 6^th events are coming dangerously close to learning how to use a cudgel to get your way. Rigging the election process, Reconciliation and killing the filibuster are blatant attempts to emulate China. Indeed, there is a lot to learn from China and the Democrats are quick studies.

Nevada just passed a public option healthcare bill. The bill is intended to drive down the cost of health insurance by having the state issue policies at a lower price than is available currently from private carriers. The folly of government trying its hand at enterprise is on full display when it comes to health care.

No private company, regardless of sector, can compete with the state if it chooses to enter that business. The state has no incentive for cost containment. The state has no need to break even let alone, have a “profit”. The state can merely undercut private enterprise until they are out of customers who took the bait. There is no apparent “switch” in this game though. As the losses continue to add up and the program continues to expand both in coverages offered and persons eligible, it’s the taxpayers now on the hook for the ever-increasing costs of the “public option”.

Many consumers are starting to understand how oligopolies work. Amazon, CVS, Walmart, Home Depot and other behemoth box stores are driving small businesses out of business. They undercut price and offerings and once competition is driven away, consumers are left with fewer options and are at the mercy of the big business. The most glaring example are mom and pop book stores. Amazon is the largest book seller in the world. They have reduced what small book sellers who are left, to the fringes. Even large retailers like Barnes and Noble are suffering.

The same will happen with private sector health insurers. They will not be able to compete with the state as it dictates coverages but doesn’t allow for actuarially sound pricing. Obamacare is evidence of just how poorly they run insurance programs. The buyers of Obamacare only exist because the premiums they pay are below cost and even at that, subsidized by taxpayers. Many private health insurance companies stopped administering Obamacare policies because they couldn’t absorb the losses even with the reimbursement (taxpayer funded) from the state.

The ever-expanding size and scope of the state threatens our very survival. With more money directed to social programs, less is directed to the one item in our Constitution that is demanded, our security. This crowding out of the most critical reason for government is not lost on our adversaries. They can wait in the wings for the time when we are left defenseless having neglected our security.

Finally, I am still waiting for the data showing even one program run by the federal government that is fiscally sound and achieving its original intentions. Anyone?

While the pandemic had many downsides not the least of which is the number of deaths and illnesses, there were some good things that came from this past 1 ½ years. As with prayers that are always answered, you may not see it quite the way you expected it. So here are some of my positive takeaways from this historic period.

1. Public Education has been shown to be centered around the unionized education and severely lacking. The teachers’ unions have been short shrifting our children’s education and both the content and their lack of caring for students has been laid bare for all to see. A backlash is leading to more freedom to use tax dollars for parents’ choosing how to educate their children.
2. Parents spent more time with their children and the kids, and even some parents, loved it. Yes, homeschooling was a drag and the imposition of draconian rules prevented the “just go outside and play” argument, but families grew closer for the most part. The result will be more parents choosing to stay home with their children especially if they are able to secure income at the same time.
3. Workers and their employers found working from home is not only possible, but desirable. Technology advanced sufficiently to allow for collaboration and social interaction. Employers are now re-thinking their real estate footprints and workers are seeking cheaper, less congested and safer places to live. Cities, having been found to be petri dishes for the spread of disease, are now less desirable places to live. (Safety issues aside.)
4. When government corrals the private sector, things can happen fast. President Trump’s Project Warpspeed proved that given the right set of rules, the private sector can perform. Conversely, government bureaucracy proved to be more an impediment than the saintly oversight it was supposed to be. Less and better focused regulation was shown to be a success at providing real value to taxpayers.
5. Some government officials were exposed as having “no clothes”. The audacious actions of outlawing some activities and personally ignoring them was an affront to we citizens. Their directing the full weight of the state to bear on some actions while encouraging others were the height of hypocrisy. Voters now have a good sense of who the good and bad guys and gals are. Let’s hope they remember that when they choose their representatives and leaders.

Finally,

• Golf became popular again with younger folks. This outdoor activity was about the only thing you could do for a good part of this period. Many have come to find the game enjoyable and are now added to the rest of us addicted players.

While the Marxists denigrate our flag, hockey patriots “speak” up.

Mara Gay, member of The New York Times’ editorial board and MSNBC contributor, said this about what she saw on Long Island. She saw “…dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with explicatives [sic] against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing.” This was said on a national “news” program (Morning Joe on MSNBC) with no push back from the hosts despite it being said on Memorial Day, a day devoted to those who died preserving this woman’s right to say this BS.

So how does the hockey crowd on Long Island respond on Wednesday 6/9? At the Boston Bruin/New York Islander game, the singer of the national anthem began by saying “let’s all sing our national anthem” and sing they did. Nearly 14,000 boisterous fans belted out the National Anthem.

You gotta love hockey people!

There are things that make me cringe. I’ve got some skeletons in my closet that when they re-appear in my mind, I literally cringe from embarrassment. I get those episodes when others do things that are mightily embarrassing as well. Comedians telling a joke that bombs, my child asking “what are those pink things on the monkey’s butt” in a crowd, my priest giving a too long homily, all hit me. President Trump was a constant source and now, Vice President Harris has filled that void.

Harris, as part of her fending off the catastrophe at the southern border, was in Mexico after visiting Guatemala. Her scheduled press conference started over 30 minutes late; just after an aide ran out and placed a folder on the podium. I suspect the delay was so staff could write important notes on which Harris was to expound. They either didn’t write them big enough or were meant for the school children she wrote for previously. While she looked down on occasion, it was clear Harris chose to extemporize and therein lies the embarrassment.

The vacuous statement she gave in which she contradicted herself several times and repeated the same points over-and-over, underscored her lack of depth and provided more insight as to why she was a failed candidate. Her communication pattern is the same whenever she speaks; non-answers to softball questions with a repeating phrase or point as if the questioner needs several ways to understand her response. When asked if she will go to the border, (surprise question!), she nervously repeated she/they had been/are there. HUH? The kicker was “I haven’t been to Europe either”. Serious stuff there Kamala! At least she didn’t laugh. How’s that for a high bar of expectations?

BTW – One person there introduced as a Univision reporter and who identified herself as a Harris voter, was not a reporter at all. Curious how she got in and how it is that she got called on for the third question. (https://news.yahoo.com/fake-reporter-sparked-outcry-harris-140310676.html)

It’s pretty clear now that the Chinese Communist Party/Government unleashed a biological weapon on the world. The catastrophe known as the Covid-19 pandemic was man-made by a cabal of men hell bent on dominating the world. Of course, the reason is to hold power over the rest of us and amass riches. Well, it’s time to burst that bubble and payback these psychopaths.

NOTE: When I use the term China in this missive, I mean the Chinese Communist Party which is essentially the Chinese government. I empathize with the Chinese people who have to live under this totalitarian regime.

China lies about everything. They are not to be trusted even on written contracts that have been adjudicated. To believe that this virus came from a weird animal was one of the most suspended reality thoughts one could conjure. The failed media and Chinese sycophants including Disney, the NBA and others making billions, held their breadth that their “investments” were not going to go belly up. They continue to suck up to China chasing the almighty dollar but as short sighted as a CEO watching his stock price at the end of the quarter, they’ll get burned just like everyone else has been. Ask Honk Kongers.

No, it’s time we and the rest of the free world begin to put China on notice that we aren’t’ going to stand idle why they plot and execute their takeover. Yes, we have a free society that allows you to foment divisiveness through social media, infiltrate academia to steal, and invest in our companies to appropriate products and services, but that is about to come to a screeching halt. It’s time for China to pay up for its crime.

As of now, we and hopefully, the rest of the countries who have debt held by China are absolved of that debt. Here, like most other things with this government, how much debt they hold is unknown. The official estimate is $1.5t which is a pittance ( https://hbr.org/2020/02/how-much-money-does-the-world-owe-china) If they squawk about a lousy $1.5t, at least this lie comes unearthed. Of course, we should continue and expand our economic squeeze by limiting imports from China. Tariffs, quality checks of products and outright bans of certain items are all appropriate.

As important is cutting off the spigot of subterfuge occurring through allowing Chinese access to our universities, research facilities and companies. Visas should be restricted to persons who can be fully vetted and their whereabouts and activities strictly monitored during their entire time in the US. By virtue of this requirement, fewer Chinese will be admitted to the US. Additionally, they must be restricted from access to places and information that is essential to our country. Nothing here is different from what China does to Americans who visit their country. Tit for tat? Not quite given they killed over 600,000 Americans and 3,500,000 people in total, but it’s a start.

So now racism is defined as being Caucasian and voter suppression is asking for identification. “Fair” is whatever you want it to be and “equity” is defined as “equality” and are interchangeable. “Intersectionality” is being added as will a host of gender pronouns that Prince would be proud of. Male and female? Gone. Most intriguing is the rejection of empirical data to support definitions. The most glaring is who is “rich” and who is “poor”. Because so many real-world issues depend on these two terms, you would think a number(s) could help us out during the deliberations on policies.

For those who neglected to pay attention in history classes, using language to pervert dialogue is a tried-and-true Marxist/Fascist technique meant to obfuscate true intent. (Here’s a quick primer for those of you who slept through class. http://gulagbound.com/19609/cultural-marxism-the-doom-of-language/) “Gaslighting”, the intended use of language to make others question their sanity, is alight and growing. You can’t argue ideas if the words you use are re-defined every time you use them. It throttles efforts to find common ground, foments continued misunderstandings and is the bedrock for causing unrest and revolution.

Instead of talking past one another using ill-defined language, we would do well to avoid falling for the “new English”. Rather, we should deny the re-invention of our language and ask those using these terms to explain themselves in terms WE can understand. That is, have them seek to be understood rather than having the onus on us dweebs who are unfortunate enough to have lived when words had one commonly understood meaning. Without a grounded set of words and empirical facts, reasoned conversations are impossible, which is the goal of the Marxists. Using a traditional idiom, don’t drink the Kool-Aid!

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is tasked with keeping businesses from running roughshod over consumers and our economy. At its core, monopolistic and antitrust activities and deceptive and fraudulent practices are investigated and actions taken to curb them. The Biden administration clearly benefits from having big business behind it but the woke left is not so keen on having these behemoth companies hold more power than them so enter the crusader, Lina Khan.

Now that they have the prize (total control of the Federal government), the left no longer has to play nice with big business. The FTC is made up of five Commissioners and with the current one opening, the President (or more likely, whoever is propping him up), has nominated 35-year-old Colombia University Professor, Lina Khan for the open spot. The Professor is an avowed anti-big business advocate with a large compendium conveying her strong feelings about the concentration of power in big enterprises. She has stated current thinking favors corporate efficiency over competitive structure and that this is a short-sited approach. Rather, barriers to competition are being erected and strengthened with long term negative impacts. AMEN TO THAT!

So, while everyone likes a deal, that deal comes with strings. Yes, the big box store has pricing power and can buy in bulk passing those savings along to you …if they choose. The Mom-and-Pop store may not have that same luxury so when the big box store runs their “specials” that undercuts and eventually kills the Mom-and-Pop store, why would they run those specials again? With no competition, it’s not necessary and thus, the long-term negative impact.

Buy American mad products from your local store. If you must pay more at least the sales tax goes to your local governments and the jobs that store maintains pays people in your neck of the woods. We will all be better for it in the long run and on that, both the left and right can agree.