Saturday, December 31, 2022

THE ENEMY WITHIN

THE ENEMY WITHIN

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN DEMOCRATSLIBERALS

Who is America’s biggest enemy? It is a sign of our current polarization that many think our greatest enemy is not Russia or China, but our fellow Americans. Rasmussen asked the question, with six multiple choice answers:

Asked to identify America’s greatest enemy, nearly 40% of voters don’t choose a foreign power, but instead name domestic political parties

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 25% of Likely U.S. voters believe that China is America’s biggest enemy as 2022 draws to a close, while 20% think Russia is the biggest enemy. However, 22% say Democrats are the nation’s biggest enemy and 17% name Republicans – dwarfing such hostile powers as North Korea (5%) and Iran (2%).

This isn’t entirely new; in fact, in 2020 it was worse:

Two years ago, 24% thought Biden voters were America’s biggest enemy, while 22% regarded Trump voters as the biggest enemy.

This is a sad situation, but I can understand it. In my opinion, the greatest threat to my children’s future is not Russia, China, Iran or North Korea, but the Democratic Party. Currently, Russia is trying to starve Ukraine of fossil fuels and destroy its agriculture. That is also what the Democrats are trying to do to the United States. So I get it. Just don’t ask me to explain why 17 percent say Republicans are the biggest threat.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/12/the-enemy-within.php

White House Responds to Supreme Court Ruling on Title 42

 White House Responds to Supreme Court Ruling on Title 42

As President Biden prepares to leave Washington for a vacation on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the White House issued his administration's response to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that kept Title 42 in place — for now — as Biden's border crisis worsens. 

"The Supreme Court's order today keeps the current Title 42 policy in place while the Court reviews the matter in 2023," said a statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "We will, of course, comply with the order and prepare for the Court's review," she added.

"At the same time, we are advancing our preparations to manage the border in a secure, orderly, and humane way when Title 42 eventually lifts and will continue expanding legal pathways for immigration," Jean-Pierre continued, despite the fact that the Biden administration has failed to manage the border in anything resembling a "secure, orderly, and humane way" thus far. 

"Title 42 is a public health measure, not an immigration enforcement measure, and it should not be extended indefinitely," Jean-Pierre's statement on behalf of the White House stated, despite the fact that the Supreme Court's ruling is something of a gift to President Biden whose admin is not remotely prepared to handle a post-Title 42 influx of additional illegal immigrants. 

"To truly fix our broken immigration system, we need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform measures like the ones President Biden proposed on his first day in office," Jean-Pierre claimed. "Today's order gives Republicans in Congress plenty of time to move past political finger-pointing and join their Democratic colleagues in solving the challenge at our border by passing the comprehensive reform measures and delivering the additional funds for border security that President Biden has requested," she added. 

Jean-Pierre and the White House have apparently forgotten that President Biden's party has been in control of both chamber of Congress for the last two years but failed to do anything to address the border crisis that only worsened under Democrat control of Washington. To now put the onus on Republicans who are going to take control of the House on January 3 is a massive case of misplaced blame. 

During the previous Congress, House Republicans — in the minority — attempted numerous times to debate and vote on legislation that would have helped stop the unmitigated rush of illegal immigrants into the country, secured the border, and prevented the lawlessness that's developed from taking hold. Democrats ignored them, and the Biden administration should expect the same treatment from House Republicans in the new Congress. 

The Biden administration has scrambled after apparently having no real plan to deal with the end of Title 42 despite the fact that they knew and could have planned for the pandemic policy to be lifted.

Recently, the administration constructed a massive tent facility near El Paso, Texas, supposedly to deal with even greater numbers of illegal border crossers, but it's unclear how one tent city-like location will be able to deal with tens of thousands more individuals when the existing facilities are already filled past capacity.

Even though Title 42 didn't end as it was initially supposed to on December 21 following a judge's ruling — and will stay in place at least until oral arguments after the Supreme Court weighed in — the Biden administration had not been using it in the majority of cases handled over a three-day period running through Christmas Day. 

According to CBP sources reported by Fox News, there were 16,476 encounters between December 23 and December 25. Of those, 2,150 illegal immigrants were expelled from the country under Title 42, meaning 14,326 individuals were apprehended after entering the country illegally and subsequently released into the United States.

https://townhall.com//tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/12/27/biden-white-house-response-to-scotus-title-42-decision-n2617606?utm_source=thdailyvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=15803c7fc8c68b6fd1f0a5e7f4b59fc49df45d48335d4339ad60f7b0a0c7404d&recip=28668535

The welfare state has gotten even more insane

The welfare state has gotten even more insane

Tom Knighton


There are a lot of people who disagree about what many of us term “the welfare state.” Many argue that we, as a society, have an obligation to help those who are less fortunate than others. Others respond that such a role should be filled by private charity, not the state.

Regardless of where you sit on that spectrum, though, we can all agree that the purpose of welfare programs is to help people get through lean times. We may disagree as to just how long those lean times should last, but most of us agree that it shouldn’t be a way of life.

Yet, as my friend Brad Polumbo noted over at Based-Politics as a Christmas bombshell in a discussion about the labor shortage, there’s a reason some people may have a reason they’re not interested in working.

Well, the astoundingly bloated nature of America’s welfare state offers one explanation, according to a new study . Conservative economists Stephen Moore, E.J. Antoni, and Casey Mulligan of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity analyzed what a typical four-person family, with two nonworking adults, could receive in welfare benefits, including both unemployment and healthcare subsidies, across the 50 states.

They found that in three states, Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, this typical family can earn the equivalent of more than $100,000 annually without working, thanks to various government programs.

Meanwhile, in 14 states the benefits are equivalent to an $80,000 annual salary or more. In these states, welfare pays better than the typical job of a secondary school teacher or electrician, according to the study. In 24 states, languishing on welfare pays better than the typical salary earned by a firefighter, truck driver, or machinist.

Well, that doesn’t piss me off or anything.

Look, my work life looks different than a lot of people’s, but I still bust my butt. I don’t make anything close to $80,000 a year, and that’s while working various body parts off.

In fact, I’ve noted that thanks to inflation, things have been pretty tough for me. They still are and are likely to be for a good long while. I’ve managed to stay afloat through a bit of generosity, sure, but also a good bit of hard work.

And I’m glad that I have worked hard because it matters.

Yet it’s also hard for me to blame anyone that can make that kind of money doing absolutely nothing.

Let’s keep in mind that this firmly places these welfare recipients in the middle class. This is the class where people don’t just have their needs met, but can also enjoy a fair bit of luxury, and taxpayers are funding this kind of lifestyle in a number of states.

Seriously.

And yeah, I’m more than a little resentful. I’m pissed that I’m sitting here, working my butt to the proverbial bone, and these people are sitting there not doing a damn thing and making pretty good money for it.

There’s nothing right about that, especially when you consider that this money is coming from hardworking men and women, taxed so the government could then give it to people who aren’t doing anything to justify it.

Or, conversely, that money is coming from debt, which means hardworking men and women will be paying for that, plus the interest that’s accumulated.

That’s not any better.

Now, Brad points out that there’s likely more going on with the labor shortage than just that, and I agree, but I still can’t get past seeing that people are being handed that kind of money while producing nothing of value except converting oxygen into carbon dioxide.

And this is why I can never get behind the idea that government must provide welfare. There’s no way a private charity would support someone to that degree without them doing much of anything for it. It just wouldn’t happen.

It damn sure shouldn’t, that’s for sure.

https://tomknighton.substack.com/p/the-welfare-state-has-gotten-even

 

Friday, December 30, 2022

Oh, So That's Why a Bail Reform Group Decided to Shut Down

 

Oh, So That's Why a Bail Reform Group Decided to Shut Down

Do I need to explain this story in detail? I’m sure you can guess why a bail reform group had to close its operations in California: the people they were setting free decided to continue their life of crime. The last straw was this latest person they had sprung from jail who proceeded to shoot a server eleven times. Shocker—a career criminal, gets his bail posted by these clowns and proceeds to shoot up a restaurant. Now, who couldn’t have seen that coming? The group, The Bail Project, has some solid celebrity support behind it as well, so another added layer for why this operation decided to close at the present moment (via NY Post):

A California bail reform group backed by A-list celebrities has shut down its operation in Las Vegas after being sued for releasing a serial criminal who less than a week later tried to murder a waiter there.

The Bail Project — whose supporters include Danny Glover, John Legend and Richard Branson — said it began restructuring its Sin City office in early December, 8 NewsNow reported. 

The move came after The Bail Project posted a $3,000 bond for burglary suspect Rashawn Gaston-Anderson in December 2021. 

Six days later, Gaston-Anderson shot Chengyan Wang 11 times in the Chinatown section of Las Vegas, 8 NewsNow reported. 

In a plea deal, the 24-year-old was convicted of attempted robbery and mayhem, both with deadly weapon enhancements, according to News 3 Las Vegas. 

Gaston-Anderson was sentenced in December to seven to 18 years behind bars for the shooting. 

It should be conclusive at this point that cash bail reform doesn’t work. It prevents police from locking up violent criminals, hogties judges from doling out appropriate sentences to true menaces to society, and I couldn’t care less if it’s unfair that thugs cannot afford bail after committing heinous acts of violence. That’s a good thing. Jail is where they belong, but liberals, again, would rather mourn and empathize with a psychopathic murderer, unhinged lunatic, or violent dreg of society than the people they victimize along with their families.

https://townhall.com//tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/12/26/oh-so-thats-why-a-bail-reform-group-decided-to-shut-down-n2617583?utm_source=thdailyvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=15803c7fc8c68b6fd1f0a5e7f4b59fc49df45d48335d4339ad60f7b0a0c7404d&recip=28668535

BLACKOUTS TODAY, BLACKOUTS TOMORROW, BLACKOUTS FOREVER! (use link for charts)

BLACKOUTS TODAY, BLACKOUTS TOMORROW, BLACKOUTS FOREVER!

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN ENERGY POLICY

The Tennessee Valley Authority was one of the success stories of the New Deal, or at least, so it was long believed. But that was when they could keep the lights on. Now, Tennessee is experiencing rolling blackouts. Clay Travis is appropriately appalled, as Tennessee–one of our better-run states, in general–slips toward third-world status:


Via InstaPundit.

It isn’t just Tennessee. Bill Glahn reports:

Many residents of the eastern United States received an unwelcome Christmas gift this year: rolling blackouts during cold weather.

I received this email on Christmas Eve from Appalachian Power Company, which serves about one million customers in western Virginia, West Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.

The email references PJM, the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland power grid, which actually serves a swatch of America stretching from northern Illinois to eastern North Carolina.

Customers in the region appear to have dodged rolling blackouts, but customers further south were not so lucky. Around 550,000 customers were subject to blackouts in North Carolina on Christmas Eve, although that figure had dropped to around 2,000 on Christmas Day. From a local news report:

The company said the rolling blackouts were “temporary outages that were taken to protect Duke Energy customers from more extended outages during extreme temps across much of the eastern U.S.”

But, many customers were upset when outages lasted for hours.

Nor is that all: the Midwestern and Mid-Southern states served by the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO) are at serious risk of blackouts over the coming winter:

Grid monitors warn that the electricity system that serves Minnesota and 14 other states, the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO), is at a high risk of blackouts, and this threat will get worse over the next five years because coal, nuclear, and natural gas generation exit the system faster than replacement resources are connecting.

Why, after many decades of grid stability and reliable energy, are we suddenly talking about blackouts? The answer is obvious. Across America, reliable coal and nuclear power plants are being retired, and supposedly replaced by “green” wind and solar energy. This is frankly absurd, because an intermittent energy source that works less than half the time (wind) or rarely (solar) can’t possibly replace reliable, 24/7 electricity, no matter how many billions we spend.

Kevin Roche makes the point with MISO data from a recent week. Kevin’s focus is Minnesota, where the data would look even worse. But this is for all of MISO, including the southern states:


A few takeaways:

* Solar power is utterly and completely worthless.

* Wind turbines can indeed produce electricity. The problem is you never know when. Also, they generally produce the least electricity when we need it the most, like at night and when it is cold out. The problem can’t be overcome no matter how many billions we spend on wind turbines, because if the wind isn’t blowing, it isn’t blowing.

* Despite all of the hoopla about “green” energy, the reality is that coal and natural gas–fossil fuels–keep our lights on and heat our homes. And nuclear can do so as well, if we start building plants instead of shutting them down. The rest is BS.

There is no doubt about the fact that conservatives are winning–have already won–the energy argument. The question is how many lives will be lost, how badly we will all be inconvenienced, and how many trillions of dollars will be wasted, before voters finally rise up and demand a reliable, first-world energy system like the one their parents enjoyed.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/12/blackouts-today-blackouts-tomorrow-blackouts-forever.php

Trump Was a Mistake

Trump Was a Mistake

You’ll notice a striking difference between election news coverage now and the leadup to the 2016 presidential primaries: The mainstream media have hardly breathed a word about Donald Trump (except to say that he’s not doing well in their “polls” and so obviously voters must want him out of the race). Back when Trump was making his run for the nomination in 2015, the newspapers couldn’t keep him off their front pages. He got hours of coverage on every news network every day.

But that was back when most Republicans (myself included) didn’t consider Trump a serious candidate. The media decided he would be a wonderful candidate from the Democrats’ perspective and selected him as most likely to lose to Hillary Clinton. So they gave him all the free coverage he could handle. Once the establishment realized that Trump was connecting with and inspiring millions of Americans (myself included), it was too late to stop him.

But the papers and TV shows and social sites have learned their lesson this time around: People love hearing about Trump, and he loves talking. Media attention is his oxygen. So now they won’t give him any. Prepare yourselves to hear hardly a whisper about Trump for the next year or two—except for portentous statements offered by pompous talking heads who will say he needs to drop out now “for the good of the party.” Whose party do you suppose they mean?

At their convention in 1900, the Republicans renominated William McKinley for president. They also had a problem on their hands: a boisterous trouble-maker with an exceptional ability to inspire crowds. His name was Teddy Roosevelt, a man more than one contemporary would describe as “the most remarkable man I ever met.” But the Republican Party had never liked Roosevelt, principally because he was impossible to control. He had a penchant for saying exactly what he thought and doing exactly what he wanted, no matter whether it was in line with the approved party platform.

In 1900, Roosevelt had been making a huge nuisance of himself as governor of New York, a position of massive importance in which, as he grew more and more popular, he became harder and harder to control. The Republicans, led by Thomas C. Platt (“Boss Platt”), wanted him out—out of New York, and out of power, period. So they hatched the perfect plan, nominating him for vice president, where he couldn’t do anything.

Roosevelt took the bait. The temptation of being a top man in Washington, D.C., was too great for him to resist, even though he knew he’d have no real power. And when McKinley won the election, the political bosses were doubly delighted: They had the White House, and they had managed to move TR from the vital role of New York governor to the totally impotent role of vice president.

The vice presidency at the turn of the century was a political graveyard, where politicians were sent to be gently eased out of power forever. We had not yet arrived at the modern tradition of having vice presidents generally rise to the presidency, or at least to the nomination. A vice president wasn’t even guaranteed to be nominated as the running mate for the second term of the president he had served. (McKinley’s first vice president was Garret Hobart, although he had a particularly good reason for not getting a second term—he died in office of a heart attack.)

Teddy Roosevelt’s political career was considered over when he went to Washington as vice president after the Republican victory of 1900. And it would have stayed that way if not for a freak twist of fate: In September 1901, McKinley became the third American president to be assassinated. Roosevelt was elevated from obscurity to the office he most desired and was best-suited to fill. The political bosses realized they had made a mistake, but it was too late: Their mistake haunted them through three presidential terms (two of TR’s and one of Taft’s). And then, after Taft’s first term, things got really bad.

TR wanted to be president again. He thought Taft was doing a mediocre job. And he argued (with a certain logic) that he’d never really had the two terms to which an American president was traditionally entitled because he’d only been elected president once—his first term, remember, had merely been the completion of McKinley’s. 

But the Republican Party hated TR even more by 1912, even if the voters adored him. So they renominated Taft against the popular consensus. In response, TR founded a third party, the infamous “Bull Moose” party. This split the Republican vote, though in the process, TR got more votes than Taft, the only time in history that one of the two main parties finished in third place. This handed the presidency to Woodrow Wilson, one of the most destructive men of the 20th century (and the first academic to be elected president). Wilson never would have stood a chance had the Republican nomination gone to TR—he was elected with a mere 41 percent of the vote, an historic low.

But from the Republican perspective, it was better to lose the presidential race and have a Democrat in power with whom they could work—one who could play the game and be part of the machine—than it was to have someone who couldn’t be controlled. They never again made the mistake of nominating a man who wasn’t under their thumb. At least, not until 2016.

So remember: The GOP isn’t really our party. It never was. That is the central truth that the Trump phenomenon has exposed—or exposed anew. It’s a political machine, just like the Democratic Party, and it wants to run itself, not be run by “ordinary” people like you and me. Trump’s nomination the first time around, from the GOP’s perspective, was a huge mistake, just as TR’s had been. And they have no intention of repeating that kind of mistake.

The GOP and the Democrats and the media are all agreed on one, central point: Trump cannot become president again. All these power groups’ motivations are different, but their interests are aligned, and the stakes are practically existential.

Keep the story of the 1900 Republican Convention in mind, too, when you think of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: He’s a huge success in Florida, and is the only governor standing up to the federal government in any meaningful way. What could be better than to seduce him away from that role with the promise of the presidency? Kill two birds with one stone, and kill America, too, while you’re at it.

Trump was a huge mistake: He was the biggest mistake machine politicians had made in over a century. The success of Trump’s presidency dealt establishment politicians a heavy blow. A second Trump term might kill them, and they know it.

So, be prepared to hear nothing about Trump’s candidacy, nothing about his massive rallies, nothing about the unwavering enthusiasm of his supporters. Be prepared to hear only one thing: That the “people” don’t want him. But don’t believe it. Remember which people are doing the talking.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/19/trump-was-a-mistake/

Thursday, December 29, 2022

The Election Integrity Battle Must Be Won before It Is Fought

The Election Integrity Battle Must Be Won before It Is Fought

Sun Tzu's maxim was certainly true for the 2020 election.  I don't need to go into detail because Mollie Hemingway has already shown that the election was rigged.

Republicans should have learned that once the votes are cast, it is nearly impossible to litigate fairness.  They did not.  It's fair to say that in spite of all the talk after the 2020 election about fixing election integrity, very little was  done that actually improved things.  I must have heard Jenna Ellis bloviating a hundred times about how her Election Integrity Alliance was going to make sure everyone working on integrity was moving forward, getting it done.  Fail.  It's even worse, as the left is now refining its tactics and focusing on taking over the election process for good.  Leftists even enlisted the federal government in registering voters who are unlikely to cast a ballot so they can cast one for them.  Democrats have a long history of fiddling with elections.

Fast-forward to 2022, and we find ourselves with a disappointing outcome, particularly in same five states as in 2020: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin.  The radio pundit class and others all had opinions on why we were disappointed.  NeverTrumps said, "It's Trump's fault!"  Others like the feckless Arizona GOP leader Kelli Ward cried about lack of funding in key races.  (True.)  Others complained about candidate quality.

It seemed as though we were ready for it, but it is clear that the same shenanigans, refined with practice, occurred, primarily against conservatives.  In 2020, all the toss-ups went to the GOP.  Not so in 2022; they all went to the Democrats.  In Virginia, the Democrat Ballot-Harvesting Manual instructs workers to go after dead people and bad addresses.  In Nevada, GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt received a defeat from the jaws of victory when his opponent pulled out an impossible victory.  In Arizona, vote totals show a flip of votes from the congressional races to the conservative statewide races of over 250,000 votes.  In fact, for the top four statewide races, there were 150,000 additional votes over the congressional vote.  Hmmm.  The only statewide GOP wins were treasurer and superintendent of public instruction, both of whom are RINOs.  Matt Gaetz accurately called it a McFailure.

Ideas have been proposed to win future elections, including improving vote integrity.  Just get rid of absentee ballots, get rid of electronic voting, count the votes that day.  Easy-peasy.  Nonsense.  Atlanta lost the All Star game because of passing modest reforms.  The Republican-led Legislature in Arizona passed a law with no teeth.  Although the Michigan Legislature passed some vote integrity bills, they were vetoed by Gretchen von Whitmer.  The only real improvements were made in safe Republican states.  None of these new laws came close to the kind of reforms needed, in the states needed, to level the playing field.  We cannot count on any election integrity improvements where they are needed.

Other ideas include focusing on ballots, not votes.  Most can agree on this.  But this is just an idea that has been espoused by many in the conservative media following the election.  There is no follow-up.  No action.  Telling people not to vote on Election Day and to vote early similarly will yield no results.  We will end up in 2024 in the same place we are right now: disappointed.  And more pissed off.

As our favorite climate kid Greta Thunberg once said: "Blah!  Blah!  Blah!"

So what is to be done?  We need to win the battle before it is fought.  What does that mean?  Does it mean talking about it?  Does it mean agreeing with some points and hoping it happens?  I don't' think so.  We need a strategy.  What's a strategy?  A strategy answers the following questions: What are we going to do?  When are we going to do it?  Who is going to do it?  How much will it cost?  Where will we get the money?

If we do not have a strategy, then we will not win.

Here is a three-pronged strategy that should be executed only in the troubled states where we can win: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin.  If we do not win the majority of these states, we cannot win the presidency, nor, likely, the Senate.

Strategy 1: Clean the voter rolls

This is a simple strategy that is not glamorous, which is why nobody talks about it.  It was executed in Wisconsin and probably saved Ron Johnson's Senate seat.  The goal is to deprive Democrats of the free ballots they can use to change an election outcome.  From the article: "They went to scores of county registrars and challenged thousands of phantoms — proof in hand.  Quietly, below the radar, they showed registrars, whose job it is to deal with this sort of thing, that Bill Jones was not a real person.  They helped clean up addresses that were wrong — either typos or fake."  Each of the five state GOP leaders needs to set up a team immediately.  The funding for the Wisconsin team and software was provided by Mike Lindell.  This is a no-brainer.

Strategy 2: Have an actual ground game

Republicans gained seats in liberal California and New York in part because they beat Dems at their own game.  It did not hurt that there was favorable redistricting in New York.  In addition, they had an actual message.  Further, GOP election teams monitored the returns and contacted registered Republicans to make sure they voted.  In California, Republicans learned from their 2018 debacle when ballot-harvesting was legalized.  The ground game in these states was excellent.  If California and New York can deliver the House for the GOP, our five states can do the same.  To execute this strategy, each of the five state GOP leaders would put together a ballot strategy based on the state laws.  Assume that 1,000 volunteers for each congressional district will be needed in the run-up to and on Election Day.  These people need to be recruited and trained starting immediately.  As a rough calculation, at $10 per ballot and 200 ballots per volunteer, we will need $2 million per C.D.  At 43 total congressional districts, the total comes to $86 million.  Obviously, certain districts do not need any help, and resources should be applied at the point of greatest impact.  I think there is a certain real estate billionaire who wants to win again.  He needs to put his money where his mouth is.

Strategy 3: Lawfare

Marc Elias did more to undermine election integrity (and the Constitution) than any person alive.  He used COVID and other excuses to rewrite election laws in several states prior to the 2020 election.  Then he did it again for 2022.  Texas was able to overcome the interference in its voting laws.  Again, that one really does not matter since it is solidly red.  The GOP needs to challenge any changes from the legislated baseline in each of the five states.  The lawyers need to use the same tactics as the Democrats: shop judges, and use any and all poorly written federal and state laws to twist them for their own use.  This will be an expensive endeavor.  It will require at least $5 million for each state.  Peter Thiel, do you want your candidate to win next time?  Pony up.  It's worth it.

We have to win this battle now or lose this nation.

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/12/the_election_integrity_battle_must_be_won_before_it_is_fought.html#ixzz7oRYTjx00
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The welfare state is out of control, new study shows

The welfare state is out of control, new study shows

Does this sound like a system incentivizing the right things?

Brad Polumbo

massive labor shortage continues to hamstring the economy, with millions more empty jobs than unemployed job-seekers. All the while, millions of people remain on the sidelines, with the labor force participation rate significantly below the pre-pandemic norm. Why are so many potential workers sitting idle while jobs need to be filled?

Well, the astoundingly bloated nature of America’s welfare state offers one explanation, according to a new study . Conservative economists Stephen Moore, E.J. Antoni, and Casey Mulligan of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity analyzed what a typical four-person family, with two nonworking adults, could receive in welfare benefits, including both unemployment and healthcare subsidies, across the 50 states.

They found that in three states, Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, this typical family can earn the equivalent of more than $100,000 annually without working, thanks to various government programs.

Meanwhile, in 14 states the benefits are equivalent to an $80,000 annual salary or more. In these states, welfare pays better than the typical job of a secondary school teacher or electrician, according to the study. In 24 states, languishing on welfare pays better than the typical salary earned by a firefighter, truck driver, or machinist.

Does that sound like a system incentivizing the right things?

There are undoubtedly multiple factors driving the labor shortage, but this simply has to be one of them. The most basic lesson of economics is that people respond to incentives. And when pathways exist to receive above-average incomes without working, many people will choose that over toiling and working hard to earn less. The inevitable result is lower employment, slower economic growth, and a dearth of dignity among those who’ve been incentivized out of work.

You don’t have to take my word for it.

“A key policy question these days that has befuddled federal lawmakers is why so many millions of Americans have not returned to the workplace in the post-Covid era,” the study’s authors conclude. “The U.S. is ‘missing’ more than three million workers of working age that could be working and were working prior to Covid but are not today. This study shows that one factor contributing to the dearth of workers is the generous benefits paid to families without workers.”

The takeaway here is clear. If we want our economy to recover fully from the COVID-19 pandemic and get roaring again, we have to reform our social spending programs so that we once again incentivize work, not welfare.

 https://www.based-politics.com/2022/12/25/the-welfare-state-is-out-of-control-new-study-shows/

Another Key Voting Bloc Is Fleeing the Democratic Party

Another Key Voting Bloc Is Fleeing the Democratic Party

Matt Vespa | 

The recipe for a red tsunami was there in 2022, but it never materialized. The Republican Party autopsy is due next year on why the GOP couldn’t establish significant electoral gains with the gale-force political winds at their backs. I’m sure candidate quality issues will be overemphasized over what appears to be gross incompetence and recalcitrance among the Republican leadership to assist their candidates in the critical stretches. However, the voter pool to wipe out Democrats in swing districts remains—the party just can’t put things on cruise control. 

Democrats know they have a working-class voter issue but can’t address it since their base views these people as anathema. It’s partially due to the snobbish attitude liberal Americans have towards those who don’t act or think like them. They view this voter bloc, which numbers in the tens of millions, as uneducated country bumpkins. The lack of education disqualifies these people in their eyes. There’s also a racial component. Democrats won elections big when they got a healthy share of the white working-class vote—it was the backbone of the Democratic Party. 

Now, these folks are viewed as quasi-Nazis and eschewed aggressively by the white progressive professional elite that dominates the coasts and cities. Affluent, liberal, and overwhelmingly white Democratic voters would instead double down on nonwhite voters in the cities. For two election cycles, the hordes of white college-educated voters have provided something of a buffer, but that won’t hold: nonwhite working-class voters are now veering into the GOP camp—big league. 

When both sets of the working class vote support Republicans, Democrats should take notice, but all evidence from past cycles shows that they won’t. So, the GOP can run the table here, but it cannot be apathetic or carry a ‘run-through the motions’ aura regarding voter outreach with these folks. They must understand daily that the GOP will be the party for them, protecting their jobs and creating new opportunities—things the Democrats are no longer good at accomplishing. 

Ruy Teixeira at American Enterprise Institute crunched the numbers. Ruy isn’t a conservative either—he was a former long-time fixture at the left-wing Center for American Progress before being cast out by the woke and unhinged youngsters at the think tank. His work on demographics has been well-cited on both sides, though he concedes the conclusions have been misconstrued, especially by liberals who have taken his “permanent political majority” thesis as gospel. Teixeira always says they didn’t read the fine print, which is that Democrats need significant white working voter class support to maintain this winning Democratic coalition. Based on the numbers he crunched from the midterms, not only do Democrats have the aforementioned white working-class deficit, but the dip in nonwhite working-class voter support also represents a second front in an electoral war the Left will be ill-equipped to counter if they focus on woke lefty initiatives. These include pronoun policing and enforcing an authoritarian ethos on political correctness that does little to help Americans find work:

With all the Democratic back-patting going on, I’m not sure they’re really facing up to an emerging problem that severely undermines their electoral theory of the case. I speak of their declining margins with the nonwhite working class. That’s not to say they don’t still carry the nonwhite working class vote, it’s just they carry it by a lot less. That wasn’t in the “rising American electorate” battle plan. 

As I have previously noted, AP/NORC VoteCast estimates the decline in Democrats’ advantage among the nonwhite working class as 14 points between 2020 and 2022, 23 points between 2018 and 2022 and (splicing in some Catalist data, which are consistent with VoteCast data where they overlap) an astonishing 33 point drop between 2012 and 2022. 

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Arizona. The 2020 Presidential election and 2022 gubernatorial election were both extremely close. Interestingly, while Democrat Katie Hobbs ran quite a bit ahead of Biden among white college voters, she actually ran 3 points behind among nonwhite working class voters. 

California. Gavin Newson in 2022 ran considerably behind Biden in 2020. One place where he kept almost all of Biden’s support from 2020 was among white college voters. In contrast, he lost a lot of support among nonwhite working class voters: 14 points. 

Florida. Ron DeSantis of course ran way ahead of Trump in his 2022 gubernatorial race—about 16 points. But he ran 27 points ahead among nonwhite working class voters. And he did 38 points (!) better among nonwhite working class voters this year than he did in his initial 2018 gubernatorial race. 

Georgia. Brian Kemp ran ahead of Trump in his 2022 re-election, albeit not on DeSantis’ level. But he did 16 margin points better among nonwhite working class voters and, compared to his initial election bid in 2018, also against Stacey Abrams, did 27 points better among those voters.

Republicans still have a chance to seize these voters to win a landslide victory, but they can’t take anything for granted, even if things seem inevitable.

 https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/12/24/democrats-latest-problem-nonwhite-working-class-voters-n2617482?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&recip=28668535