Stop Pulling the Wagon

Within certain elements of our society there has become an almost “religious” obsession with the implementation of Diversity, Equity and inclusion.  As it is being implemented it would seem to guarantee “Equal Outcomes”  and universal equity.  On an emotional level it has a very seductive lure to it.  

I believe we have a Constitutional and moral obligation to provide all citizens with “Equal Opportunity” to succeed and to prosper.  

KEEPING IN MIND THAT D.E.I. IS ALMOST ALWAYS WEDDED TO THE WOKE CULTURE

LET US LOOK AT THE LURE AND THE CURSE

The term itself seems almost harmless and at a certain level a worthwhile goal.  Who can possibly object to universal equal positive outcomes?  Hence the “Lure”.

HOWEVER

 The history of mankind has proven over and over that you can provide equal opportunity to individuals but you cannot guarantee equal outcomes.  We simply are not all the same when it comes to goals and ambition and willingness to work to achieve our individual vision.  If we try to implement DEI as a mandated goal the result is always the same.  You get an achievement level of the lowest common denominator.  The “Curse” of reality.  Human nature tells me there is no reason for me to work hard if my outcome is going to be the same as the “guy” who sits on his butt, does nothing and ends up with the same amount of “stuff”.

We often see DEI attempted by forced implementation in places like government agencies which are fertile grounds for DEI because the expectation of efficiency, performance and accountability has such a general low threshold of acceptability that it is easy to claim victory.  In the corporate world  many major corporations that were lured into the D.E.I./WOKE  “World” have found themselves in deep financial trouble and losing market share.  A few examples:  Budweiser, Levi Strauss, Disney, Harley Davidson,  etc.

In the real world of commerce, sports, education, the military and most endeavors it simply does not work.  In sports for example all competition would be very boring as all games would end up in a tie.  

Many writers and “thinkers” have expounded of the failings of D.E. I.  Below is an article I wrote and published in March of 2023.  

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SILICON VALLEY BANK

RIWP

(Rest in WOKE Peace)

To steal an old saying:

Giving Tens of Billions of Dollars to a bunch of WOKE Bankers

is like giving whiskey and your new car keys to a teenager.

The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank has created some level of chaos in the Financial Markets.  I am no expert on banking and my own experience over the years has been that my own bank is not my friend and the most I can hope for is that they would keep my meager savings safe from robbers. 

We are told now that those who had money in Silicon Valley Bank will be reimbursed by the Federal Reserve even if their deposits exceeded FDIC Insurance limits.  The fact that many of these depositors were heavy Democratic Donors and had Millions of Dollars on deposit at SVP is, I am sure, a coincidence and had nothing to do with Joe Biden’s decision.  Our President has said this will happen without impacting taxpayers.  This is code speak to say the Federal Reserve with some smoke and mirrors will fire up the printing presses and simply print the Billions of Dollars to cover the losses of the banks failures.

It is widely reported in the media that the Silicon Valley Bank was proudly WOKE and practiced “Diversity – Equity – Inclusion” as a corporate theme.  I believe their resultant failure is what happens if you let your political and social agenda take priority over a sound business agenda.  Gets me to thinking……..

A new baseball season is starting and teams are forming.

Manager number one calls in his recruiters and scouts and gives them the following instructions:   Go find me players who want to play on a winning team.  Players who are focused on being the best and work hard at it for the good of the team and their fans.   We want players who can excite the crowd with their excellence on the field that will bring the fans back game after game wanting more.  I don’t care what color they are, what their nationality is, what their religion is, what they do in their free time, what their politics are or their sexual orientation.  Keep all that off the field.  Whether we are at practice or in a game we are a team and play as a team with a common goal.  Never lose sight of the fact that we are on that field to play Baseball, not make political statements.

Manager number two calls in his recruiters and scouts and gives them the following instructions: This is the 21st Century and we want to build a team that “looks like America”.  Find players who are an obvious cross section of our Diversity – Equity – Inclusion goals.  Recruit equal numbers of  Black, Brown and White players and be sure to include a token Asian.  We want to show fans a cross section of Transgender, Gay, and physical diversity.  At the end of each inning have the players rotate to new positions so they get the full benefit of “Inclusiveness”. All practice sessions will include Critical Race Theory training as well as Gender Options Studies and, of course, lessons in Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness.  We want players who are socially involved.  Players will be excused from practice to attend important events such as “Climate Change”, Black Lives Matter and similar rally’s.   Players should be encouraged to promote their “Diversity” on and off the field and especially when interfacing with the media.  Players need to understand that it’s not important whether we win or lose a game.  Our goal is to showcase “Diversity – Equity – Inclusion” to educate fans attending the game.

Which team do you think has the best chance to win a championship?

Now apply these same principles to our Military and other public service where real teamwork and common goals are critical.  If your first priority is having a WOKE agenda of Diversity – Equity – Inclusiveness what you end up with is what we in the military used to call a group of monkeys playing football. 

Are you scared yet.

Bob Bandy – October 2024

Vice President and Presidential candidate Kamala Harris

Listening to Kamala Harris, I remember at one point during one of her “word salad” explanations that one “New Tax Plan” she wanted to put in place is to start taxing and collecting taxes on “Unrealized Capital Gains”.   I am sure that if she had been asked to explain just how she would do this that we would have gotten a five minute “remembrance” of how she grew up in a middle class family, how hard her mother worked and how much she loved math, how she was the tallest kid in the third grade and all that she learned about adding and subtracting and how she loved her third grade teacher.

Like most “Progressives” (aka – Socialists) she believes that the government knows better how to spend the money you work so hard for than you do.  You are incompetent, you need people like her to take care of you.  Kamala also believes that if you have lived and worked here all of your life, paid taxes and been a good citizen, you should pay for your health insurance. (Even Medicare recipients pay a premium.)  But, if you are here illegally you should receive “free” healthcare.

I am also sure she has no clue as to how a “Unrealized Capital Gains Tax” plan works or the impact it would have on the economy. An explanation from an economist along with the implications of such a plan would sound like “word salad” to her.

Under current Tax Law, Capital Gains are taxed when you sell an asset and they become “realized gains” (money in hand).  Under her “vision” it would be taxed as it is earned but “unrealized” (not cashed out – “paper profits no money in hand”).

Here is a real simple example of how Kamala’s  plan could affect the average “Joe Sixpack” tax payer.  Joe buys a house for $100,000 dollars.  Two years later “Zillow”, “Google” or some other agency that tracks home values reports that Joe’s home is now worth $150,000.  Joe has a $50,000 “Unrealized Capital Gain” (profit on paper).  Under Kamala’s plan the IRS would send Joe a “Capital Gains” tax bill for taxes on his $50,000 “gain”.  And as the home continues to gain in value, our Joe would continue to get supplemental “Capital Gains” bills for taxes due.  Not to worry though, if Joe can’t pay the additional income taxes being levied, the IRS will just place a lien (plus interest) on the property until it is sold.  The IRS is so helpful that way.  

As an added bonus you can expect your State, County, even Local Government Tax Authorities to figure ways to get their share of this Tax Bonanza.  I live in California and can envision our Governor Newsom already getting “hot flashes” at the prospect of getting his hands on your “Unrealized Capital Gains” long before you do.

What if our Joe’s home value actually goes down in value.  Under some circumstance the IRS “might” let you write off some of the loss (good luck).  

This same scenario applies to other investments and assets as well.  Your 401K account, Stock Portfolios, Land, “Investment Grade” most anything.  Putting your money away in gold or silver into an account the government can monitor?  

Below is the Google / Dictionary Definition of “Unrealized Capital Gains”

“Unrealized capital gain refers to the increase in value of an investment or an asset that an investor holds but has not yet sold. These gains are “unrealized” because they exist only on paper; they only become “realized” once the asset is sold.”

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Today,  the government taxes you on everything you earn and they tax you on what’s left of what you worked for when you spend it. They tax everything at every level.  And they tax you when you die.  Oh, and Kamala also mentioned she would like to increase estate taxes which would include family farms etc. etc. etc. 

Do you really want to have the government tax “Unrealized Capital Gains” as outlined above and as viewed by the wolves at the IRS?

Bob Bandy – September 2024

Presidential “wannabe” Kamala Harris  has a plan to raise tax revenues “without raising taxes on the middle class”.  She wants to raise “Corporate Taxes” from 21% to 28%.  Seems those “Greedy Corporations” are not paying their “Fair Share”! 

Have you ever been so frustrated you want to just scream out loud because folks just don’t seem to “get” something that is such an obvious truth?  

For many years many experts and writers like myself have “preached” the word that Corporations don’t pay taxes, their customers do.  Corporations don’t have money tree orchards out behind their factories.  Their only source of revenue is the products or services they sell to their customers.  If you raise taxes on the corporation that makes toothpaste,  that corporation has to raise the price on the toothpaste they make.  Their only other source of additional revenue would be to cut costs/payroll.  The additional “tax revenue” is actually paid by the working class and poor when they buy the product.  It’s called inflation. 

This is not rocket science. Politicians don’t want to tell the working class and poor they are going to raise their taxes so they “scapegoat” the corporations into collecting the additional tax for them indirectly.  

If you want to look for a “Greedy Villain” let me suggest government who wastes a large percentage of the tax money they collect through miss-management, graft and corruption.   California for example “lost” 24 Billion Dollars in funds for Homeless projects in the last fiscal year – the money just “vanished” and nobody seems to know what pockets it ended up in.

I wrote a satirical article some 5+ years ago that demonstrates in a truthful way that government at all levels does little to nothing to produce a useful product but still wants to tax it at all levels.  The article is reprinted below:

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THE LITTLE RED HEN OIL COMPANY

Original Story by Paul Galdone

Little Red Hen version by Bob Bandy

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a little red hen who wanted to start her own oil company.

Who will help me find the oil she asked? Not us said the Federal Government!  Not us said the State Government!  Okay, said the Little Red Hen.  I will find it myself, and she did.

Who will help me get the oil out of the ground she asked? Not us said the Federal Government!  Not us said the State Government!  Okay, said the Little Red Hen.  So she did it herself.

Who will help me get the oil to the refinery? Not us said the Federal Government!  Not us said the State Government!  Okay, said the Little Red Hen.  I will transport it myself, and she did.

Who will help me refine the oil into gasoline she asked? Not us said the Federal Government!  Not us said the State Government!  Okay, said the Little Red Hen, I’ll do it by myself.  And she did.

Who will help me transport the gasoline to the Service Station she asked?  Not us said the Federal Government!  Not us said the State Government!  Okay, said the Little Red Hen, I will haul it there myself.

Finally the Little Red Hen’s gasoline is sold.

Who would like to share in the profits she asked?  

We would said the Federal Government and we demand 18.4 cents per gallon.

We would said California State Government and we demand 58.3 cents per gallon.

Looking in her pocketbook the Little Red Hen found that she only made a net profit of 7 cents per gallon.  (source Forbes & Factcheck)

Later, Federal Government and California State Government notified the Little Red Hen that since she was so greedy they were going to tax her income for the excessive profits she had made.  

7 cents a gallon profit.  Those darn oil companies sure are greedy aren’t they!

You can’t make this stuff up.

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Editors note:  all these numbers were well researched and accurate when I wrote the original article in February 2019.

Bob Bandy – August 2024

Heard on Fox News yesterday that the Biden – Harris Administration has granted citizenship to 3,000,000 “immigrants”.  That would be some 30% of the 10,000,000 who have crossed the border illegally in the last 3 1/2+ years.  Just guessing but since these folks were “invited” in and given all kinds of “freebies” once they arrived it would seem logical whom these new “citizens” are likely to vote for and vote they will, read on.

Strange, but in my memory there used to be a rather lengthy and involved process for a legal immigrant to become a citizen.  Background checks, proof of employment, a Constitution and American History Test, references, etc. etc. – you know – red tape.  The process could take years.  Guess the Administration has found a way to “fast track” the process.

What the heck, it is not hard to get into voting with or without proof of citizenship.  In point of fact, in many states and locales,  government workers are not allowed to even question you about your status.  I live in California (born here), now a “Sanctuary” State and the last time I had to renew my drivers license the form had boxes to check for citizen, non-citizen or “decline to state” and offered “automatic” voter registration.  Some states, like Minnesota, have an “opt-out” box on their registration form.  The form clearly states “Do nothing and you will be registered to vote” – you have to tell them if you do not want to register.

Once on these voter rolls it is “easy pickins” for political workers to get names and addresses of “Registered Voters” and then get paper “mail-in” ballots to vote for you….  they are doing you a favor so you don’t need to vote…. isn’t that kind of them.  It is virtually impossible for “Poll Workers” to verify signatures and validity on these ballots.  Some places they call this simply “Ballot Harvesting”.  I have for years made the joke that my mother was a lifelong Democrat until her later years when she became a Republican.  Now that she is “gone” I am sure she is voting Democrat again,  no doubt in many different voting locations.  I remember the last Presidential voting cycle where there was at least one major city  where more votes were cast than there were registered voters, and that was before you subtract the “graveyard” voters.

But, there is more good news.  Election time and mail in ballots present opportunities for entrepreneurs.  Homeless encampments are fields “ripe for the harvest” for individuals looking to make a “quick buck”.  All that is needed is a bundle of Voter Registration Forms, a little “seed money” and paper Mail In Ballots.  The loyal campaign worker only has to share a little beer or “weed” cash, a helping hand in filling out the paperwork and a quick trip to the nearest “Progressive” campaign headquarters to be financially rewarded for helping to “get out the vote”.  Those completed forms and ballots are like gold.  Win-Win! 

Who needs those “Wascally Wepublicans” and their silly ideas about voting in person and showing ID.  How old fashioned and out of date! Hey, you don’t need an ID to cross the border, why should you need an ID to vote?  I mean, it’s not something important like attending a Concert where ID is required.  It’s just voting.

It is just possible by the next election we can just let Google do the whole thing with Artificial Intelligence they have programmed and no need for the voting public at all.  All those previously voting citizens can just sit at home and watch commercials and “managed” news reports.  Just cogs in the wheels of the controlled proletariat masses.

Bob Bandy – August 2024

Above represents current passenger option for

 CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL – Fresno to Bakersfield

CURRENT ESTIMATED COST 88 TO 128 BILLION DOLLARS AND STILL RISING

I first wrote about California’s proposed High Speed Rail plan to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles back in 2013 in an article titled:   California – It Is What It Is (still available) when California approved the plan and using some $9 Billion Dollars in borrowed funds began a project which they claimed would be completed in some 3-5 years.  By 2019 they had spent the $9 Billion Dollars (or more-since real numbers are hard to pry out of State) and had scaled back the project with a hope to complete some 110 miles between Fresno and Bakersfield.  (See: California High Speed Rail 2.0  also still available).  Every year they have budgeted amounts in the range of $1 Billion more dollars for this money pit and, to date, –  this is 2024, not one single passenger has ridden one single mile on a High Speed Train.

In the latest “Pie in the Sky” investment proposal in this “Money Pit Black Hole”,:  The California Globe (Thomas Buckley – June 29, 2024)  reports:

“The consistently accurate and forward looking board of the California High Speed Rail Authority has decided that it is a good idea to dig 30 miles of tunnels to connect Burbank to Palmdale.

The purely political zig-zag to include Palmdale in the system (votes in the Antelope Valley) of the high speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco is about 38 miles and earlier this week the Board approved an environmental impact report that sets out an 8 mile above-ground, 30 mile below-ground route to make the connection.

The Authority claims the route will cost about $28 billion dollars to complete.  For comparison’s sake, that is about 80% of the originally promised costs of the entire system connecting San Diego to LA to SF to Sacramento.

It should be noted that the cost was originally reported by news outlets as being $22.6 billion – but the Authority clarified Thursday that was in 2018 dollars,  so now it’s really about $28 Billion Dollars.

The plan voters approved was to build a system of about 840 miles for about $33 billion.”

(For the complete article see: The California Globe – Thomas Buckley – June 29, 2024) CaliforniaGlobe.com

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My editors note:  According to Google the actual distance from Burbank to Palmdale is 52 miles – not 38 miles as stated by the High Speed Rail Authority “brain trust”.

I find it an interesting “co-incidence” that this $28 Billion Dollar High Speed Rail Tunnel project is almost the same amount as California’s $27+ Billion Dollar annual budget deficit under California Governor Gavin Newsom.  This whole project is and has been in my, and other critics, view never been anything more than a thinly veiled “Pork Barrel” payoff to Organized Labor and Equipment/Material Suppliers for supporting California’s One Party Democrat controlled Legislature.  Frankly they have no incentive to ever complete the project and stop fleecing taxpayers.  It is not a High Speed Rail Project.  It is “California’s Pork Gravy Train” for those who continue to glean money from the “Rat Hole” it has become.

For related articles see:

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/california-it-is-what-it-is/ and 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=California+high+speed+rail

Bob Bandy – July 2024

COME TO CALIFORNIA WHERE EVERYTHING PRICED BELOW $950 IS FREE

California decided to reduce its crime rate by putting into law that the theft of items valued at less than $950 is no longer a Felony Crime but a Misdemeanor/Infraction (think Parking Ticket).  This decision led to Proposition 47 which became law.  

AND

Your chance to live almost Free.  With California’s “Prop 47” in place you can help yourself to anything priced below $950 and not pay for it.  The worst thing that can happen to you is a misdemeanor citation and in the unlikely event you should ever find yourself in front of a judge you can just claim your “right” to a Jury Trial and a “Free” Public Defender as your Lawyer.  Since Jury Trial’s cost the City, County or State Thousands and Thousands of Dollars they will just dismiss your measly $949 case and you can go back to shopping. Talk about your land of “Milk and Honey”. 

California is a “Shoppers Paradise” with no need for cash or those pesky credit card statements.

There are documented cases of “shoppers” with calculators filling up shopping carts with items totaling less than $950 and giving Store Security personnel the “finger” on the way out the door and across the parking lot.  Oh, as an added bonus, shopping carts are “Free” in California.  What a great life if you don’t mind the homelessness, crime, drugs and filth!

Some near five years ago I wrote an article with the below title and it, still to this day, is one of the most commented on articles I have written.  It is reprinted below:

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YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

photo – Google

In (Feb. 2012) I wrote a “spoof” article on this site titled: MARK OF THE BEAST – THE CLUB CARD. It is still available on this site (type Mark of the Beast in the search box).  The point of the article was that these “Club Cards” and other methods of tracking our purchases are being advertised as ways to “Serve Us Better” but are really only vehicles to monitor our lives for the sellers purposes and potentially for the government to control what we can buy, sell or consume. All, of course, “for our own good” because they, the government, know best how to manage our lives. “Scared yet?”

Now I see on television that Insurance Company’s are “offering” an “App” to monitor your driving habits in order to offer discounts on your car insurance if you drive the way they have decided you should. This, and similar “Apps” can also track your movements, i.e., where you go, What you do, how long you stay and other morsels of personal data to be harvested by Google, Facebook and other entities.

Goodbye, private get-a-way weekend with your loved one. Your Cell Phone companion is a “tattle-tale” to all those companies and Government Agencies who want to monitor your life. “Scared yet?”

Facebook is offering a handy “Portal” to install in your home so that you can always be “on camera” for whoever has access to your “Portal” “on the other end”. Family, Friends, Facebook, IRS etc. Can you spell “hacked”? I am thinking of ordering one of these “Portal’s”, putting it in our house, then hanging a picture of a horses butt in front of the lens just for fun.

Google (and others) have “Algorithms” – no this is not a “hot” Latin Dance – that can monitor and predict your nearly every move, voting habits, purchases, favorite foods, character flaws, weaknesses etc. etc. Now, are you scared?

Our day to day world is filled with cameras, everywhere you go and no matter what you are doing. More and more of these cameras have “Facial Recognition” software. Not to mention listening devices and “other ways” to track our every activity.

We live in a fish bowl.

Hmmmmm! On the other hand, maybe this could present us with an opportunity to have a little fun? Want to trade “Apps”, identity and habits for a while?

Since the “Apps” and tracking often seem to depend on our Cell Phones, perhaps we could do something creative with said phones. Like using “disposable” phones purchased at Walmart while in disguise, using them for a short time and then slipping them into the pocket of non-English speaking tourists at the airport or duct tape them inconspicuously to a local commuter bus. That could keep the Fed’s busy for a while. Lots of possibilities!

(September 2019)

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California prides itself on being the leader in “New Ideas” and “Cultural Change”.  California has banned the sale of new gasoline powered cars after 2035.  California has the highest gasoline taxes in the country (and some of the poorest roads). In California your 9 year old child can be recruited by “LGBTQ & Transgender Activist” School Employees and receive “Gender Affirming Care” including Castration without parental consent or even the foreknowledge it is being planned. I could go on and on.  As said above: 

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

Bob Bandy  –  June 2024