Posse Incitatus

Memo to Feds: Don't Enable Fiscal Irresponsibility

We knew efforts would eventually be made to bail out blue states that have been fiscally mismanaged and face giant deficits combined with massive unfunded pension liabilities.

But many of us thought that the likes of New Jersey, Illinois, New York and California would need to wait for a Democrat President to have a chance at getting bailed out. Enter the Coronavirus pandemic, which has destroyed any semblance of fiscal common sense and restraint and given the green light to a drunken sailor spending orgy.

The Democrats are putting their foot down, demanding bailouts of deeply-in-the-red "blue" states (Hey, that sounds like a play on words, no?) The Dems are insisting that further Coronavirus relief bills include aid to the states that have piled on enormous spending obligations and harmed their growth potential with repeated burdensome tax increases.

Illinois is one of the most egregious examples of a state in which politicians have made promises they can't keep regarding gold-plated pension programs -- primarily for the sake of kissing the unions' derriére so the unions will in turn guarantee votes to keep the hacks in office.

The Prairie State, which would be solidly red were it not for the deep blue Windy City tail wagging the dog, has been under Democrat control for most of the past four decades. The state has driven out untold middle class taxpayers with repeated tax increases intended to stem the pension red ink. Unfunded pension liability is about $140 billion, and the state is currently funding its pension program at 38.4 percent. New Jersey isn't much better, with about $130 billion of unfunded liability, and funding currently at 35.8 percent.

California's two largest public employee pension funds -- CalPERS and CalSTRS -- have reported gaps of more than $138.9 billion and $107.3 billion, respectively. All told, California state and local unfunded pensions total about $1 trillion. Needless to say, if many municipalities and counties are in deep trouble as far as having bitten off more than they can chew, they are ill-equipped to help bail out their reckless state government.

The private sector and nonprofits began switching from defined benefit pensions to 401k and 403(b) tax exempt plans more than 20 years ago. It was obvious that the old way of doing things was unsustainable -- in large part because demographics showed that retirees would increase greatly in number, while the ranks of those paying into the pension plans were thinning out. This is just plain common sense -- something utterly lacking in so many liberal / progressive dominated state governments.

No doubt, bailing out fiscally irresponsible states will prevent much-needed reform from taking place. It will prevent accountability and transparency, and simply enable prolonged lunacy. In recent weeks, we've seen an appalling spending blowout in Washington, D.C., that will eventually crush this nation. I fear that our spineless politicians, drunk on profligate spending, will simply open up the floodgates and issue multi-billion dollar blank checks to irresponsible blue states.

Will the Wuhan Virus kill off gun control for good?

It's interesting how the left is pushing gun control when it's arguably less popular than ever.

Back in the 1990s, it was still a 50-50 proposition, but as shall-issue laws spread and violent crime collapsed, the contentions of its supporters that more guns = more crime became untenable.

Indeed, this blog is old enough that you can still read some of those exchanges.  It was clear by 2004 that gun control was losing the argument.

The left then changed tactics, deciding to push it only where the Democrats had total control.  It became  less about stopping violence than about punishing 'the deplorables.'

The issue also become a moral one for its supporters, as in:  "We must ban guns because our higher ethics demand it."   They still pay lip service to the lie that it prevents mass shootings, but events in Canada, Germany, England, France and everywhere else show this is utterly false.

The Dems' gun control push in Virginia - which is not yet a monolithic Dem satrapy - is therefore interesting.  The fact that they passed their laws under the cover of the Wuhan Virus lockdown speaks volumes.  These people aren't interested in fulfilling popular mandates, they are interested in asserting their power. 

The problem is that the law is enormously unpopular and will likely be met with widespread and open contempt.  That's why it's a stupid idea to enact a law in the teeth of opposition.

It's even stupider to do it while insisting on decriminalization of offenses.  I guess the Dems' dream is of a society where violent criminals roam free and the prisons are full of political dissidents.

Good luck with selling that.

Meanwhile, the gun market has been turned upside down with the panicked purchase of firearms.  As the lockdown took effect, I know several local gun stores that literally ran out of guns. 

The online retailers who never ran out of ammunition during the worst days of the Bullet Bubble are also running low on inventory.

Some wags have suggested that once things open up, there's going to be a glut of never-fired guns hitting the secondary market.  I'm not so sure.

Having gone through the administrative difficulty of making the purchase, I think a number of people will want to try out their new possession and enjoy the peace of mind they get from having it. 

They are also likely aware that if something like this happens once, it can happen again.  Better to be prepared.

The result is that a lot of people who hitherto were lukewarm or neutral about gun ownership now have skin in the game. 

Haste Makes Waste ... And How!

We're all aware of people who've made the mistake of partying until the wee hours the night before they needed to go to work. It's in the movies; it happens in real life; maybe we have even made that mistake ourselves!

Making matters worse, perhaps some poor soul was supposed to give a presentation at a 9 a.m. meeting, and he hasn't spent much time preparing for it. "I'll wing it," he's convinced himself.

He rushes to shower and dress, gulps down some coffee (and maybe swallows a couple of aspirins with water), then tries to be presentable. As he drives to work, he starts to have a few nagging doubts: Maybe I SHOULD have spent some time practicing and preparing!

Rather than being composed and calm/cool/collected, he comes across as disheveled, disorganized and not ready for prime time. With a nasty hangover, a shortage of sleep and a rumbling gut, he feels even worse than he looks and sounds. Okay, so he gets through it; it's not a total fiasco, but it's not as crisp or focused as it could have been. And later on, he realizes he missed a few key points and definitely could have done better. His supervisor and others send him emails or stop him by the water cooler to follow up on a few issues he may have failed to address.

Depending on whether this person is a good employee or has a reputation for being a slacker and screw-up, he'll either continue on without major problems, or possibly get called on the carpet and eventually get a bad performance review.

My long-winded analogy is supposed to represent our Congress and its performance in throwing together slap-dash Coronavirus relief bills. A few weeks ago, when Congress passed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act), it was done in such a hurry that the language was often vague about how money can be used and who qualifies.

Consequently, several large restaurant and hotel chains bellied up to the trough and consumed billions of dollars worth of Small Business Administration loans (aka the Paycheck Protection Program). The loans are made by banks, credit unions and other lenders at a 1 percent interest rate, with the intent of keeping workers on the payroll for at least eight weeks. If a borrower doesn’t lay off workers, the government will forgive the loans, including interest.

After being shamed in public, many of the large companies, including Potbelly Sandwiches, Shake Shack, Sweetgreen and the Ruth's Chris steakhouse chain, have agreed to give back the money. So it looks like the government (and by extension, taxpayers) lucked out despite the slipshod formation of this program. The major chains realize that during these difficult times, it's a P.R. disaster for them to hog money intended for mom-n-pop type businesses.

But there are plenty of other types of aid basically thrown out in slap-dash fashion. Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel reports that the Forest Service gets $3 million for “forest and rangeland research,” $27 million for “capital improvement and maintenance,” and $7 million for wildfire management. CARES also shovels $75 million to the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, $25 million to the Kennedy Center, an odd $78,000 “payment” to the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development.  About $150 billion was sent to state governments, with no accountability as to how the money is spent. (What'll you bet a lot of that money will end up in the pockets of politically connected "consultants" and other such barnacles.)

On top of the blizzard of money spread far and wide, unemployment benefits have been increased so much (federal funds added onto state benefits will give some workers over $1,000 a week) that many business owners report having a hard time calling back their staff members. Not that these folks are lazy; it's just that they're looking out for their best interests. Who wouldn't take $1,050 per week to sit at home rather than put in 40-plus hours as a line cook for $600? This disincentive to work will make it harder to restart the economy this spring and summer.

There seems to be an utter lack of accountability, and it's a joke to think any kind of audits could or would take place after the fact. And just as bad, this money will undoubtedly spawn dozens of new programs, agencies and sub-departments, each with its own groveling hogs bellying up to the trough come appropriation time. Bigger government means less liberty, greater deficits, and a less prosperous economy.

It's not at all outrageous to suggest the spending blowouts being passed willy-nilly by Congress, in conjunction with the lockdowns that have destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of people, will do far more long-term harm than Coronavirus. The harm will be spread far and wide, and take decades to play out.

 

Celebrate Silver Linings

I've already mentioned some of the silver linings of the shuttered economy, including lighter traffic, avoidance of daily commutes to work, low gasoline prices and cheap airline tickets. (I know I'm forgetting some of them.)

But here's a tremendous silver lining -- intertwined with a healthy dose of schadenfreude -- that really warms my heart: Because so many companies, stores and restaurants are shut down or facing severely depressed revenues, ad revenue has dried up at many newspapers from coast to coast. Consequently, these papers are laying off editorial staff in waves.

According to the Pew Foundation, employment at U.S. newspapers has declined about 23 percent since 2008, but this study does not reflect the job losses since Coronavirus struck our nation. The pandemic has accelerated that trend, as papers shed editorial employees and reduce or eliminate print copies of their products.

Look, I usually don't enjoy seeing people lose their jobs, but I do appreciate marketplace forces when they winnow out useless scribes whose lack of integrity is appalling. Let's face it: It has been well-established that the vast majority of journalists fall on the left side of the political spectrum. The bias, dishonesty and unfair coverage from newspapers -- especially the larger ones -- has been off the charts in recent years. Clearly, agenda-driven B.S. doesn't sell. Were it not for Jeff Bezos's deep pockets, the shrill left-wing rag Washington Post -- a 24/7 Trump bashing machine -- would have been put out of its misery long ago.

Millions of Americans choose not to spend their time reading propaganda sheets, and companies that advertise -- whether in hard copies or digitally online -- are well aware of this. They have chosen not to spend their precious dollars talking to, metaphorically speaking, an empty auditorium. (And that was before the current crisis. Now, they couldn't advertise if they wanted to.)

The British publication Guardian reports that Gannet, the largest local newspaper owner in the U.S., has lost a whopping 94 percent of its value since August 2019, with much of that loss coming since mid-February. Like the hard-core alcoholic who ignores doctors' warnings he'll soon be dead unless he goes on the wagon, newspapers just can't help themselves. They shoot themselves in the foot and destroy long-term prospects through their obstinate leftism. These type of people deserve what they get.

Millions of Americans are aware they have a variety of news sources and online information that is easily accessible. They can and do conduct their own research to read up on the issues. And they also realize that much of what's online should be looked at with a jaundiced eye, because flim-flam operators and sham artists are everywhere, and people's motives are certainly not always noble. 

Fortunately, there are legions of voices out there -- individuals, organizations, associations, government agencies, trade groups -- who research, gather, aggregate and publish information. There are also plenty of people who spin it the way they want to, and multiple publications and perspectives from across the globe are available online. (It's healthy to view various perspectives.) Frankly, Americans are a hell of a lot smarter than elitist journalists -- many brainwashed at leftist universities -- give them credit for.

Maybe one of the bigger challenges is holding local officials' feet to the fire, as people often can be apathetic about school boards, city councils and county commissions. But this is something communities and neighborhoods need to work out for themselves. To that end, many neighborhoods and small towns have online "hubs," as they're called, to keep each other apprised of developments such as school bonds, zoning ordinances and other local matters. Discussion spurs research, inquiry and the desire to be informed. 

The whole concept of "media" is transforming before our eyes. It is imperfect, granted. Do ignorant blowhards spout off on the likes of Facebook and Twitter? Yes. Is misinformation spread? Most certainly. But there are positive forces to counteract the garbage. And this whole free-for-all couldn't be any worse than having to rely on pompous sentinels who claim to be public watchdogs but basically are propagandists for the Democrat party. In short, so-called "journalists" are often an unnecessary, biased information filter who are -- or should be -- going the way of the elevator operator, buggy whip and dodo bird.

It's bad enough that journalists are so often ideologically biased. But adding insult to injury, they're often so insolent, so arrogant, that they refuse to correct their multiple errors. The American public has had enough.

Gov. Marie Antoinette

It looks like Michigan has its third horrible governor in a row.

I'm not going to bother rehashing my many criticisms of former Governors Jennifer Granholm and Rick Snyder; it's time to move on.

In the first few months of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's tenure, I naively thought she might have a little more common sense and rationality than Gov. Tinkerbell or nerd Snyder. But two examples of piss-poor judgment have already tarnished her reputation.

A year ago, Madame Governor, who ran on the campaign platform "Fix the Damn Roads!" tried to keep her promise to address Michigan's pothole-laden and crumbling streets and roads. She proposed a 45-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax, which would have caused Michigan to have perhaps the nation's highest gasoline prices. Keep in mind, Michigan's long-suffering motorists already pay some of the highest auto insurance rates in the nation.

The gas tax hike was shot down, and the governor never reached an agreement with the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature. So she pulled an Obama, using her pen and her phone to rule by executive fiat. She got the Michigan Transportation Commission to issue $3.5 billion in bonds (with 25-year paybacks) to repair roads and bridges.

In other words, she burdened future Michigan taxpayers for work that needs to be done now. Work that could be funded by a combination of cutting spending in other areas and modestly raising taxes (and ensuring fuel taxes are dedicated to fixing roads, and are not siphoned off into other spending). But she took the easy way out.

Now fast forward to February-March 2020, when Coronavirus was becoming a major issue nationwide. My co-blogger and I supported the governor in her decision to close K-12 schools for 3 weeks, and I supported her March 16 call for closure of bars, coffee shops and restaurants (dine-in prohibited; drive-through, carry-out and delivery permitted). Other restrictions were put in place against large gatherings, prompting churches to postpone Sunday services indefinitely, and many other organizations / companies to cancel or postpone conferences, concerts, sporting events and the like.

But Gov. Whitmer, just like your typical Democrat politician, is drunk on power. She gets high on controlling other people's lives. Micro-managing and being an intrusive busy-body is inherent in the Democrat DNA.

So what did Gretchen do? She issued a "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order with draconian restrictions. Golf courses were not allowed to open. Landscapers could not go out and do their jobs, and car washes were closed. Stores were prohibited from selling merchandise that wasn't "life-sustaining," including paint and gardening materials such as seeds and mulch. (Lottery tickets are not life-sustaining, but there's no way the state would ban their sales and miss out on the revenue.) But beyond those restrictions, the governor's order (effective through April 30) declared that the citizens of Michigan are not permitted to visit neighbors in their homes.

Yes, you heard me right: Under this executive order, I am not allowed to walk to a neighbor's home and have coffee with him. This is an Orwellian policy that has no place in America. Put simply: More than 80 percent of Michigan's COVID-19 cases are in the three-county metropolitan Detroit area. Telling me I can't visit neighbors is like saying that because head-on collisions occasionally occur, the highway speed limit is now 30 mph, and no passing is allowed. 

A side note:  A few days ago, former Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod interviewed Whitmer for his podcast. Addressing the issue of non-essential medical procedures being  prohibited under her decree, yet abortion being allowed, she stated abortion is a "life-sustaining" service. You can't make this stuff up.

But back to the larger point. On Wednesday, thousands of Michiganders from across the state converged upon downtown Lansing to vociferously express their rage at the governor for her fascist decree. The vehicles clogged main streets in the Capital for several hours, and many protesters waved placards denouncing the governor and her leftist philosophy. This was reminiscent of the passion displayed by the Tea Party in its early 2009 gatherings. Patriots who understand history and are in sync with the wishes of the Founding Fathers abhor tyrannical government that shits upon individual liberty.

Yet what did Gov. Antoinette say when asked to comment on the demonstrations? She disingenuously proclaimed she supported the protesters' right to disagree with her policy, then doubled down by demonizing them as irresponsible rabble-rousers. She said they endangered themselves and others by not practicing social distancing.

As she often does, Whitmer exhibited a smug, breezy arrogance -- an utter disconnect from the people she is supposed to serve. Millions of Michiganders are suffering financial hard times, depression, frustration and sometimes hopelessness. She frequently concludes her remarks with the trite and meaningless sentence, "We'll get through this together." 

As I used to say regarding Barack Obama: Arrogance and delusion go hand-in-hand. Only with Gretchen Whitmer, winning re-election won't be as easy as it was for The One, who had the media utterly in his vest pocket. Michiganders are not going to be duped. To use the title of that classic anthem by The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again."

155 Years Ago Today

Editor's Note: The following is a re-run of my blog posting from 4-15-15. I changed the "150" years ago to "155." Today just seemed like a good time to take a break from the gloom-n-doom grimness of Coronavirus and COVID-19. Let's remember to appreciate history, its lessons and the valuable perspective it lends. To that end, here goes:

President Abraham Lincoln died 155 years ago today, a few hours after being shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth on the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865.

Lincoln is revered by many as the nation's greatest president; however, millions who sympathize with the Confederate cause don't think so highly of him. Ditto for those who despise Lincoln's policies that ran roughshod over the U.S. constitution.

Lincoln jailed editors and publishers whose newspapers printed stories he believed threatened national security; he suspended the writ of habeas corpus; and he sent federal troops in to New York City to brutally suppress the draft riots, killing over 100 people and injuring many more. But in the end, following a savage conflict that killed over 600,000 Americans, Lincoln did preserve the nation and end slavery, a disgraceful institution that thrived for centuries on this continent.

It is tempting to paint a clear-cut picture of Lincoln as an almost saintly figure, but reasonable people can disagree about some of his policies and even his execution of the Civil War. Like all humans, Lincoln was flawed, suffered setbacks, disappointments, betrayals and heartache. Like everyone else, he made mistakes and miscalculations.

But to paraphrase the famous words of President Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln was truly the man who was actually in the arena, taking the slings and arrows of critics and working hard to do what he thought was best. He did not shy away from making difficult decisions and living with the consequences.

Anyone who has read a biography of Lincoln, or perhaps seen the 2012 movie about him, would acknowledge Lincoln was a significant, substantive person; a man of character. Genuine. Authentic. His anguish and pain were real, etched upon his lined countenance; reflected by his melancholy expressions.

Lincoln's character and seriousness of purpose are what impress me so much about him. These qualities are utterly lacking in 99 percent of today's superficial politicians. Although our deeply troubled nation sorely needs leaders of Lincoln's stature, it appears there's an unabridged dearth of such individuals.

Let's hope that changes in the near future, because time is running out.

President Abraham Lincoln died 155 years ago today, a few hours after being shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth on the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865.

Lincoln is revered by many as the nation's greatest president; however, millions who sympathize with the Confederate cause don't think so highly of him. Ditto for those who despise Lincoln's policies that ran roughshod over the U.S. constitution.

Lincoln jailed editors and publishers whose newspapers printed stories he believed threatened national security; he suspended the writ of habeas corpus; and he sent federal troops in to New York City to brutally suppress the draft riots, killing over 100 people and injuring many more. But in the end, following a savage conflict that killed over 600,000 Americans, Lincoln did preserve the nation and end slavery, a disgraceful institution that thrived for centuries on this continent.

It is tempting to paint a clear-cut picture of Lincoln as an almost saintly figure, but reasonable people can disagree about some of his policies and even his execution of the Civil War. Like all humans, Lincoln was flawed, suffered setbacks, disappointments, betrayals and heartache. Like everyone else, he made mistakes and miscalculations.

But to paraphrase the famous words of President Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln was truly the man who was actually in the arena, taking the slings and arrows of critics and working hard to do what he thought was best. He did not shy away from making difficult decisions and living with the consequences.

Anyone who has read a biography of Lincoln, or perhaps seen the 2012 movie about him, would acknowledge Lincoln was a significant, substantive person; a man of character. Genuine. Authentic. His anguish and pain were real, etched upon his lined countenance; reflected by his melancholy expressions.

Lincoln's character and seriousness of purpose are what impress me so much about him. These qualities are utterly lacking in 99 percent of today's superficial politicians. Although our deeply troubled nation sorely needs leaders of Lincoln's stature, it appears there's an unabridged dearth of such individuals.

Let's hope that changes in the near future, because time is running out.

President Abraham Lincoln died 155 years ago today, a few hours after being shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth on the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865.

Lincoln is revered by many as the nation's greatest president; however, millions who sympathize with the Confederate cause don't think so highly of him. Ditto for those who despise Lincoln's policies that ran roughshod over the U.S. constitution.

Lincoln jailed editors and publishers whose newspapers printed stories he believed threatened national security; he suspended the writ of habeas corpus; and he sent federal troops in to New York City to brutally suppress the draft riots, killing over 100 people and injuring many more. But in the end, following a savage conflict that killed over 600,000 Americans, Lincoln did preserve the nation and end slavery, a disgraceful institution that thrived for centuries on this continent.

It is tempting to paint a clear-cut picture of Lincoln as an almost saintly figure, but reasonable people can disagree about some of his policies and even his execution of the Civil War. Like all humans, Lincoln was flawed, suffered setbacks, disappointments, betrayals and heartache. Like everyone else, he made mistakes and miscalculations.

But to paraphrase the famous words of President Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln was truly the man who was actually in the arena, taking the slings and arrows of critics and working hard to do what he thought was best. He did not shy away from making difficult decisions and living with the consequences.

Anyone who has read a biography of Lincoln, or perhaps seen the 2012 movie about him, would acknowledge Lincoln was a significant, substantive person; a man of character. Genuine. Authentic. His anguish and pain were real, etched upon his lined countenance; reflected by his melancholy expressions.

Lincoln's character and seriousness of purpose are what impress me so much about him. These qualities are utterly lacking in 99 percent of today's superficial politicians. Although our deeply troubled nation sorely needs leaders of Lincoln's stature, it appears there's an unabridged dearth of such individuals.

Let's hope that changes in the near future, because time is running out.

Happy Easter and Passover

The Posse wishes our readers a Happy Easter, and Happy Passover to our Jewish friends.

The suffering of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, and the Jews' suffering in slavery thousands of years ago are important lessons in scripture. Today, our nation and our world suffer from the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands have died, scores are enduring the disease and/or have lost a loved one to COVID-19. Economic pain has been inflicted on millions, and the future is uncertain.

Aside from the current plague, millions of people have carried the cross of psychological, social, financial or family problems. Unemployment, divorce, incarceration, estranged children... The slavery of ancient times has given way to a new kind of bondage: Addiction -- to alcohol and drugs both legal and illegal.

But Easter sends us the message that light and joy inevitably win out over darkness. Christians believe Jesus died to bring us eternal salvation. Easter and Passover attest that faith in a higher power, intertwined with hope, can carry us through the crucible.

Atheists and cynics may look at this veil of tears and ask, "Where's your God? Why isn't he helping you through this?" Or, "If God loves you, why did he allow this to happen?" This simply displays an ignorance of scripture and the realities of life that God and Jesus never attempted to sugar-coat. 

"Life's a bitch, and then you die," the cynics like to say. Maybe so, but strength, hope and optimism (all embodied in prayer and faith) can and do carry the faithful through to relief and reward -- in the temporal world and in the afterlife.

Deliverance is at hand, and this message forever intertwines Passover and Easter. Today offers us an opportunity to reflect on life's deeper meaning, and take stock of our own lives.

We may not be able to gather with loved ones in person, but we can resolve to be grateful for our blessings and keep hope alive.

Republicans, Democrats, Voters & Coronavirus

One thing has become apparent since the Coronavirus pandemic began ravaging our nation a few weeks ago: Making predictions and assessments is tricky. What seems fairly certain now may end up looking ridiculous a few weeks later when better data is compiled and conditions "on the ground," to use a military idiom, have come into clearer focus.

As far as the disease itself and the realm of epidemiology, the computer models and statistics are all over the map -- in large part because this catastrophe is still playing out before our eyes. Most people haven't been tested; we don't know how many people have the virus without showing symptoms; and there is great dispute about when/whether COVID-19 should be listed as a cause of death when other serious conditions are factored in -- e.g., heart disease, diabetes, COPD, renal failure.

But when it comes to the dynamic of our federal government and how it serves the citizens, a few things seem clear:

1) Republicans can just give up on pretending they're concerned about obscene deficits and the detrimental effects of a gargantuan national debt. I do believe we've reached the point of no return. The very best we can hope for going forward is to not add onto the national debt, or to increase it only in small increments. But these are both extremely slim possibilities. And let's not forget, unfunded liabilities for the likes of Social Security, Medicare and federal pensions are well north of $100 trillion.

2) Government has been permanently enlarged, and the Democrats have gotten much of what they've asked for in terms of generous unemployment benefits, financial assistance to homeowners, small business owners, college students with loans, job training programs, daycare and a host of other programs. Once these programs / agencies / bureaus  have been established and funded, they're guaranteed to take on a life of their own. Trying to eliminate them or trim them back is like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube. Remember Ronald Reagan's famous quip: That a government program or bureau is "the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth." With added bureaucracy comes added regulations and red tape. Republicans and conservatives may think they've won a battle to help businesses and households through this temporary depression, but the bottom line is, they've most likely lost the war.

3) Paradoxically, Democrats may regret getting what they wished for (a much larger nanny state government with tentacles reaching across all areas of life). Why? Because, in many cases, Americans will be disgusted with the poor service they receive from federal agencies and websites that are slow and unresponsive. (Remember the Obamacare website fiasco of 2013? More such failures are undoubtedly on the horizon.)

In recent days, many small business owners have complained about the confusion and complexity of the paperwork and bureaucracy they must navigate to qualify for Small Business Administration disaster assistance loans. Americans already were leery of unwieldy, unresponsive and wasteful government; this sudden expansion may simply reaffirm their beliefs and bad experiences. Corruption, ineptitude and waste are guaranteed to be off the charts. This nation is in serious danger of falling into a Venezuela pit -- especially if Democrats take over government and unleash a scourge of body blows to individual liberty, including eliminating the Electoral College, stacking the Supreme Court with leftists, lowering the voting age to 16, and opening up the floodgates to illegal immigrants. Don't think it can't happen.

4) Regrettably, the far-left kooks of the Bernie Sanders - Elizabeth Warren ilk have been emboldened. They now know that money is no object. No one batted an eyelash about passing a $2.2 trillion Coronavirus relief bill a few weeks ago; Congress and the public don't give a rip that further multi-trillion dollar bills are in the works. Nobody asks how we're going to pay for it, and if there are any complaints about piling debt onto future generations -- the ultimate form of taxation without representation -- they don't seem vociferous or widespread. So, in the eyes of the Bernie Bros., folks who asked how he would pay for idiocy like the Green New Jobs program, free college tuition, and Medicare for all, were simply being disingenuous.

One of the big wild-cards is how soon will the economy recover once things are opened up again, and how robust will the recovery be? These questions will be resolved partly by what happens with the battle against the virus and what the healthcare and epidemiological outlook is for the next six months to a year. 

Stay tuned; it will be gripping, and the stakes are enormous.

100,000 Body Bags

There has long been a ghoulish tendency on the left to forecast horrible, cataclysmic events or developments -- in large part to further their own statist agenda. But also for the purpose of demonizing the opposition party, as was the case in 1991 when the first Gulf War took place under President George H.W. Bush. (How many times have the global warming kooks predicted Florida and/or Manhattan would be underwater by now? Their latest fairy tale is that the earth will be finished in 12 years!)

Before we examine this shameful phenomenon, let's review some history.

In late 1990, during Operation Desert Shield (later named "Desert Storm"), ABC's Sam Donaldson, a leftist TV reporter of the day, predicted the United States would need "100,000 body bags" after it collided with Iraq in a ground war to push Saddam's troops out of Kuwait and protect Saudi Arabia from possible invasion. Truth be told, the war was over in about six weeks, with the Americans incurring 149 deaths and about 1,000 wounded.

In 1968, Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich wrote "The Population Bomb" which predicted widespread starvation among Americans in the 1970s and 1980s. He couldn't have been more wrong. He was simply following in the footsteps of an earlier Chicken Little gloom-n-doom pessimist, Thomas Malthus, who in the late 1700s-early 1800s advocated strict population control lest the world face widespread famine. He believed the world's population would rapidly overwhelm mankind's ability to produce and distribute an adequate food supply.

These wrongheaded predictions come to mind when we look back just a few weeks on some of the outrageous predictions about the potential toll of Coronavirus and its related disease, the cursed COVID-19.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Neil M. Ferguson, a British epidemiologist who is regarded as one of the best disease modelers in the world, produced a sophisticated model with a worst case of 2.2 million deaths in the United States. Most experts agree the total will be far lower than that -- especially with the steps Americans have taken to halt the spread of the virus.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington's School of Medicine predicts approximately 81,766 deaths, with a range between 49,431 and 136,401.  As recently as a week ago, Coronavirus Task Force members Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx were predicting 200,000 American deaths even if Americans are diligent about social distancing and following the CDC guidelines RE: hands & face. Today's total number of deaths in the U.S. is 12,754, and some areas are already leveling off. I believe the total will be far less than the gloom-n-doom prognosticators say it will.

In recent days, several governors have asked for far more ventilators than their states really needed. There's that alarmist bent again. And now there's a big debate about whether deaths from COVID-19 are not as prevalent as the data suggest, since in many cases patients with one or more underlying conditions who pass away are chalked up as COVID-19 victims when it may well have been one of the other conditions that killed them. Dr. Birx even said so the other day. Yet the vermin in the media call that a "conspiracy theory." They are truly twisted.

I have tremendous admiration and respect for doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers. But major health organizations such as the CDC, World Health Organization (WHO) and American Medical Association tend to be self-serving and often get tangled up in brazen politics. To put it bluntly, their coffers will swell if they stoke the alarmist fires. (It's no surprise that WHO is part of the United Nations!)

Recall President Dwight Eisenhower's warning about how we must beware of the military-industrial complex. His words are still true, 60 years later. And at the risk of sounding cynical, I would add the medical / pharmaceutical complex. After all, we're talking BIG MONEY here, and, of course, human beings.

Be leery whenever the two are together, or when the latter lusts after the former.

The Green Eyeshade Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who tried to lard up the $2.2 trillion CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), now is suddenly concerned about ensuring the relief money is properly spent.

She has proposed forming a bipartisan House committee to investigate the federal response to the Coronavirus pandemic and ensure that congressional funding is spent wisely. The red flags should be popping up like crazy when one considers who she's tapped to chair the committee: Left-wing South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.

A couple weeks ago, when the relief bill was being drafted, Clyburn told his fellow Democrats, “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision." That's what set Pelosi off, but fortunately her larded up bill met a swift demise. During these dark days, there isn't much tolerance for brazen political games.

It's instructive to compare the Speaker's response to this relief bill to what happened back in 2009 after Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). That bill frittered away multi-millions of dollars on pie-in-the-sky "green jobs" (see Solyndra and other politically connected companies) and did not deliver on promised "shovel-ready" jobs. Madame Speaker expressed no desire to ensure oversight at that time, but now, with a Republican president in the Oval office -- one she loathes wholeheartedly -- of course she wants to politicize CARES.

News flash: There is already something called the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a group of inspectors general headed by Glenn Fine, the acting inspector general for the Pentagon. Additionally, former General Services Administration IG Brian Miller will oversee the new $500 billion coronavirus relief fund housed in the Treasury Department. He will head up the Congressional Oversight Commission, which was established by CARES.

The Trump administration knows, as would any Republican White House, that the corrupt media will be dying to report misspent money, waste and fraud, and will train an eagle eye on how the CARES money is spent. They will be diligent to the same extent they were lazy and apathetic 11 years ago when the ARRA stimulus bill was enacted.

Clearly, Pelosi is playing raw politics. I suspect this stunt will fail spectacularly just as her Christmas tree caper did two weeks ago. Let's hope so.