Stop Pulling the Wagon

Our Federal Government has no choice but to keep interest rates low.  Not because of choice but because of the growing National Debt.  It’s simple math really.

The Nations debt now exceeds 22 Trillion Dollars and it continues to grow, but for sake of this exercise lets just assume it is stagnant at 22 Trillion Dollars. 

Your Federal Government, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Board determine the rate of interest paid on the National Debt.  This rate fluctuates from time to time and there are different rates charged depending on the borrower and the related “risk” involved.  The U.S. Government, because it can print money, is considered the “safest” borrower.    

Using our 22 Trillion Dollar debt figure lets do some simple math:

• At 2 1/2% Interest the interest for one year on the debt is 550 Billion Dollars
• At 5% Interest the interest for one year on the debt is 1.1 Trillion Dollars
• At 10% Interest the interest for one year on the debt is 2.2 Trillion Dollars

At one point in time during the Carter Presidency interest rates briefly hit 20%.  If that rate were current today, interest on the debt would be 4.4 Trillion Dollars.

The Government is considering a year 2020 budget of 4.75 Trillion Dollars.

If the debt continues to grow, and I see no “stomach” for fiscal restraint in Congress or among voters, at some point it would take all, or nearly all of the Federal Governments Budget just to pay the interest on the debt but of course our Government does not do that.  They just continue to borrow more money and increase the debt limit so they can pay the interest.  And the debt grows and grows.  The only solution, short of greatly increasing taxation and cutting spending,  is to devalue the Dollar through higher inflation.  Inflation devalues the debt but it also decreases the value of savings and hurts those on fixed income, the elderly and the poor.

Worst of all, inflation discourages investors who purchase debt bonds.  Who wants to buy debt bonds paying very low interest rates while the purchasing value of the Bonds become worth less and less through inflation?

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“Interest costs are expected to continue climbing beyond the next 10 years and are projected to be the third largest category in the federal budget by 2026 (after just Social Security and Medicare), the second largest category in 2046, and the single largest category by 2048.” –  Source: Peter G. Peterson Foundation

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Our Federal Government may have painted themselves into a corner.  With a debt that continues to grow they face greater and greater pressure to keep interest rates artificially low while at the same time creating a situation where “investors” – buyers of debt bonds – become less and less inclined to invest in securities of a possible “sinking ship”.

What is the old saying about choosing your poison?

Bob Bandy

June 2019

Soylent Green – 1973 – MGM

IT IS NOT MY INTENT BUT THE FOLLOWING MAY OFFEND SOME.  

File this under the category of a both macabre and frightening vision of the path our culture seems to be on.  

My first plan was to write about this movie from a humorous perspective but on second thought decided that the movie is a bit too close to current reality.

If you have never seen the movie Soylent Green you should watch it.  At the time it came out in theaters it seemed “beyond the pale” and impossible.  Almost humorous.  Now, some 40+ years later and observing what is happening to American values makes me wonder.

Within this 40+ years I have witnessed a great lessening of the reverence for the sanctity  of  human life in many segments of our society.  A sort of hardening or callousness. 

I see America drifting into a scary, Orwellian World where “up is down”,  “wrong is right” & “lies are truth”.  An insane asylum where insanity is in charge and normalcy is locked in rooms clad in straight jackets .

Watch the movie and study the character, played by Edward G. Robinson, about the “final solution” for dealing with the elderly.

We live in a world where too often we grant celebrity status to even the most dishonest and disreputable politicians and excuse criminal activity by corrupt government employees, while at the same time we devalue the most vulnerable of human life. 

Are unwanted humans now considered disposable?  Some percentage of our population seems to feel it is.  

Is the time coming when we reach a point in our culture where the unwanted  are viewed as just another source of protein?  In 1973 this may have seemed preposterous.  

What once seemed preposterous seems less so now. 

Recyclable is now being put into practice.  At least it is in one State.  I just saw recently that the State of Washington has passed a law allowing human “Composting” and have a facility in operation for this purpose.  It was reported in the news that if you leave a “loved one” there for composting they will give you “compost” in return to take home for your garden.

Consider this macabre scenario:  The spouse is leaving for work:

“Hey Hon.  Uncle Harry died yesterday.  He’s in that plastic tub on the back porch.  Do you mind dropping him off at the Composting Center on your way to work?   Oh, and while you’re there, check and see if Grandma is done.  The rose bushes on the Patio need some fresh compost.”  

How far off the path of respect for human life have we drifted?

Is it within the realm of possibility to think America might have a Soylent Green Future?

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”  Author Unknown – generally credited to Edmund Burke.

Bob Bandy

June 2019

Congressman Jerrold “Jerry” Nadler

“Jerry” Nadler is the Congressional Representative for the 10th district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He has served in this position since 1992.  He is currently serving as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

On his best days he is a clown and a buffoon.  But, that is on his best days.  Most days he is just a frustrated, angry, incompetent Party Line Drone.

He was a member of the consortium in Congress that passed a law that forbids the release of Federal Grand Jury Testimony.  The original purpose of this law was to protect Bill Clinton from unflattering comments made in Grand Jury testimony during the Clinton Impeachment Hearings,   This law requires the “redaction” of such material.  It is a Federal Crime to violate this law.

“Jerry” is now the architect of Contempt of Congress proceedings to hold United States Attorney General William Barr in Contempt of Congress for refusing to release un-redacted copies of Federal Grand Jury testimony in the Robert Mueller Report in direct violation of a law that he, Jerry Nadler, championed and helped pass.

The irony is that if Attorney General Barr acquiesced to Congressman Nadler’s demands, he would be in violation of the law and subject to Impeachment himself for violating his oath of office to enforce the law.

You can’t make this kind of idiocy up.  

Congressman Nadler may be a Legend in his own mind but he is also a prime candidate for my “Hall of Shame – Clowns, Criminals and Lundatics in Congress”.

Bob Bandy

May 2019

Typical Workplace Entry Level Job

LOOKING BEYOND THE “GOOD INTENTIONS”

Like most folks I want everyone willing to work to make as much money as possible.

I am always suspicious of Government efforts to “fix” perceived problems with “Feel Good” Legislation which is often just a way for Congress to “buy” votes.

If the Government mandates a $15 hour minimum wage, who are the Winners and the Losers?

While some workers who currently make less than that will get a boost in pay,  other workers will lose jobs which will be replaced by automation or simply eliminated because the job they were doing is not viable at $15 an hour.  

A mandated $15 an hour minimum wage would not allow me to accept less than $15 an hour even if I want to.    What about the freedom to work out a compensation plan with a prospective “employer” that is mutually acceptable?  What about working for less than $15 an hour to help a friend in a struggling “start-up” business?  What about apprenticeships? 

I believe that there is value in having entry level jobs where workers can learn the discipline and basics of creating value in the marketplace through their efforts while they develop skills and habits to increase their value to those who pay their wages.  It is fair to say that many entry level employees are getting paid while getting an education in the “real” world of work – sort of “cheap” College. 

If you require employers to pay wages that can’t be compensated for in the price of the goods and services they are selling, those jobs will be eliminated by either automation or bankruptcy of the place of business.  It is what it is.

Minimum wage jobs were never meant to be career jobs frozen at minimum wage which cannot adequately support a family.  Think of them more as “training for better things” positions or supplemental jobs.  Often these jobs are filled by students or others looking for extra spending money or to subsidize special purchases.  

Question?  If $15 an hour is good, would $25 an hour be even better?  Why not $50 an hour?  Or $100 an hour? 

Whatever the hourly rate is the money to pay it has to come from somewhere.  Some would say to take the higher wages out of the greedy employers profits.  That may sound good till you realize that without profits the so-called “greedy” employers have no incentive to put up with the grief and headaches of being in business.  At some point the cost of automation starts looking pretty attractive to those who are actually paying “salaries”.  Robots don’t call in sick on critical days.  They don’t come in late to work because the dog hid the car keys,  they don’t …… fill in the blank. 

In my life I learned that if I wanted more income, I needed to make my efforts worth more to either my employer or my customer.  Discipline, education, effort.

If enacted into law, a $15 an hour minimum wage will benefit some number of current minimum wage employees who will see a boost in pay but the real beneficiary of a higher minimum wage is Government.  A higher minimum wage means Government gets to skim more off the top of larger payments confiscated from both employees and the employers and funneled into the Social Security Ponzi Scheme.  

There will also be losers due to the inflationary pressures from higher labor costs: 

• Folks on fixed income (like the elderly and disabled).
• Those whose jobs would be eliminated (students, entry level workers etc.).
• Many who are currently in “apprenticeship” positions.
• Many employees for marginally profitable to non-profit businesses.

For more about Government and the Social Security Ponzi Scheme just type Ponzi Scheme into the Search window on the left side of  the Home page and hit enter on your keyboard.  It will take you to an article I wrote back in March of 2018 about what the thieves in Congress did with “your” Social Security “Trust Fund” dollars.

You can agree or disagree but I offer this as food for thought.

Bob Bandy

May 2019

THE NEW MILLENNIAL GENERATION

Forgive me – This is a bit long but too important to shorten.

Young “Millennial’s” are widely reported to be fearful of their financial futures and blame the current and previous generations for the fiscal mess they are inheriting.  

They have a valid point.

Following the “Great Depression” and starting with the “New Deal”,  America has been on a spending spree, much of that on “borrowed from the future” money.  A sort of national credit card with no spending limit.  Some of it was caused by wars but most of it was greatly aggravated by a combination of the collateral costs of the Vietnam War and introduction of the “War on Poverty and The Great Society” in the 1960’s with its ever expanding  beaurocracy and growth of Government Social Programs  – aka – Big Daddy. 

In just the period between 2008-2016 our Government doubled the National Debt mostly through expenditures on Social Programs.

Our Government is now 22+ Trillion Dollars in debt with no way to pay for it except prohibitive taxation or through inflation, and if continued, hyper-inflation.  Government even pays the interest on the debt with more borrowed money.  Like paying your Visa Card with your Mastercard.

Fiscal discipline was thrown to the wind as Congress spent borrowed dollars to buy votes for election and re-election.  Modern day “Robber Baron’s”.

Over the last 50 years Government at all levels has become a sort of undisciplined, poorly managed, authoritarian, dis-organized criminal enterprise unable to manage any kind of reasonable budget. Taxing everything at every level and still unable to pay its own way.

Example: College Student loans were at one time made by local banks to students, usually with a parental guarantee of payment.  During the Obama Administration the Federal Government took over the Student Loan Program with Government funds and Government guarantees on a virtually unlimited basis.  

Colleges took advantage of this by raising costs.  The Government made these “New” Student loans “Secure” by demanding, in some cases, a near lifetime of payments and the condition that the loans cannot be discharged in Bankruptcy.  

Colleges and Administrators got rich and graduating students, (and in many cases “drop-out” students), found themselves poor with a mountain of debt and degrees in fields for which there are often no waiting jobs.  

Many of these young students would have been much better served with an  apprenticeship in such things as auto mechanics, building trades, Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters etc., as well as “on the job” Business Management training for which there is a real world need at attractive wages.

In the process, taxpayers find themselves “on the hook” for 1 1/2 Trillion dollars in taxpayer money transferred to the nations colleges via student loans.

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“College debt is crushing an entire generation. Colleges are richer than ever. It’s a scam. Student loans are the biggest source of personal debt in the U.S..  Student debt crisis is impacting young American’s ability to thrive, purchase homes.”  …..Tucker Carlson Tweet and video –  5:35 PM – 19 Mar 2019

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College’s get rich  and too many students graduate to find there is no way to pay their loans and live in hyper-inflated housing looking for jobs that don’t pay enough for loan payments, housing and inflated living costs, so they end up “back home” angry and frustrated while College Administrators  are sipping Mai Tai’s at expensive resorts on bloated salaries which are paid for by Government Guaranteed Student Loans.

I don’t blame the Millennial’s for being very, very angry and feeling betrayed. 

Can this financial crisis be “fixed”? 

Some running for office are calling for College debt “forgiveness” which is just another word for Bankruptcy.  If Government does this what do we say to all those who worked hard and paid their own way through College?  What do we say to those who committed several years of their life to Military Service with the promise of College Tuition money?  What do we do about those who exhausted Unemployment Compensation and became “College Students” so the loan program would provide them with an income till they could find a job?  And, what do you say to those who have paid off their Student Loan debt?

Can this financial “mess” that our Government created and the Millennial’s are inheriting be fixed?   

I fear Government “Solutions”.  Government Solutions invariably lead to large expenditures of more deficit spending with the end result of making things worse. 

A day of accounting is inevitable and may be upon this generation. 

Would I be being too cynical to suggest that the Government intentionally created the Student Loan Program as a pipeline to channel too much money to  too many Colleges with too many Professors whose main agenda is teaching too many heavily indebted, now angry voters to hate America as it was founded and exists today?  

Bob Bandy 

April 2019

Rule#3 – Increase debt to unsustainable levels. This will allow Government to increase taxes, produce more poverty and further control the people.   Saul Alinsky – How to Create a Socialist State – Rules 4 Radicals

I hear on the news that serious consideration is being given to transporting some or all of the illegal immigrants currently flooding across our Southern Border to Sanctuary Cities across the United States to wait out their court dates six months or more in the future.  This possibility is raising quite a “Ruckus”.

I published the below article under the title of  “Welcome Mat” almost five years ago in June of 2014 as a piece of Political Satire regarding our U.S./Mexico Border Crisis in the news at that time. 

The original article is still on this site, just type Welcome Mat in the search window and hit “enter”…..  but it is reprinted in full below.

I reprint it here because apparently someone else has taken my idea a bit more seriously than I did in my “spoof” five years ago.  

I do find it interesting that those advocating for Sanctuary Cities and States appear to have a “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard) attitude when faced with the possibility of thousands of illegal immigrants being relocated to their own neighborhoods.  They are referring to the plan as “Dumping”.   Do I smell hypocrisy?

What have the Clowns, Criminals & Lunatics in Congress done to solve this problem in the last five years?

Bob Bandy

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June 28, 2014

WELCOME MAT

We see and are told in the news that we have a border crisis with tens of thousands of undocumented, would be immigrants flooding across our southern borders.  

On a serious note, I do not know anyone who is not moved by the sight of thousands of seemingly parent-less young children or ragged adults trying to escape poverty and even danger.  But, do we solve this by opening our borders to “all comers”?  Do we turn our Border Patrol agents into a kind of “Welcome Wagon”?  Do we just open all our borders on all sides to anyone and everyone from all countries around the world?  Can we just shut down the Department of Immigration and Naturalization?  

The Federal Government, State Governments and Congress are in a battle as to how to solve this crisis.  Some shouting to “Seal Our Borders” and others saying to welcome them all and create a “Path To Citizenship” for all comers whether legal applicants or those without papers.

I see a simple solution that should make everyone happy.  Lets send them where they are needed and wanted.

For example, Detroit, Michigan (pictured above) is a city that has lost tens (hundreds?) of thousands of citizens.  There are thousands of empty homes available either free or almost free for the taking.  And, Detroit has a long history of generous benefits to those in need.

Why not load these folks desiring to immigrate onto buses and take them to Detroit? On arrival they could be given a sack lunch and a map with directions (in their native language) to the offices of “Public Assistance” as well as street guides to areas where there is housing ready for the taking.

This program could be expanded to other cities that have by way of public pronouncements, ordinances and local laws indicated support for undocumented immigrants.  Some of the cities that come quickly to mind are San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle but there are many others.

I have visions of caravans of buses with thousands of happy new, undocumented citizens streaming off the buses into the waiting arms of cities anxiously welcoming them with public funded programs to provide them with all the goods and services they need or want.

With my plan, the cities that have indicated they want them, get them and, get to pay for the services provided from their own local tax revenues.

Everybody wins.  What could possibly go wrong?

Bob Bandy