Stop Pulling the Wagon

photo – Yahoo News

The Democratic Presidential Debates

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All participants agreed in principal to the following:

First, Donald Trump is the Firstborn Son of Satan and has destroyed the United States.  He must be put in jail either before his term ends through impeachment or after leaving office following conviction by a mob…. er …. Kangaroo Court with a jury comprised of Hollywood Celebrities.  Aw shucks, who needs a jury, somebody get a rope!

All immigrants from anywhere in the world are welcome here without the need of paperwork,  identification, background checks, health checks, or any other documentation.  All borders should be open without restrictions and the current policing force will be replaced with a kind of “Welcome Wagon” for all comers including instructions on how to acquire free housing, free food, free healthcare, etc.  Authors Note:  Maybe this information could be shared with the homeless living on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, etc. ??

Everybody, whether citizen or not, is entitled to “free” lifetime healthcare.  Authors Note:  Many candidates called for “Medicare For All” without noting that Medicare is not “free”, at least to current participants.

Free College for everyone (citizens and non-citizens) with the added bonus of debt forgiveness for some 1.5 Trillion Dollars in outstanding Student Loans.

Unrestricted “Free” abortion for all with one candidate calling for free abortion for Transgender males who become pregnant.  It was left unclear how long after natural birth the mother could still elect to abort the child, a few hours, a few days, third grade? 

The planet only has 12 years left unless all Americans immediately discontinue all use of fossil fuels and convert to only electric powered vehicles.  No mention was made that to re-charge an all electric vehicle you must “plug in” to the power grid which is incapable of completing this task if  said power grid is totally sourced by solar and wind power, at least within the next 30-50 years.  

I look forward to the day when all working Americans get home from work on a July day when it is 105 degrees, plug their electric vehicles in for a re-charge and then walk into their air conditioned home during the hottest part of the day.

It was also not mentioned that the World’s major polluters (beginning with China & India) have “deferred” there own participation in the Paris Climate Accords till “at least” 2030 or beyond.   Further, there is no mechanism in place requiring penalties or enforceable legal consequences on any participating country who ignores these “feel good” “Global Accords”.

One participant unveiled his plan to give every resident in America (legal citizens and non-citizens) $1000 per month.  When asked how this would be paid for he said with a “value added” tax paid for by everyone which would return the money to government – at least that is what I heard.

Lots of other “free” stuff all to be paid for by taxing the greedy rich and corporations.  Authors note:  You could not pay for all of these “freebies” if you taxed all of the rich at 100% and it is also a fact that corporations don’t really pay taxes, their customers do.  Corporations pass along tax increases to their customers in the form of higher prices….  they have to, or go out of business.

Santa Claus may as well close up shop and lay off his Reindeer – He can’t compete with this bunch!

Did I miss something?

Bob Bandy – July 2019

THE MUELLER REPORT 2.0

Starring

ROBERT DE NIRO 

I saw a video presentation on television featuring Robert De Niro with a cast of other mostly “has been” or “who cares” little known Hollywood personalities explaining that if you carefully read the entire Mueller Report there was plenty of evidence of Trump collusion with the Russian’s.  You just have to read it very slowly and “read between the lines”.  

Never mind that Robert Mueller and his band of overpaid “investigators” clearly said in his much anticipated report that there was no collusion.

The whole scene gave me mental images of Robert De Niro sitting in his robe and slippers at the Shady Acres Home for Washed Up Actors watching endless grainy re-runs of Raging Bull while the staff is trying to get him to take his medicine to stop his profane tirades.

I am having visions of a Hollywood Production with a re-write of the Mueller Report and this time it comes out the way Hollywood wanted it to and Donald Trump is “frog marched” off to prison for imagined crimes. 

Robert DeNiro can play the part of Robert Mueller and Alec Baldwin can re-play his Saturday Night Live portrayal of Donald Trump.  

There is no shortage of other Hollywood “wannabes” to fill in the supporting roles.

Writing the script should be easy.  Just avoid words with more than two syllables and let Robert De Niro and Alec Baldwin run wild with their imaginations.  If you subtract the “F” word from their musings, neither of them have much of a vocabulary to work with.

I can’t be the only person in the country that is sick of the media trotting out “Shopworn Hollywood Celebrities” who want to tell me what my political views ought to be and how I should live my life.  Frankly, I don’t care what they think and their “I’m smarter than you” attitude just turns me off.  

I have some news for them.  Just because you played a doctor in a movie or on a televisions series does not mean I want you as my doctor.

Bob Bandy 

June 2019

 

 

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

 

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom

 

One of my most popular articles is a “quazi spoof” piece, reprinted below, about new taxes in California. I wrote it in 2017 but obviously then Governor Jerry Brown did not “pick up” on the opportunity and implement them.  

California’s new Governor, Gavin Newsom,  has a reputation for being even more aggressive and seems to be endlessly looking for new ways to squeeze dollars out of California residents while on a mission to increase “revenues” to spend on his Progressive Agenda.  Perhaps he will pick up where Governor Brown failed to act.

Let’s see what happens.

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Fair Share Taxes And Global Climate Change

I have information from reliable but nameless and secret sources that the State of California is very near announcement of a two fold plan for a Fair Share Universal Tax to help fund the War on Global Climate Change.

First, in recognition that exhaling releases carbon dioxide gas which is a contributor to Global Climate Change,  every resident or visitor to the State of California will be required to have a micro chip implant that will both monitor and report each time they exhale to the State of California.

This data will be forwarded to the Franchise Tax Board who will calculate the tax due and be responsible for collecting the scheduled tax from “Breathers”.  At the time of this writing the tax rate being considered is one tenth of a cent per exhale.  This may seem  a paltry sum until one calculates that the average adult respiratory rate is about 15 times per minute or 900 times per hour.  Do a little math and the average cost of exhaling in California will be about 90 cents an hour or $21.60 a day.

This tax can be avoided by simply no longer exhaling and residents and visitors can take comfort in the fact that inhaling is still free.  At least for now.

For the Second phase of this battle consideration is being given to the fact that methane is also a contributor to Global Climate Change and it is the responsibility of all of us to pay our Fair Share Tax in the battle to monitor and reduce the release of this gas into California’s breathable air resources.

It is also a scientific fact that flatulence is a major contributor to the release of methane into the atmosphere. Therefore, California is creating a new agency to monitor and tax the unwanted release of this gas.  To fund this Board and its employees a new source of revenue will be created through the establishment of a Flatulence Air Resource Tax.

Under development is a new monitoring device to be worn by all residents and visitors on the rear upper portion of the thigh which will sense, tabulate and report to the Board all releases of methane gas by the wearer.

The Board will then forward this information to the California Franchise Tax Board who will be responsible for billing and collecting the approved tax.  At this writing a rate of $1.00 per release is under consideration.  Think of it as an exhaust gas tax.

Taxpayers can avoid this tax by simply not releasing any methane gas through the monitored process.

The State agency for this Board is reporting some difficulty in recruiting, hiring and training workers who will be responsible for checking and monitoring individuals at random to be sure they are wearing the methane release and sound monitoring device and that it is working properly.

Formal announcement of this new Fair Share Tax and implementation of monitoring should be released through the media within the next 60 days.

All tax rates are subject to review and increase depending on Battlefield Assessment Reports from the ongoing War against Global Climate Change and subject to review and correction by former Vice President Al Gore.

What could possibly go wrong?

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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